Published By: Brazen
Pages: 224
Released On: 06/06/2024
Translated By: Cat Anderson
Nanako Hanada’s life has not just flatlined, it’s hit rock bottom… Recently separated from her husband, she is living between 4-hour capsule hostels, pokey internet cafes and bookshop floors. Her work is going no better – sales at the eccentric Village Vanguard bookstore in Tokyo, which Nanako manages, are dwindling. As Nanako’s life falls apart, reading books is the only thing keeping her alive.
That’s until Nanako joins an online meet-up site which offers 30 minutes with someone you’ll never see again. Describing herself as a sexy bookseller, she offers strangers ‘the book that will change their life’ in exchange for a meeting. In the year that follows, Nanako meets hundreds of people, some of whom want more than just a book…
Acerbic and self-knowing, The Bookshop Woman is a soul-soothing story of a bookseller’s self-discovery and an ode to the joy of reading. Offering a glimpse into bookselling in Japan and the quirky side of Tokyo and its people, this is a story of how books can help us forge connection with others and lead us to ourselves.
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Brazen for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I love translated books, particularly Japanese and Korean fiction, but I hadn’t read a translated non-fiction, so was looking forward to seeing how it stood up to fiction.
In the book, Nanako discusses a site called PerfectStrangers, where you meet people to chat. So it’s like a dating site in the sense that you scroll through profiles, but it’s like “interested in talking to someone about books”, and I think that’s a fabulous idea. I don’t know if it’s an international thing, but it should be. It sounds great, to meet people, to learn, and to stave off loneliness.
She is very honest, which is what I want from a memoir piece of writing. You never know if an author is being fully truthful about their own lives, but this came across as very honest and very free, which made it a pleasure to read.
It also has some very good author and book recommendations, and I’m all for books that lead you to more books! She clearly has a passion for books and reading; that comes across very clearly and it’s wonderful.
She’s got the right length; any longer and I think it might have got a bit repetitive and drawn out, but this keeps it neat.
I would say the first part is more about the books and her meeting people, whereas the second half is more personal about her, her past, her marriage etc. which gives you two nice and distinct sections.
My main initial issue was that it felt like reading a list – at least to begin with. Sort of, “the first person I met was Mr X and we talked about this. Mr Y was next. Then I saw Mr Z. We discussed this. He introduced me to Mr A” etc. It’s not a criticism as such, as I have no idea what it is like to write a memoir, especially in its translated form, but it would have been nicer for it to flow slightly more.
It’s not the best non-fiction book, or book about books, that I’ve read, but it is interesting, well written, and thought provoking, and offers some interesting reading ideas.
Books By Your Bedside 