The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop by Takuya Asakura || Book Review

Sometimes, books are an escape or a comfort. Other times, they lead you on an unlikely adventure. Most of the time, you know which you're getting when you pick up a book. But some times, if you're lucky and you're open to new things, a book may surprise you in ways you didn't expect.

The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop was a surprise because it led me on an surprising adventure which has opened my eyes to new things. Grab a drink and settle down, I have quite a bit to say ☕️📖

about The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop

For fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, What You Are Looking for Is In the Library, and Days at the Morisaki Bookshopcomes an enchanting novel that will linger in your heart long after the last page is turned.

As the last petal falls, the final page is turned…

Welcome to The Cherry Blossom Bookshop, a haven for book lovers that only appears during the fleeting cherry blossom season. Nestled amidst the bloom of delicate petals, you’ll find a sanctuary for those burdened by regrets and past sorrows. Here, Sakura, the mysterious young owner, and her wise calico cat, Kobako, patiently await the arrival of souls in need of solace and healing.

Told over four seasons, each visitor to the bookshop holds a book that bridges their past and present, guiding them towards understanding and acceptance. Within the antique charm of the shop and the soothing aroma of freshly brewed coffee, Sakura and Kobako help their guests confront their lingering sadness through the power of stories, enabling them to move forward with renewed hope.

Content warnings: grief, parental death, death due to terminal illness, dementia

This book was a total cover buy. I was browsing in the bookshop a few months ago when, in the "Japanese literature" featured stand near the front of the store that's present nowadays, the pink cover caught my eye. I picked it up and noticed how the sakura petals on the cover were embossed so that they reflected light when the book is moved. It was so pretty and I wasn't on a budget, so I indulged myself and bought it. I didn't even read the premise.

Huge shoutout to banzisu for illustrating the beautiful cover. The popular saying "don't judge a book by its cover" doesn't consider the fact that, sometimes, you're buying for the art on the cover. When the art is this pretty, of course I want to have it at home.

Books have always been referred to as "a door to another, unknown world."

The cover is inspired by the beautiful setting of the story. The book has 4 short stories with a common plot aspect, similar to What You Are Looking For Is In The Library and a handful of other trending Japanese lit right now.

Each story follows one or more characters who are a bit lost and in need of a small miracle. They all have a specific piece of literature which holds a lot of meaning for them. In the peak of spring, when cherry blossoms are blooming, they read a part of that literature and it transports them to a magical place. There's a coffee + book shop with a cherry blossom tree, a cat, and a strange all-knowing proprietress. The proprietress helps them have a small miracle using the literature that means so much to them.

Honestly, each story itself doesn't have a lot of meaning. It doesn't have any moral or teaching. It's just a vibe. There's not much similar between the stories other than the plot aspect of the shop and the literature. The people are different, at different stages of life, and need different things. The book is just a cosy light-weight read. Something that you can pick up when you have 30 minutes to read. It's not in any of my "best" lists and will not be memorable for the stories it has. I don't have a lot to say about it.

So then, why am I writing this review? I write full book reviews rarely and it's only if a book has made a huge impression on me—if I have so much to say about it that I have to write it down and share it with the world. The stories in this book weren't really memorable. The above two paragraphs is all I have.

I said earlier that books can lead you on great adventures sometimes. Even the most unlikely ones. You have to be open to it and you may have to take up the adventure yourself. I'm writing this review because I turned this book into a mini-project and it led me on a wonderful adventure.

Perhaps life was just an accumulation of such strange and trivial mysteries.

A specific book is central to each of the stories. Hence, in total, there are 4 classic books that are features in The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop. The first is The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Coincidentally, I had read The Little Prince just before picking up The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop. It was such a cool coincidence. It felt a bit like fate. I connected more to the first story because I had just read and loved The Little Prince. I don't think I would've liked it as much if I hadn't read it. Especially since there's a little bit of commentary on the book too. I was like, "yes! I agree!" haha.

Since it was fun to read the story after having read the book it features, I decided to continue that. I decided to read the other 3 featured books before reading each of the short stories. I read the book, then the short story, then the next book and the next short story, etc.

I don't think I would've enjoyed The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop much if I hadn't made it a project. Simply because there isn't that much to the stories or characters themselves. This little mini-project made it fun. It was like a random side quest for me too. It's these small things that make life a little more sparkly too, you know?

Other than The Little Prince, the classics featured in the book were Ten Nights of Dreams by Natsume Sōseki, Peter Pan and Wendy by James Matthew Barrie, and Spring and Asura by Kenji Miyazawa. It's an even mix of English literature and Japanese literature. They were all published in the first half of the 20th century.

