general

• quick summary - the story of an elderly woman, a middle-aged man, and a young girl who come together in an unusual companionship around sweets to explore friendship, life, and acceptance.
• key themes - human connection, acceptance and inclusion, discrimination, redemption, the meaning of life.
• fav character - tokue; can she please be my grandmother?

interests

• what i found interesting - the quiet, fragile, spring morning-like atmosphere of the whole book + the food descriptions made my mouth water.
• what i learned - when tokue's 'disease' was first introduced, I thought it was something related to sex trafficking or slavery. leprosy didn't even occur to me. I didn't know much about it, so it was very enlightening to learn about a disease that is barely talked about today.
• fav quote - "I began to understand that we were born in order to see and listen to the world. and that's all this world wants of us. it doesn't matter that I was never a teacher or a member of the workforce, my life had meaning" + "(...) I believe it all has purpose. all experience adds up to a life lived as only you could. I feel sure the day will come when you can say: this is my life"

further reading

• follow-up context research - the history of leprosy, and especially in japan.

rating

• 4.25/5 - what a hopeful, bittersweet story. I connected with the characters immediately, and I just wanted to see them be happy. the idea of finding hope and meaning in life after so many hardships is something that everyone can relate to. knowing that you have value because you exist is a comforting thought. I have found community to be one of the most transformative aspects of my life, and stories that emphasize it will always have my heart. however, if I had to mention anything negative it would be the weird translation; some of the dialogues seemed awkward in the way that anime dialogues often do. japanese is a very different language from english, and some changes that should have been made were not present. I still loved the experience of reading it, especially in the early spring.