Paperback, 129 pages
German language
Published April 15, 2024 by Insel Verlag.
Die 25-jährige Takako hat einen Job, eine Wohnung in Tokio und einen festen Freund. Als dieser ihr eines Abends freudig eröffnet, er werde heiraten – und zwar eine andere –, fällt sie aus allen Wolken. Vor Kummer verkriecht sie sich und kündigt ihren Job. Als ihr Onkel ihr anbietet, eine Zeitlang in seinem Antiquariat im berühmten »Bücherviertel« Tokios, Jimbōchō, auszuhelfen und dort auch unterzukommen, findet sie das zwar zunächst alles andere als reizvoll, willigt aber ein. Doch in dem kleinen Zimmer über dem Laden, inmitten von Büchern, entdeckt sie ihre Leidenschaft fürs Lesen – und schöpft allmählich wieder neue Kraft.
Prijemna kusovka, nic zasadniho a narozdil od jine japonske z nedavne doby tomes.tchncs.de/book/71743/s/kocici-host mi asi na dlouho nezustane v pameti ... ale cetlo se to prijemne a vlastne to bylo i pres nakej ten smutek slusne pozitivni. Druhou cast urcite nekdy pridam.
A sweet book, and a quick and light read. A celebration of reading culture, as well as a portrayal of the culture of Japanese relationships. Not exciting, but pleasant and enjoyable.
Mooi verhaal over een jonge vrouw die zichzelf terugvindt in de boekenwinkel van haar oom. Dat doet ze vooral in het eerste deel van het boek, en dat vond ik dan ook het beste. Het verhaal over de terugkerende tante vond ik minder interessant, omdat de boekwinkel hier eigenlijk naar de achtergrond verdwijnt. Deze verhaallijn kwam voor mij ook een beetje uit de lucht vallen. De karakters hadden wat meer uitgediept mogen worden.
Not a lot goes on, but sometimes that's all right. It's a peaceful, heartfelt, loving book.
A small stakes glimpse of life. It's been ten years since I was in Tokyo but the author made it feel like I was visiting again, perfectly capturing the character of those little side streets and bustling stations.
This story has amazing vibes. The feeling of the bookshop, the way people talk about books and reading, the nuggets of people's lives in the area, it all just hits right.
The actual plot didn't feel particularly inspired, or even particularly sensible. Momoko is just bizarre, and Satoru is almost overly wholesome, and Takako has so little agency it's a bit hard to attach her name to her character at times.
But the settings of Morisaki Bookshop and the Saveur cafe are just lovely, and all the side characters we meet in those places add such character to the novel that it's still an enjoyable read.
One of the few non-SFF stories I've read, mainly due to the premise that it revolves around a bookshop. It is an interesting book, told from the first-person perspective of the young niece of the bookshop's owner, and mainly involves the relationship between the niece and her uncle, but with a few books thrown in.
At the start of the book, the niece breaks off her relationship with a co-worker, and moves to live at the bookshop at the invitation of her uncle to recover emotionally. At first, all she does is take care of the shop and sleep. But she gradually opens up after reading books from the shop, and starts to go out into the surroundings, which is famous in Japan as a second-hand bookshop area. She meets and interacts with various residents, getting to know them.
But she has not fully recovered from the break-up, and needs …
One of the few non-SFF stories I've read, mainly due to the premise that it revolves around a bookshop. It is an interesting book, told from the first-person perspective of the young niece of the bookshop's owner, and mainly involves the relationship between the niece and her uncle, but with a few books thrown in.
At the start of the book, the niece breaks off her relationship with a co-worker, and moves to live at the bookshop at the invitation of her uncle to recover emotionally. At first, all she does is take care of the shop and sleep. But she gradually opens up after reading books from the shop, and starts to go out into the surroundings, which is famous in Japan as a second-hand bookshop area. She meets and interacts with various residents, getting to know them.
But she has not fully recovered from the break-up, and needs a push from her uncle to do so. She also discovers that her uncle also has secrets from his past, especially over the uncle's wife (the niece's aunt), which disappeared years ago, but suddenly reappears into the uncle's life. It would need a trip with the aunt to discover what happened in the past and the estrangement that occurred between the uncle and aunt. And now, it would be her turn to return to favour and push the uncle and aunt to reconcile.
In short, an enjoyable read about people who bond over books, with some interesting characters and relationships that revolve around books and the people who write and read them.
A disappointing read.
Author does not seem to have heard of 'show, not tell'.
Feelings are not felt - we are merely told that the characters have felt them. The descriptions, invariably of unimportant things, try to be cutely peculiar but come off as just strange.
It was impossible for him not to recognise that voice - as impossible as squeezing a hundred people into the Morisaki bookshop.
This is supposed to be an emotionally charged moment, and this is what you go with? Really?
The protagonist, Takako, who is supposed to be feeling some pretty strong things at some times, has her inner monologue written in such a flat way I have to actively try to empathize with her. This might be a problem with the writing style or with the translation, but it is a problem nonetheless.
Speaking of the protagonist, she is particularly annoying. When her ever-cheery …
It was impossible for him not to recognise that voice - as impossible as squeezing a hundred people into the Morisaki bookshop.
Overall I liked it a lot, but, <spoiler>the implication that I think they were getting at some sort of self punishment for an abortion when one of the characters was younger (maybe a miscarriage) because she found out her boyfriend was married? Not sure I perfectly understood that part...that I very much did not like.</spoiler> In a book that was largely affirming and about helping people to accept and stand up for themselves and find themselves etc etc, that sort lf passed by as a yup, thats just a fact lets never address it.
Otherwise I loved it. Could have been a 4.5 or higher, but that one bit really knocked me out some because no one was like wait, that's not how that works.
I loved this little book about a town that has a bunch of bookshops (each with a specific niche) and about a woman who finds herself working in that shop (owned by her uncle). The Morisaki shop focuses on modern Japanese fiction, which meant the book gave me a bunch of books to add to my reading list.
