Two years ago I checked out Days at the Morisaki Bookshop and began an on-again, off-again fling with Japanese literature. The story concerned young Takako, who had been just been dumped by her boyfriend when he announced he was getting married to his other girlfriend — the real one. Terms out she was just a sidequest. Takako was forced to move into a little apartment above her uncle’s bookshop, where over a course of months she found healing and meaning in talking to people who came into the shop about the books they were reading. More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is a direct continuation of that story, with heavier emphasis on Uncle Satoru and his wife Mamoko. In the original book, Satoru’s wife had run off on him, but here’s she’s returned — but with bad news. The relationship between the older adults really made the book for me at the end: the first part, about Takako trying to date a young man named Wada and being haltered by her memories of heartbreak, wasn’t as interesting because Wada was such an un-interesting character for me. The only thing that was memorable was the fact that he lives in an apartment that’s in such a state pigs would be offended if you called it a sty. The general setting was just as inviting as before — a close-knit neighborhood dominated by bookstores and coffee shops is a place I’d love to visit.

Quotations

What did it mean to be in a relationship? I wondered as I stared vacantly at the ceiling. We went to the movies, we went out to eat, we slept at each other’s places. But if I never got inside his heart, would we ever really be together?