Review of “What You Are Looking For is In the Library” by Michiko Aoyama

Plot:

This is a collection of five interrelated stories of people who come into the library in Hatori Community House in Tokyo. There, the librarian asks each person, “What are you looking for?”

Ms. Sayuri Komachi, the librarian, is not a mousy person with black-framed winged glasses, but something of a presence. In the first story, twenty-one-year-old Tomoko is looking for books on Excel, which she wishes to learn to help her find a better job. She describes Ms. Komachi:

“My eyes nearly jump out of their sockets. The librarian is huge…I mean, like really huge. But huge as in big, not fat. She takes up the entire space between the L-shaped counter and the partition. Her skin is super pale—you can’t even see where her chin ends and her neck begins—and she is wearing a beige apron over an off-white loose-knit cardigan. She reminds me of a polar bear curled up in a cave for winter.” (p. 25)

Ms. Komachi asks her not only what she is looking for, but why she wants it. She then types on the keyboard, tatatatat, and produces several books that seem relevant to Tomoko’s request and one that does not. She also gives her a “bonus gift,” a little frying she’s made of felt.

Tomoko finds the oddball book the most useful, not in helping her find another job, but in making her happy.

The same pattern repeats in different forms in the other stories; Ryo, a thirty-five-year-old who works in the accounts department of a furniture manufacturer and dreams of opening an antiques store; Natsumi, a forty-year-old, former magazine editor who finds herself marginalized when she returns to work after having a child; Hiroya, a thirty-year-old NEET (not in employment, education or training) who once dreamed of being an artist; and Masao, who at sixty-five, is having a hard time adjusting to retirement.

Thoughts:

The loaded question, “What are you looking for?” has to do with more than just books. Each person who comes to the library is also trying to improve their life. Some are at a crossroads. The librarian is magic (or is she?). She looks and acts oddly. She asks intrusive questions, but the interrogatee does not resent this. On the contrary, they feel warmth and comfort in her presence. But they understand when the interview is over.

She is depicted with a hair bun, spiked by hairpins, from which three white flower tassels hang, a traditional Japanese hairstyle. Maybe there’s something in Japanese folklore I’m not picking up on, but my guess is Ms. Komachi is not entirely human.

Many who have reviewed this book note that it is inspirational and offers hope. While I don’t wish to detract from that, I also sensed an underlying theme. Most of the stories dealt with employment. The book opens with Tomoko, who is beginning her career, and ends with Masao, who has retired. Happiness generally comes from being a productive member of society.

Some of the off-topic books the librarian recommends seem to come out of left field: children’s books, books on worms (useful for gardeners?), or books of poetry. They are real books, listed along with other books mentioned in an index at the back. Perhaps of limited use to the non-Japanese-speaking reading public, but these are interesting all the same.

The similarities in the stories did not make them boring or tiresome. The characters are individual and well-drawn. They face different situations with unique outcomes.

I did not get the feelings of hope and inspiration that others who have reviewed the book have written about. Not that the book offered defeat, despair, and gloom, either. The reading remained interesting, despite the repetition, and the character of the librarian was herself intriguing. This was a fairly quick read.

I enjoyed it.



Bio:  Michiko Aoyama (b. 1970) is from Honshu, Japan. She has been a reporter for a Japanese newspaper based in Sydney and worked as a magazine editor in Tokyo. The author’s debut novel is Hot Chocolate on Thursday. Its companion novel is Matcha on Monday. What You are Looking for is in the Library was shortlisted for the Japan Booksellers’ Award, in addition to being a Time Book of the Year, a Times bestseller, and a New York Times Book of the Month.







Title: What You Are Looking For is in the Library
Author: Michiko Aoyama (b. 1970)
Translated by: Alison Watts
First published: 2023
Length: 300 pages