Days At The Morisaki Bookshop

I listened to the audiobook version; the narration was good. I was hooked onto the story for the entire first half where Takako finds herself taken advantage of, she falls into a sad lull of life, she discovers the joy of reading, she discovers the happiness of meeting and interacting with people, and she discovers herself and her voice so much so that she is able to shout at her shitty boyfriend who was double timing her earlier. The second half of the book was slow and pointless that I suddenly found more interesting stuff to do than listen to the audiobook. It took me 4 days to finish a 4-hour book and I have earlier finished listening to 10-hour audiobooks in less than 2 days. Not a fan of the second half but the first story was cute.

2nd book in my ‘Japan context building books'. I picked it out randomly in Bangalore at Champace bookstore, because it had a Japanese theme that week (or month). Picked 4 random books. This is one of them.

I like this. It's very warm. The start of the book opened some scars and memories from one of my past relationships. It felt nice to be able to relate. Easy to read, comfortable with the pace.

Cute cover though. I will try to go to this particular neighborhood of second hand bookshops - Jimbocho neighborhood in Choyoda city.

I usually don't give this low of a rating, but I was so disappointed by this book. It really didn't live up to the expectations. The blurb promised me a whole other story, since a big part of it actually isn't about the main character at all.
The characters felt really flat and the whole book was pretty much a cliché. Therefore I didn't have any emotional connection with the story, while that seemed to be the whole point of it.

Format read: paperback
Reading time: 2-3 hours
Tags: family, friendship, cozy, family drama, emotional trauma, Tokyo, bookish, translation
Own a copy: yes
Reread likelihood: 10/10

Summary
Takako finds out one day that her long-term boyfriend is getting married–to another woman. Heartbroken and confused, she eventually leaves her job to avoid seeing the happy couple, and ends up cooped up in her small Tokyo apartment with no prospects. That is, until her estranged uncle Satoru invites her to come live with him for free in exchange for her help in tending the second-hand bookshop he runs in the famed neighbourhood of Jimbocho. Takako reluctantly agrees and together, uncle and niece learn to heal from their past trauma and grow closer as a family.

Review
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is a very cozy and quick read. If you are familiar with Japanese literature, you might recognize specific tropes that are proper to it, such as family drama, emotional distress, apathy in the young, etc. However, you will also find a kind of lyrical beauty and calmness from reading a book that is essentially about books. Morisaki Bookshop feels at times like a love letter to Japanese literature as the references to authors and their works are frequent and even quoted in some passages. Instead of feeling heavy, these references flow into the narrative and highlight Takako and Satoru's personalities by showing us what kinds of books these characters enjoy. The same is true for Sabu, Satoru's most faithful customer. His love of Japanese literature is unsurpassed, and we as readers discover many new authors through his passionate speeches.

The family drama that unfolds around this cozy bookstore is twofold: Satoru's missing wife, Momoko, and Takako's two-faced ex. Both of these secondary characters feel heavy and emotionally charged compared to the uncle-niece duo. The first half of the book focuses on Takako's journey and growth following her breakup, whereas the second half features Satoru's healing journey as his wife suddenly reappears in his life. Where Satoru is a warm and comforting character, Momoko is difficult to understand and sympathize with, but the relationship that develops between her and Takako is heartwarming.

I personally didn't like the shift in the second half as much as the story in part 1, but the sudden change of plotline keeps you interested and somehow lengthens a very short book, giving the impression that it is longer than only 160 pages. The end also felt a bit rushed compared to the slow pace of the rest of the book, which is a bit of a shame.

Overall, Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is a wonderful little book about books, family ties, and love–romantic, platonic, and otherwise. I'm very happy I discovered this little gem by browsing the shelves at my favourite bookshop.

Ok I actually enjoyed this a lot more than I initially expected. The story felt. Warm. Cozy. And Refreshing? Breezy? Regardless, it's a 3.5 for me. I wish I read more on the romance between the mc and Waku :c. But what replaced the romance there was instead replaced with the complicated yet heartfelt love story between her uncle and aunt.

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.

The four romances in this book - protagonist and Hideaki, Takano and Tomo, uncle and aunt, and protagonist and Wada - are mostly below par.

Takano and Tomo have the most realistic and best developed romance in the book, and they disappear after the first part. The aunt and uncle have a believable relationship, even though the aunt often acts rather extremely.

