By Michiko Aoyama
Goodreads (Add it to your shelves!)
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Magical Realism
Pages: 304
ISBN: 9781335005625
ASIN: B0BT82YGGF
Audio ASIN: B0C78VF5RX
Format: Hardcover, eBook (Kindle, Kobo, Nook), Audiobook (Audible, Kobo, B&N Audiobooks)
Publication date: September 5, 2023
Publisher: Hanover Square Press
Type: Book, Japanese Literature, Short Story Collection
Translated: Yes (From Japanese to English)
Original Title: お探し物は図書室まで
** I received a physical ARC in exchange for an honest review. No compensation has been given and I write this book review willingly. A big thanks to HCC Frenzy and Hanover Square Press! **
Introduction
When I participated in Frenzy Presents: Fall Preview 2023 by Harper Collins Canada, What you are looking for is in the library by Michiko Aoyama caught my eye. Thankfully, we could request it—and so, of course, I did!
Speaking Japanese myself and loving their culture, as well as being a sucker for comfort and meaningful fiction reads all related to libraries and books, this book was one I couldn’t wait to read.
Not only was I NOT disappointed, I was also quite surprised in the best ways possible. This short story collection is deep, poignant, cozy, and worth the time spent reading for the sheer pleasure and comfort it brings as well as how unique it is.
Want to know what I think of it in detail? Keep reading! 😀
読書は趣味です.
– Reading is my hobby.
(Pronunciation in romaji: Dokusho wa shumi desu.)
The Positive Points
This book about reading and libraries is so sweet and comfy; it revolves around finding one’s place and happiness in the world. How to belong when you feel like you don’t. Truth is I was looking forward to resume reading this book every morning during a difficultly emotional week. It was part of a few good things of those days. Which, I find, quite sweet considering the themes of this book as being cozy, comfy, and finding one’s happiness and place in the world. This story is genuinely soft, warm, charming, meaningful, and satisfying. This book feels like a perfect read for autumn and winter (which I’m in now) with a hot cocoa or coffee, a blanket, sitting in your favorite spot! It’s cozy like autumn and winter; not an “easy read” like summer vibes. Both are great, but this one is special, in my opinion.
Moreover, this book is so real and genuine with thoughts and feelings of all sorts, including some we deem as negative or shameful. It's like a small sliding door into our inner worlds and private thoughts.
Also, I love love love that it’s just so Japanese in an easygoing, natural way. The food, the customs (bowing while saying goodbye), the behaviors, etc. (like the Hatori ward; Japan is divided in wards within prefectures), and Japanese words here and there written in romaji, are wonderful. I know the author is Japanese, but it could still be overexplained or not seem so natural, yet she writes in a compelling, flowing manner. You can’t help but go with the flow and just find it familiar and wonderful at the same time.
The author includes Japanese brands despite the presence of similar American brands—in the 4th story, there is the Croquis sketchbook mentioned. She could have used a “Canson sketchbook”, which is highly popular, but I loved that she went with the Japanese one. Everything in this cozy book is Japanese. So lovely! I wondered why she had said “Croquis sketchbook” as here we only say “sketchbook” for anglophones or “carnet de croquis” (notice de “croquis”? it’s French!), so I was confused as why she’d used the word “croquis” as there is no French in here book… I had a hunch it was for a brand, so I looked it up and indeed, it’s a popular sketchbook brand! The Croquis series is made by Maruman.
The Negative Points
Truth is you can’t like all main characters in the stories. And it’s okay; but they’re all so widely different, they’re believable. And obviously, there will be one you will like less than the others. For me, it was the fourth main character. However, it’s not a negative point per se as it means it’s well-written, but just know you might read one with a bit of groaning.
You know when you read through a series with multipov and you get to a chapter told by the character you just don’t like? Yeah, like that.
In the end, the 4th story is the one I liked least. Not because of the writing or the story itself, but because of the main character, Hiroya. That guy is soooooo annoying and stupid; Hiroya got under my skin, he grated on my nerves so bad. But it’s a good thing he did! Why? Because it shows the author is talented; otherwise, he would have just been bland, but no, she wrote him so well and consistently miserable and not very smart, that he annoyed me greatly. Kudos to the author for her skill!
The fifth story is satisfactory and works as a closure in many ways. Throughout the short stories, we meet a diverse cast of secondary characters and then we meet them again in the next story or the one after. And each time we meet one of them again, they provide us with an answer to one of the question their presence had raised in the story we first met them. Because yes, their impact or background or even future raises questions—you can’t help wondering about them as to why, how, what for, etc.—and it’s nice to get their answers peppered throughout the stories but with other main characters. The nicest touch though is how all the main questions—you’ll see for yourself ;)—are answered in the very last story. It brings the whole book to a good, satisfactory closure. Also, I think the age and meaning sought by the last character brings it to a closure too in its own way, since the first MC was a young adult, and the last one a retired man. It’s as though the book is structured as a overarching story instead of very separate short stories. In many ways, they all intertwine and affect the other, like in real life. It is beautiful, and I had never seen a short story collection be written in such a way: with a narrative arc in each, an overarching story, and side characters you meet and meet again through a different character’s eyes throughout the stories. And, bonus points for the answers you get gradually!
In Conclusion
Thanks to this short story collection being so comfy, sweet, about reading and libraries, and finding one’s place and happiness in the world throughout our lifetime, I give What you are looking for is in the library by Michiko Aoyama a solid rating of 5 out of 5 stars!!!
In addition to having a good time, I also found a new Japanese author to read! This is her first book translated into English, but I love it so much, I will definitely pick up her other books in Japanese!
If you want to learn more about the author, you can visit her page on Harper Collins website, you can also follow him on Amazon author page and Goodreads. You can also add What you are looking for is in the library to your bookshelves on Goodreads and LibraryThing.
Ad Librum Aeternam 