A calm palate cleanser, but nothing more.
I am a big fan of the tranquil and realistic storytelling of most Japanese books, but somehow Days at the Morisaki Bookshop was missing something for me. The story of Takako, a twenty-something woman living in Tokyo, who strikes camp and moves into the spare room in her eccentric uncles bookshop after she looses her boyfriend and job seems relatable enough. Unmoored by her setbacks, she drifts through the days by sleeping, that is until she stumbles upon a book that piques her interest and she starts reading. Soon after she regains her footing and begins anew, but despite the story, the book did carry a hopeless vibe at times. I enjoyed most of the characters and the little stories of the neighborhood, but somehow I couldn’t really connect with Takako. As an avid reader, living in a bookshop would be my dream, but the magic of the setting didn’t really play a role in the book. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop felt like an entertaining intermission, yet I’ll probably won’t pick up the sequel.