Takako's relationship with Hideaki is so flat, and the events thereafter so cliche, I feel as if the book might have been better off without the whole thing. Her sadness about the whole thing, as written, seems perfunctory and appears only once or twice.

Takako's second relationship, with Akira Wada, is only a bit less flat. He is introduced halfway through the book, interacts with Takako only a few times, and once they do get in a relationship - offscreen - he is promptly forgotten about.

Entire years pass between significant events, with no discernible change in the characters.

The setting of the book is so cozy but the characters lack depth. I feel it's an issue of translation, filled with quick-moving short sentences, simple language choices and telling rather than showing. I struggled so hard to connect with the characters and their relationships with one another. Why did it feel like the aunt was going to murder Takako?

A quick cozy read but focus on enjoying the settings of the story rather than the characters!

I gave this only 3.5 stars because while I enjoyed reading, I felt like it ended too soon, without a satisfying conclusion to everybody’s story. There were some parts here and there in Part 2 of the book that felt very slow-paced. It’s quite understandable since the book focuses more on characters rather than the plot, but even then I feel like the characters still aren’t as fleshed out as I would like. But that isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy reading the book. I truly did enjoy the experience and it was very relaxing. I just felt like it lacked some things still.

I would still give this a reread nonetheless. I have a certain connection to this book that I can't explain. Especially in Part 1.

This is a translated book, and the prose was not what I was expecting. It was very simple and tell not show, which annoyed me at first but I got over. The narrator's internal monologue and reactions are strange and don't seem to meet the moment, but it might be a cultural difference.

This is a cozy little book that is about estranged family relationships, grief, and how we deal with it. It's broken into two parts, the first is more about books and the bookstore, the second focuses more on the relationships.

Pairs well with tea.

I wish I liked this book more than I ended up liking it. To be fair to it, I started it in something of a lackadaisical mood and that hurt my impression of the first half, which was by far my favorite part of it. Reading about the bookstore itself and exploring two disparate but connected humans finding out about one another was very fun and exactly what I was hoping for in the book. The second half of it, however, completely lost me, and it's really a shame because I wish I knew why, too. I think I lost interest in the "new" character introduced and explored there, and was really looking forward to spending more time with those in the first half of the book. By the end of the book I felt sufficiently done with this story, which did leave me feeling sad. I give this overall a review right down the middle because when I liked it I was really thriving but when I did not like it I was just wholly uninterested, and it felt like that was squarely half and half.

Days At The Morisaki Bookshop was a quaint and charming read, somewhat like The Morasaki Bookshop itself. I really liked the idea of this book, I just don't think it was executed all that well. I found myself wanting more depth in the characters and more meaning behind the actual plot. Don't get me wrong, it's good for what it is, but don't go into it expecting depth, you will be disappointed.

I was in a terrible reading block and this book helped me reconnect with my passion for stories. Mr. Yagisawa has a beautiful way of portraying the journey of a young woman trying to move on, for whom, unexpectedly, a bookstore becomes the lifeline that allows her to reach the shore of a new beginning. For me, who usually turns to books when I feel lost in life, the pages that make up this story were a breath of fresh air in the midst of a storm.

A light and easy wholesome read. I read it as an e book but could have read way faster as a book.

Decided to read it due to the cover and it didn't disappointed.

It was just like I expected. Nothing too special but yeah still alright.

The book highlights what we love about looks and makes spot on observations. That was really enjoyable to read.

Plot wise I liked the first half more than the second. Also the sequel is finally available in the country, can't wait to buy and read it.

A love letter to reading and Jimbocho, literally immediately went on my bucket list for Japan. Also I love this sort of theme that I have discovered which is the reclaiming of life after being burnt out by work or a mundane tragedy such as a breakup in the beginning of this book.

I think in a time where I myself am beginning my young professional work life, these books give me comfort in that there is always simple solutions to heal again.

Comfy/10 heh

3.8⭐️

Buku ini lumayan banyak yang share di instagram maupun twitterku, akhirnya iseng cek di Libby ternyata ada dan kemarin akhirnya dapat giliran buat baca.

Sama sekali gaada ekspektasi apa-apa sama buku ini, aku mikir karena lagi baca Cantik Itu Luka-nya Eka Kurniawan jadi lumayan buat selingan dan tipis banget buku ini 160 pages