Days at the Morisaki Bookshop: A charming and uplifting Japanese translated story on the healing power of books

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Una apreciación personal es que no encontraréis aquí las características principales de la literatura japonesa. No lo digo como algo malo necesariamente, pero para que no haya sorpresas. Both parts of Yagisawa’s tale are beautifully but procedurally sketched – romanticism but without the sturm und drang. Two words (”unpretentious” and “dump”) create two very different images in the reader’s mind, echoing a situation that feels very realistic. Haven’t we all been somewhere and had almost the exact same thought? Final Thoughts Everyone who knows me will know that if a book has been translated from Japanese and is about heartbreak and love I’m in, if it’s about books or cats then bonus points. year old Takako has broken up with her boyfriend (he was double dating) she has lost her job and slumps into depression. Her uncle, Satoru, who owns the Morisaki Bookshop in Jimbocho, offers her a bit of respite from her woes, suggesting she works amongst the books. She is not a natural bibliophile but discovers the charm of books and introduces the reader to a slew of Japanese authors as she comes across them in her daily work. Some of the authors I had heard of, some not.

This is a story of two halves. The first focuses on Takako, a young woman who discovers she is the 'other woman' in her relationship and so, feeling broken hearted and lost takes up the offer of her uncle, Satoru, to live on the second floor of his second hand bookshop to help him out and figure out what she wants to do next. Takako is 25 years old and just got dumped. When she finds out her boyfriend has been seeing someone else at their work and is engaged to get married to her next year, her life goes into a tailspin. She's depressed, lonely and after quitting her job, a bit aimless. One day her Uncle Satoru calls her. He runs the family used bookstore in Jimbōchō, the book shop district in Tokyo. He could use her help, and with nothing else going on, she finally caves and goes to see what she can make of her life there.

The little moments that are supposed to create incisive meaning, upon closer examination, more resemble semi-meaningful glances and vaguely suggestive dialogue. A young woman goes to work in a used bookstore in this comforting tale about growing old and settling down. Eso no es todo: aquí no hay literatura, ni cultura japonesa, ni librerías, ni largas charlas emocionantes, ni puesta en situación… La novela bien podría estar ambientada en una heladería de un centro comercial en Estados Unidos y no notaríamos la diferencia. La narración, los diálogos y cómo se desarrollan los hechos, denota que estamos ante un relato banal, por su sencillez y por la escasa profundidad general.

El libro se divide en dos partes muy diferenciadas y claramente la primera parte con Takako y Satoru en la librería ha sido mi favorita, y me ha gustado bastante más que la segunda, que podría ser más profunda que la primera, pero me ha dejado con ganas de ver más. Lo que sí he disfrutado mucho ha sido la relación que se forja entre Takako y Wada, un personaje que aparece en esta segunda parte, aunque también me hubiera gustado verla más mostrada And as summer fades to autumn, Satoru and Takako discover they have more in common than they first thought. The Morisaki bookshop has something to teach them both about life, love, and the healing power of books. I was drawn to this story initially because of the bookish premise. After twenty five year old Takako loses her boyfriend and her job in the span of a day, she has nowhere else to turn — so when her uncle Satoru invites her to stay in a room above his Morisaki bookshop in exchange for helping him watch the shop several hours a day, Takako agrees, even though she has never been a reader and has no interest in books. When she arrives at the location of her family’s bookshop in Jimbocho, she finds that the area is actually a book lover’s paradise where “everywhere you turned, there was another bookshop.” At the Morisaki bookshop, Takako is (literally) surrounded by books day and night — not surprisingly, she also encounters various people who love to read. Pretty soon, Takako experiences for herself the healing power of books, but more significantly, her stay at the bookshop ends up changing her life in ways she never thought possible. Satoru runs a second-hand book store: the Morisaki Bookshop. And so Takako finds herself helping out her uncle at his bookshop in exchange for temporary board in the tiny room on its second floor. This is an understated little read: we follow as Takako lives her mundane days, developing a passion for the old Japanese literature that she sells, becoming a regular at a local café and meeting individuals each with layered stories to tell. The story of Takako, a 25-year-old woman, struggling with love, work, and self. The story truly begins when she moves into her uncle's second hand bookshop, discovers the joy of reading, and meets a cast of characters that help her recover her emotional balance, and fall in love with life once again. Each character is interesting, but perhaps most interesting are the uncle, Satoru, and his wife, Momoko, who are brimming with life, energy, and yearning.

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Sé que me va la marcha literaria, que es entrar en una librería y empezar a aplaudir con las orejas, PERO ESTO YA ES DEMASIADO! En serio, que me veo en Jimbocho, paseando entre librerías y comprando como una posesa novelas japonesas! Y, entiéndeme, más bien poco de japo...🤭 A book begging to be read on the beach, with the sun warming the sand and salt in the air: pure escapism. The story revolves around a small, second-hand bookshop, Morisaki Bookshop, and the wonderful cast of characters who call it home. The narrative centers on Takako, whose life takes a transformative turn following a heartbreak when she retreats to her family's bookstore, managed by her uncle Saturo. As the characters navigate the ups and downs of life, their journeys are intertwined with the books they read and recommend, resulting in a brilliant tapestry of self-discovery.