We’ve all had a broken heart. Not necessarily in a romantic way. It could be caused by a problem in your family, with a friend, or at work, even. Whatever the reasons, we all have different ways of coping. If you’re a bookworm, you might find peace and solace in the pages of a book.
Now, imagine that a whole neighbourhood full of books and a brokenhearted young woman came together. Can she find the comfort she’s looking for even though she’s not exactly an avid reader?
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, Yagisawa Satoshi’s debut novel, is set in Jimbocho, a real neighbourhood in Tokyo. Known as the “the mecca of the bookworms“, this neck of the woods houses more than 200 bookshops and lord knows how many books on all sorts of topics you can think of.
Let’s say that Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is a kind of an ode to Jimbocho and the many people who are lucky enough to live, work, or simply bask in its energy. Just like many, many other Japanese books, it took more than 10 years for it to be translated into English (by Eric Ozawa) โ but, boy, am I glad that you can now find this little pearl in a bookshop near you!
Left: UK Cover of Days at the Morisaki Bookshop (how adorable is that? | Credit: Bonnier Books Ltd)
This review is spoiler-free. Enjoy! But if you’re in a rush, you can also pin our summary at the bottom!
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop: Allowing Yourself to Take a Break
Yagisawa Satoshi introduces you to Takako, a 25-year-old woman who has just found out that her boyfriend is getting married. To someone else. Ha. The news comes as such a shock that she decides to leave her job, at the company where he and his fiancรฉe also work, and give herself some time to put her pieces back together. This is when her uncle Satoru reaches out, asking her if she’d like to join him at their family-run bookshop in Jimbocho.
So there, first and foremost, is the most incredible thing about this story; the message that it is okay to stop for a while. We live in a world in which we always have to be working, producing, going, doing, living. But Takako, amidst her pain and sorrow, finds herself tired of the noise and the constant stimuli and allows herself to take a break.
It’s important to stand still sometimes. Think of it as a little rest in the long journey of your life. This is your harbor. And your boat is just dropping anchor here for a little while. And after you’re well rested, you can set sail again.
Wise and Straightforward Narration
The magic of the Morisaki Bookshop resides in the precious little pieces of wisdom that its characters share throughout their journeys. It’s never verges on the clichรฉ, however, as if you’re reading a list of “live, laugh, love”-style quotes you can find on some sort of wall set on Etsy. No, Yagisawa’s words resonate and they give form to ideas and emotions we have already had and forgotten. They remind us that feeling sad is normal, giving yourself time is only natural, and needing other people’s support is nothing more, nothing less than human.
Short, simple, but incredibly powerful, this is a tale of connections and reconnections: with yourself, with your family, with your friends, with strangers. Takako’s words grab you by the hand and guide you through the most important beats of her life โ she’s straightforward with her narration and candid about her feelings. There are no never-ending paragraphs of detailed descriptions, complicated psychology going on behind the scenes, or clear-cut life lessons. “This is how I feel, this is what happened,” she seems to say. And what she learns with every step she uses to define where to go next โ her evolution and recovery are subtle and there’s much going on between the lines.
The Characters in Days at the Morisaki Bookshop
Besides our main heroine, you can’t help but fall in love with her uncle Satoru and her aunt Momoko, two characters that pretty much carry this tale as much as Takako does. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop may be an easy read but its characters are endlessly endearing.
Donโt be afraid to love someone. When you fall in love, I want you to fall in love all the way. Even if it ends in heartache, please donโt live a lonely life without love. Iโve been so worried that because of what happened youโll give up on falling in love. Love is wonderful. I donโt want you to forget that. Those memories of people you love, they never disappear. They go on warming your heart as long as you live.
Even though books are indeed a part of the story, they never steal the spotlight. This is mostly a character-driven tale and books are only tools doing their job in the background. Still, if you know a bit about Japanese literature, there are plenty of easter eggs hidden in there for you to knowingly wink at. Or if you are a newcomer to Japanese literature and are looking for some recommendations, there are more than a handful of titles you can get from Takako’s adventures.
More than the books themselves, the neighbourhood of Jimbocho comes alive and becomes a quiet, yet active, character in Takako’s stories. The readers who roam the streets and the people who work, not only in bookshops but also at the coffee shops around the area, give colour and light to this environment that has the power to heal Takako’s heart โ and if you let it, it might also heal yours.
The Two Sides of the Morisaki Bookshop’s Tale
The book is divided into two parts and the story gets progressively more emotional as it goes along. The first half sets the circumstances and establishes, as well as shapes, Takako’s character. That leads to the second half, in which she shows her development to herself and the world around her. The plot that ties both halves together is uncomplicated but heartwarming and you will easily find yourself rooting for and crying with Takako and her gang.
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop won the Chiyoda Literature Prize and received a movie adaptation in 2010 โ which I haven’t yet seen but I’m curious to find out how they translated such gentleness into moving pictures. Yagisawa has also written a sequel, More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, which will be released in the UK on July 4th, 2024. I honestly can’t wait to spend a few more days with them.
No time to read the entire review? So why don’t you pin our summary? Just click it to pin it!
Have you read “Days at the Morisaki Bookshop”? What do you think about it? Do you have any similar books that you can recommend? I’m looking forward to hearing from you in the comments!
Leave a Reply