Publication Date: 04th January 2024
Genre: Japanese Literature, Translation
3.8 Stars
One Liner: Sweet and melancholic; slice-of-life type novel
Teshima is a tiny peaceful island in Japan with a library of heartbeats. It’s where the heartbeats of people from around the world are collected and safeguarded. Away in Kamakura, Shuichi, a 40-year-old illustrator, arrives to renovate his home after his mother’s death. He spies an 8-year-old boy shadowing the house. After much deliberation, he approaches the kid in his own manner.
As Shuichi and Kenta form a bond, they decide to travel to the library of heartbeats. Here, the journey is as important as the destination.
The story comes in the third-person POV of Shuichi and Kenta, with a few chapters from others.
My Thoughts:
I went into the book with no expectations. From what little I’ve read of Japanese Lit, I know it’s different and needs patience. The beginning is vague and intriguing, even if the pacing is slow. The story comes together in the second half. However, the book will work better if you go with the flow. Categorizing the sections can be confusing.
There is a short note about surnames and pronunciation before we get into the story. It was quite helpful.
Suichi is not an easy character to like at times, but he manages to be very much real. Kenta is, of course, a darling little boy you can’t help but empathize with. Sayaka is fine, though she seems more like a side character. I couldn’t connect with her.
I love the explanation of kanji (Chinese/ Japanese alphabet) and the mini-stories woven around them. Since the alphabet is also provided, it was easy to understand the explanation.
While the writing is melancholic, halfway through, we realize there’s more sadness and death in the book. We see themes like grieving the death of loved ones, dysfunctional families, a wee bit of bullying, types of mourning and moving on, bonding between two seemingly unrelated people (the man and the boy), etc.
A few recurring themes are happiness, past (memories), acceptance, and opening one’s heart to love. There are some ‘moral’ dilemmas too.
The book needs to be read with proper formatting. The ARC (PDF) is missing italics and scene breaks. This made it a bit hard to track the jumps. Luckily, I thought I understood the pattern, but turns out I was wrong and figured it out in the last quarter. The saving grace is that what was supposed to be story-in-story was very much a part of the narrative. I didn’t skip those sections, so I didn’t miss any info.
While the Library of Heartbeats is the title, the book is about hearts and emotions. TBH, I expected a little more about the wonderful place and the setting. But the focus is more on the main characters. I’d have loved it if the island played a more prominent role.
The book has an author’s note, glossary, and acknowledgment page, providing a little extra insight into the content. Don’t skip these, as you will understand why the entire premise has such melancholy to it. And the Heartbeat Archives is a real place (good if you already know; I thought it was fictional).
To summarize, The Library of Heartbeats is a mellow and bittersweet story of loss, grief, family, friendships, and finding love (not romantic) to have the courage to live again. It may not be for everyone and definitely not a book I would NOT recommend if you are already down. While it does have a hopeful ending, the overall sadness will further affect your spirits.
Thank you, NetGalley and Bonnier Books UK (Manilla Press), for the eARC.
#NetGalley #TheLibraryOfHeartbeats
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