This book satisfied me on many levels, although member reviews from our mother-daughter book club were mixed. Several felt the story lines in parts I and II were excessively disconnected from each other. And while my seventeen-year-old enjoyed the plot and secondary characters, she found the main protagonist unrelatable.
I concluded Yagisawa most likely wrote with two potential audiences in mind. One is a young generation of non-readers like protagonist Takako, whom he hopes to draw in with romantic tension and retain with efficient storytelling, ultimately infecting them with the love of books Takako discovers. The other potential readership is established book lovers attracted by the setting—Tokyo’s book town, Jimbocho—and will resonate with the many virtues and pleasures of reading inscribed in the story.