Reviews with content warning for Grief - I miei giorni alla libreria Morisaki

I don't remember why I decided to read this one, but I know I placed a hold on it at my library before the book had been released. Probably I saw that it was a translated book about a bookshop, and that was enough to catch my interest. I've also noticed lately that I enjoy books translated from Japanese with more regularity than books translated from other languages. I'm not entirely sure why, but I enjoy stories translated from Japanese that I wouldn't read if they were originally written in English.

This book, for example, is a contemporary fiction, no speculative elements in it at all. It's about two different people and their relationships, set in a bookshop for a setting... but the bookshop itself isn't really important to the story. The relationships are the focus. I've tried reading similar books that were written in English (instead of translated) and something about the style didn't work for me. Something about the Japanese style of storytelling works better for me here.

The book starts with Takako, our main character, just dealing with a breakup due to a cheating boyfriend. She goes to help out her uncle at the Morisaki Bookshop to "recharge her batteries" (as she says later in the book) and to have a place to live with a free room while she recovers. She wasn't a reader when she moved there, but books are sneaky, and she ends up becoming a reader before too long.

There's a lot more to discover here, including some good bookish quotes, some recommendations of Japanese literature to read, and a lot of character development. If you're looking for a feel-good story, this is mostly that. It doesn't have a saccharine-sweet ending, though, and left me feeling like it was all the more real as a result. And also? I didn't know that Jimbocho is a real-life book-town. One more thing I now want to do when I eventually get to go to Tokyo!

Content Warnings