More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop: An Unnecessary Sequel

Posted On July 14, 2024

Hi Readers! I am back with a review after almost a month! I haven’t been reading much because work is super hectic and so all I want to do over weekends is binge-watch something rather than read. Such a sad state of things! But, I am clawing my way out of this funk. I read an entire book start to finish in a day. Granted, it was only 163 pages, but I am going to be happy about the little wins.

~~GOODREADS DESCRIPTION~~

In this charming and emotionally resonant follow up to the internationally bestselling Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, Satoshi Yagisawa paints a poignant and thoughtful portrait of life, love, and how much books and bookstores mean to the people who love them.

Set again in the beloved Japanese bookshop and nearby coffee shop in the Jimbocho neighborhood of Toyko, More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop deepens the relationship between Takako, her uncle Satoru , and the people in their lives. A new cast of heartwarming regulars have appeared in the shop, including an old man who wears the same ragged mouse-colored sweater and another who collects books solely for the official stamps with the author’s personal seal.

Satoshi Yagisawa illuminates the everyday relationships between people that are forged and grown through a shared love of books. Characters leave and return, fall in and out of love, and some eventually die. As time passes, Satoru, with Takako’s help, must choose whether to keep the bookshop open or shutter its doors forever. Making the decision will take uncle and niece on an emotional journey back to their family’s roots and remind them again what a bookstore can mean to an individual, a neighborhood, and a whole culture.

~~THOUGHTS~~

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop was published last year 2023 and being a book about bookshops, everybody was reading it. So, I did too. In that period, I had read quite a few books about books, so in comparison this one did not measure up. But, I still enjoyed reading it and felt like a regular customer browsing books in a cozy corner of the bookstore occasionally having conversations with all the eccentric characters.

And now, just in another year, we have a sequel. There are books where nothing happens but you are still moved. And, then there are books where actually nothing happens at any level whatsoever. This book was in the latter category for me. Simply the absence of content in the story was astounding. Why even write a sequel if you don’t have a story to tell? Did the author wanted to cash in on his previous book’s recent success? Did he not want to be out of the limelight? I honestly cannot think of a reason why the sequel had to be published right away when the story was a watered down version of maybe 20 pages of content.

This book, on an iota of surface level tries to talk about grief, escapism, individuality, trauma and perspectives. But, the part of the story leading up to these themes is written in a disjoined manner with the profound epiphany lasting only a paragraph. And, it is always called out, so you don’t really get a chance to read between the lines. Even if it wasn’t called out, you wouldn’t be able to understand what the hell was going on.

Now, I love subtleness in stories. I love reading about tender emotions. I love reading about the fragility of relationships. I love reading about how fictional characters overcome their grief. But every single aspect of these themes felt forced in this book. It felt like the author was not sure what to write about, and since everyone is writing about grief, he combined that to a half-baked story. It just didn’t work for me and certainly did not measure up to any of the cozy bookish translated books I have read.

~~BOOKS MENTIONED IN THE BOOK~~

Vulgarity by Sakunosuke Oda
Sweet Beans for Two! by Sakunosuke Oda
One Thousand and One Second Stories by Inagaki Taruho
The Chieko poems by Kōtarō Takamura
In Praise of Shadows by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki
Before the Dawn by Tōson Shimazaki
Train of Fools by Hyakken Uchida

~~TO READ OR NOT TO READ~~

If you have read and loved the first book, I am sure you will pick this up. But, if you have read this review, you know that you should manage your expectations. If you want to read something where you don’t have to think too much, then you should read this book. If you are looking for a lot of Japanese book recommendations here, you won’t find that many. If you like cozy books, then this is a good one. If you like to have some meaning from what you read, this might not be the best choice. I have rated More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa, translated by Eric Ozawa at 2/5 stars!

Until next time,