J's Musings

When we sit down to read, we expect some things from a book. We expect fuubutsushi throughout and characters who have sophrosyne by the end of the book. We like to have frissons by the time we are done with it.

Books offer a sense of completion and serendipity every time you read, but sometimes, books talk about worlds we cannot visit and events we cannot experience. This is why we either feel addicted to reading 24/7 or give up completely.

Although there is a genre, realistic fiction that feels like our world and still provides the satisfaction of reading. So, after all this time, I have found a piece of realistic fiction that feels like a hug from your sibling on their wedding day, ‘Welcome to the Hyunam Dong bookshop.’

When a woman leaves her whole life behind and goes to a different place to start a new one; what happens? Does she find her people and place or does she continue as an outcast?

After a divorce she blames herself for, Yeongju [the main character] shifts to a new neighbourhood. In hopes of finding new friends and a place where she fits, she opens her own bookshop. Soon enough she has regulars and all of them like her; beautiful flowers, but a little wilted. The bookshop becomes their refuge and everyone is each other’s therapist. As the conversations between them flourish, everyone finds a place to return to and people to vent to.

The list of this unusual set of friends goes as such:

Minjun: The café barista trying to find his path.

Jimi: A coffee roaster who needs help to break free of her marriage.

Seungwoo: An author who looks at life like a wise old man, but somewhere needs a hand to hold in his life.

Jungsuh: A girl in her late twenties trying to find peace in life before resuming work.

All the members of this squad have vivid and vibrant personalities that could easily clash, but one thing holds them together; the bookshop. In the arms of hundreds of books, they sit and talk like kids, whine like toddlers, learn about life like students and find friends like treasure hunters.

As the story proceeds, the characters heal from their past, learn that letting go doesn’t mean to forget and that the future need not be fretted over all the time.

The writing style fascinates the readers as the characters seem like real people and events like the very complex lives, we all live. This book leaves a sense of sonder behind it and makes us think.

More than a storyline, this is a book of relations, emotions and the infinite hearts that are broken and built each day. So, if I were to rate this book, I would say it was a 10/10 read. Hope you will be able to savour the book too.

Love,

Janx [Janhavi B.]

Previously published on unleash press: https://www.unleashlit.com/p/welcome-to-the-hyunam-dong-bookshop

Picture Credits: Unleash Press