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I saw a few people reading this book over Christmas and I’ve seen so many wonderful reviews too and as it’s only 220 pages, I thought I would give it a go as a quick win. I also LOVE Japanese translated fiction because they are so wholesome and they always tend to dig deep into what it means to ‘live’ so I was excited to get stuck into this one.
SYNOPSIS: Natsuki Books was a tiny second-hand bookshop on the edge of town. Inside, towering shelves reached the ceiling, every one crammed full of wonderful books. Rintaro Natsuki loved this space that his grandfather had created. He spent many happy hours there, reading whatever he liked. It was the perfect refuge for a boy who tended to be something of a recluse.
After the death of his grandfather, Rintaro is devastated and alone. It seems he will have to close the shop. Then, a talking tabby cat called Tiger appears and asks Rintaro for help. The cat needs a book lover to join him on a mission. This odd couple will go on three magical adventures to save books from people have imprisoned, mistreated and betrayed them. Finally, there is one last rescue that Rintaro must attempt alone...
REVIEW: I felt so sorry for our protagonist, Rintaro. After the death of his grandad, who was the only adult left to care for him, Rintaro is obviously grieving throughout the majority of the book. What’s even worse is that his grandad owned a bookshop, Natsuki Books, which now falls to Rintaro to maintain. So Rintaro, who is still at secondary school, has to quickly grow up and become mature enough to know how to look after himself and a second-hand bookshop. His distant aunt also plans for Rintaro to say goodbye to the bookshop to go and live with her. So my heart just broke for Rintaro in so many ways.
I absolutely loved the structure of the book which is structured around Rintaro and his talking tabby cat visiting four different magical labyrinths with their agenda to save books.
Labyrinth 1 - Man who reads books once and let's them die on the shelf
Labyrinth 2 - Man who cuts up books to make them shorter and therefore easier to read
Labyrinth 3 - Man who publishes thousands of books just because they will make money and not because they are good books.
Labyrinth 4 - Old woman who wants to know why Rintaro has been going around saving books.
I loved how each labyrinth represented a different problem within the book world and I felt seen, especially by the man in the first labyrinth who read books once and then never touches them again. GUILTY as charged. Yet I also loved how there was a deeper message behind every journey to the labyrinths and how the talking cat gently eased Rintaro to understand why they were saving these books. I also really liked how Rintaro is very reserved but in each scenario really comes into his own confidence and very cleverly talks these three men into sense by using their own arguments against them.
The book definitely made me question my own reading habits and the wider book world and how it operates too. Maybe it’s not great to read books once and then leave them on my shelves to die. Maybe it’s also not great to read the most popular books of our time rather than appreciating older, timeless books. But the book also reminded me that you read books the way you read books for a reason and to embrace these habits as your own. See what I mean when I say that Japanese fiction is one of a kind?
I’m yet to read a Japanese fiction novel that I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed. This book was an absolute joy to read and it reminded me how beautiful it is to be a book lover. There were so many fantastic quotes about what it means to be a reader and what books can offer us more than just words on a page. It was like a huge warm hug for all of the book lovers out there who have at some point felt alienated, weird, nerdy or lonely by being a bookworm. Sosuke Natsukawa and Louise Heal Kawai - thank you!
READ THIS IF :
🐱 You’re in a reading rut
🐱 You want to be reminded on why books are so powerful
🐱 You enjoy Japanese fiction
🐱 You need a quick, easy read
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