Author: Michiko Aoyama
Begun: May 20th 2025
Finished: May 25th 2025
Type: Audiobook on Libby
Narrators: Hanako Footman, Susan Momoko Hingley, Kenichiro Thomson, Winson Ting, Shiro Kawai
Rating: 8/10
An extremely cosy episodic read. Five stories of five different people with difficulties in their life who end up speaking to the librarian at a library in a community centre in Tokyo. Sayuri Komachi loves honeydome cookies and felting, and is able to recommend books to each of the characters that somehow help them with their difficulties.
It was a really sweet story with uplifting endings to each person's chapter.
Some things enraged me though. The way Japanese companies are able to demote or fire people because they got pregnant, or because they're female. Men basically not being around as fathers and assuming the woman will carry all the burden of child rearing. The "it can't be helped" attitude. Absolutely appalling. Rather than expressing overt outrage and trying to change the unfair and sexist system, Aoyama instead causes her characters to change their way of thinking and find happiness within the system.
So now I'm really confused. Infuriated...but also somewhat mollified and pacified by the happy endings.
If you can set aside the society rot that enrages you and instead immerse yourself in the coziness of it all, this is a very uplifting and happy book. The premise is also delightful. A seemingly magic librarian who can help you solve the major problems of your life? Yes please!
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