To give a little bit of back story, the only reason I read The Little Prince was because a quote from it is used in one of One Tree Hill's episodes. It was such a well-placed quote and it really stuck in my heart so I decided to read the book. I hadn't read it before and I wasn't planning on reading it.

Similarly, I hadn't read any of the rest of the books featured. I didn't even know of the Japanese works featured. I found out later that they're by prominent Japanese authors. I wouldn't have picked them up if it weren't for this book. And I'm really glad that I did.

Reading all of them and then reading the short stories, I understood that the author just wanted to shine a spotlight on literature that they love. Sure, it is necessary to give a bit of information about the books themselves in case the reader hasn't read it. However, some of the information and commentary was unnecessary to the short story itself. I could tell that the author just wanted to talk about the books. If I read the short story without having read the books, I might have criticised that. But I really hope that people who read it are compelled to pick up those classics too.

Are dreams we have during sleep truly individual experiences? Could it be possible that, while we're sleeping, we become so vulnerable that we detach from ourselves and connect with a different world?

I had a really fun time with the mini-project. While reading The Little Prince, I wondered how it is children's literature because some of the themes it metaphorically explores is pretty adult. And then when The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop commented the same thing, it was as if I was lowkey discussing it with another reader.

I didn't feel that kind of connection with the rest of the short stories, unfortunately. It was tempered down, which is good for most readers but I was disappointed, because I really wanted to talk to someone about those classics! The Little Prince is possibly the most read by the people around me and no one has read the rest. So I needed that connection for the rest of them!!

Ten Nights of Dreams by Natsume Sōseki is the one that really stood out. It will be one of my top 10 books of this year. It is most likely to be the top book if we're ranking by how big of an impression books made on me. I wouldn't have read it if it weren't for The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop. Hence, I'm really glad for this book because it led me to a brilliant piece of literature.

It's been almost a month since I read it and I still cannot stop talking about Ten Nights of Dreams (also called Ten Nights Dreaming or Ten Nights' Dreams in other English translated versions). I've made 6 other people read it so far and a few more have promised to read it too because of how much I spoke about it. I'm desperate to discuss it with people and I could not find any discussions of it online except two thesis papers. So I've been heavily promoting it to people in person—pretty much pushing it onto them—so that I have people to discuss it with 😂 I probably should write a review on it considering it's the main reason why I'm reviewing The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop, but I still am not through with it enough to write about it.

Peter Pan and Wendy was fun to read too. It was actually even more interesting to read the introduction to it because I did not know about the author or how it became such a phenomenon. So many people know the characters through Disney movies but they don't know that it's a book or that it was initially a play.

The copy of Peter Pan I got from my library had an introduction written by Ruskin Bond. He wrote these lines which were so impactful, I couldn't help but copy it into my notebook:

What are we to make of these protagonists who reject their societies to live in other realms? Was there something in the air in America and England and the turn of the century that produced these great works of Children's Literature? Were these works of defiance?

The last classic that The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop featured was Spring and Asura. I did not know of the author Kenji Miyazawa before but apparently he's huge and I later even came across another book by him in my library. Coincidences upon coincidences haha.

So, the book is essentially a collection of poems. I'm already not a poetry person. However, I decided to give it a shot just to close out the mini-project and who knows, maybe I'd like it. I found a translated version on Kindle Unlimited. Unfortunately, it wasn't a well-translated version. The first poem (which is spoken about in The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop) is translated fine but the rest of them were not. There were zero translator's notes or annotations. The poems were pretty much drenched in Japanese nuance and references so I did not understand them. I gave up after reading about 10 of them. Other than the first, I did not understand any of them. Maybe I will get my hands on a good translation in the future. I believe the translation by Hiroaki Sato is good but it's 15 THOUSAND RUPEES on Amazon India. Yeah, no.

The first poem explores the concept of time as a 4th dimension. In The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop's 4th story, the author tries to do something with that concept. The 4th story is different from the rest because of the characters it portrays, the time as a 4th dimension concept, and the point that the author tries to make. It also tries to break the 4th wall by including us readers in the story, in a way. I understood and appreciated what was attempted in the story but I don't think it was done well.

Unfortunately, after 3 good runs, the 4th was a dud for me on both fronts—the classic and the short story itself.

overall

I wouldn't consider The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop to be a great book. I wouldn't recommend it over others that I loved more. But I'm glad that it exists because it introduced me to Ten Nights of Dreams. I am now hopeful that I will read more such books that introduce me to new things that I might love. Other than great works of literature, we need such books that point to those great works too.

chat with me!

Have you ever made a mini-project/side-quest out of a novel? Has any book led you to another book which you loved? Will you, pretty please, read Ten Nights of Dreams (it's available for free on Sōseki Project but I recommend Ten Nights Dreaming translated by Matt Treyvaud) and write your thoughts to me?