Bond and Book: The Long, Long Good-Bye of "The Last Bookstore": 07/07/22

Bond and Book: The Long, Long Good-Bye of "The Last Bookstore" by Mizuki Nomura is a light novel about the final days of the last bookstore in a small Japanese town. It's told through the memories of the people most affected by the books they bought there.

The structure is similar to the Restaurant to Another World lightnovels by Junpei Inuzuka and Katsumi Enami (Illustrations) (2015) in that each chapter is nearly a self contained story. It's the bookstore that ties the stories together.

Though it's a short book, coming in just under 200 pages, it's a densely plotted on. All the characters whose stories are shared are interconnected. The books they reminisce about are also thematically tied to their lives their memories of the bookstore.

Outside of the bookstore's closure, there are two other events that weave their way through the chapters. First is the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The second is a popular book that appears to be prophetic about a funeral for a closing bookstore.

Readers who enjoyed The Printed Letter Bookshop by Katherine Reay (2019) or Goodnight June by Sarah Jio (2014) will probably like this one. Fans of the Magical Bookshop mystery series by Amanda Flower will also find a connection with this book as there is a character who can talk to books.

There's a companion book, Bond and Book: The Devotion of "The Surgery Room" (2021).

Four stars

Comments (0)