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. In the depths of her despair, Takako receives a call from her distant uncle Satoru, who 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 unadorned simplicity of Takako's voice is anything but subtle, but it's somehow winning in its guilelessness ... Days at the Morisaki Bookshop draws a strong connection between the empathy unleashed by great literature and Takako's growing sense of self-confidence and well-being.
Steeped in the ambience of a used bookstore as it is in the culture of reading ... They offer simple pleasures, minimal conflict and page after page of low-key charm ... Slight...weak ... The early pages are bogged down with clunky exposition and clichéd writing (or translating) ... The book’s vibe makes it pleasant company for an afternoon in the park with a snack, though it will still leave you feeling peckish.
Yagisawa’s prose is clean and direct even as he describes the Morisaki Bookshop and the city that surrounds it with extraordinary care and detail. The characters are also compelling, but it is really the setting and the atmosphere that stand out in this novel. Readers will want to linger in this world.
