Days at the Morisaki Bookshop: A Novel by Satoshi Yagisawa (translated by Eric Ozawa)
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop: A Novel by Satoshi Yagisawa (translated by Eric Ozawa)
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Literary Fiction
Format: Kindle
No. of Pages: 160
Date of US Publication: 4 July, 2023
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
My Thoughts
3.5, rated up
The writing style or translation took a little while for me to get accustomed to, and I’m so glad that I kept at it because I wound up adoring this story.
I read this over a stormy weekend and it was just the thing - Days at the Morisaki Bookshop turned out to be a lovely story that was an enjoyable read, if rather rushed in places, and some points not really satisfactorily explained or tied up.
I really enjoyed the descriptions of the mountain trip Momoko invited Takako and Momoko made to their inn. Uncle Saturo and the bookshop were wonderful.
Thank you to Harper Perennial and NetGalley for the DRC
Description
The wise and charming international bestseller and hit Japanese movie—about a young woman who loses everything but finds herself—a tale of new beginnings, romantic and family relationships, and the comfort that can be found in books.
Twenty-five-year-old Takako has enjoyed a relatively easy existence—until the day her boyfriend Hideaki, the man she expected to wed, casually announces he’s been cheating on her and is marrying the other woman. Suddenly, Takako’s life is in freefall. She loses her job, her friends, and her acquaintances, and spirals into a deep depression. In the depths of her despair, she receives a call from her distant uncle Satoru.
An unusual man who has always pursued something of an unconventional life, especially after his wife Momoko left him out of the blue five years earlier, Satoru runs a second-hand bookshop in Jimbocho, Tokyo’s famous book district. Takako once looked down upon Satoru’s life. Now, she reluctantly accepts his offer of the tiny room above the bookshop rent-free in exchange for helping out at the store. The move is temporary, until she can get back on her feet. But in the months that follow, Takako surprises herself when she develops a passion for Japanese literature, becomes a regular at a local coffee shop where she makes new friends, and eventually meets a young editor from a nearby publishing house who’s going through his own messy breakup.
But just as she begins to find joy again, Hideaki reappears, forcing Takako to rely once again on her uncle, whose own life has begun to unravel. Together, these seeming opposites work to understand each other and themselves as they continue to share the wisdom they’ve gained in the bookshop.
Translated By Eric Ozawa
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