Book Review of The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop

A fan from Japan is the perfect backdrop for this gorgeous book.

I have decided to start reviewing books again, but this time I will do both video and written reviews. Here's my first review, with a story about why this book:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWlxWCdaCDA

The feeling of joy in sadness.

I love books about books, especially the ones that match characters with the books they need.

I also love the ability of many Japanese authors (and translators) to balance joy with sadness. The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop by Takuya Asakura, translated by Yuka Maeno, does this with impeccable finesse. The books is gorgeous, evocative, and thought provoking.

In some ways, the main character in this book is the Cherry Blossom Bookshop and its mysterious owner Sakura and her wise (and somewhat stubborn) calico cat Kobako.

These aren't protagonists in the traditional sense. Instead, Asakura wove together four individual stories through the magic of the Bookshop that exists outside the real world. The only way to enter is by reading a specific passage, in a specific book, under a beautiful spring sky, with the cherry blossoms at their peak.

That premise alone fills this book with atmosphere, and helps create the sense of nostalgia as the characters find themselves visiting their past in some way, whether in search of memories, nostalgia, the answers to unanswered questions, or the truth behind mis-remembered events.

By the last chapter, the story takes a meta turn. That threw me off for a moment, until I understood how beautifully the author wove all the tales together in an intricate dance reminiscent of that of falling cherry blossoms. This is a gorgeous, gentle, touching read.