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The Nakano Thrift Shop by Hiromi (Translated…
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The Nakano Thrift Shop (original 2005; edition 2016)

by Hiromi (Translated by Allison Markin Powell) Kawakami (Author)

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6082338,440 (3.41)75
In the Nakano Thrift Shop, the young woman who works the register falls for her reserved co-worker and asks her employers sister for advice in attracting him and soon comes to realize that love requires acceptance of idiosyncrasies and secrets.
Member:cransell
Title:The Nakano Thrift Shop
Authors:Hiromi (Translated by Allison Markin Powell) Kawakami (Author)
Info:Portobello Books, London, England (2016), Edition: First Edition
Collections:Your library
Rating:***1/2
Tags:2017, Fiction, Books in Translation, Japan, Work, Relationships, Read Harder 2017

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The Nakano Thrift Shop by Hiromi Kawakami (2005)

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» See also 75 mentions

English (16)  German (2)  Spanish (1)  Danish (1)  French (1)  All languages (21)
Showing 1-5 of 16 (next | show all)
3.5⭐

“There are plenty of people in the world I don’t dislike, some of whom I almost like; on the other hand, I almost hate some of those whom I don’t dislike, too. But how many people did I truly love?”

The Nakano Thrift shop by Hiromi Kawakami is a quiet slow paced story that is in turn funny, thought-provoking and insightful. A slice of life story that focuses on the owners and the employees of a second-hand shop in Western Tokyo ( no antiques, please!), the story is narrated in the first person by our protagonist, Hitomi, an employee of the shop who embarks on a complicated on/off relationship with her colleague Takeo, who comes across as socially awkward and difficult to read resulting in confusion, anxiety and heartbreak for Hitomi. After a brief introduction to the shop , the larger part of the narrative is divided into different segments, each featuring an item that is either being acquired or sold in the shop. As the narrative takes us through the daily working of the shop we get to meet the store owner Mr. Nakano and his artist sister Masayo, both of whom lead interesting lives. Their respective eventful personal lives result in some humorous situations, awkward (but often meaningful) conversations and unlikely complications for Hitomi and Takeo who find themselves entangled in the lives of their employers.

The author skillfully touches upon themes of love, relationships, friendship, acceptance, and trust. It should be mentioned that the characters in this story are ordinary people, with ordinary people problems. Love and relationships as depicted in this story are not all about grand gestures or dramatic outbursts. As these characters go about their days at work or in their personal lives, the emphasis is on the simple, even banal, but important everyday things-– what we say or don’t say to one another, what we do or don’t do for each other, our willingness to accept the other person with his/her flaws and vice versa and how we cope when things do not go according to plans or as per our expectations, the lessons we learn and how we evolve as individuals.

“It was as if everyone doled themselves out in such small portions. Never completely open, not all at once.”

This book might not be for everyone as some might find the story too slow or bland but with its simple yet elegant prose, concise writing, an
interesting setting and a wonderful cast of characters, I found The Nakano Thrift Shop by Hiromi Kawakami (translated by Allison Markin Powell) to be an enjoyable read. ( )
  srms.reads | Sep 4, 2023 |
Well there isn't a plot, so that was a problem for me.
  blueskygreentrees | Jul 30, 2023 |
Lots of cryptic dialogue and inferences. Never really got into it until the ending, which was the most delineated part of the book. ( )
  smylly | Mar 20, 2023 |
A sweet story of a young woman who works at a thrift shop, its owner and his sister, and a young man who drives the shop truck. ( )
  Perednia | Jan 1, 2022 |
A gentle, rambling, slightly hard-to-follow story about a young woman who works in a thrift shop and the people she encounters there. The closest thing the book has to a main plot is a romantic connection between two of the characters, but it is thin, disappears for long periods, and is implied more than it is really featured.

I'm not sure if it was a side-effect of the translation, poor editing, or a quirk that was carried over from the Japanese version of the book, but about half the dialogue in the books wasn't marked in any way, but just presented mixed in with the narration. That made it a challenge at times to tell whether a character was speaking, or being paraphrased, or if the narrator was thinking something. There were also a lot of quirks of language and habit which might have been just as inexplicable and weird in Japanese, or would make sense with cultural context that I don't have.

I enjoyed reading this book while I was doing it, but I kept hoping and half-expecting that it would come together in a way that would make sense, and it never did. The book introduces a lot of elements that simply seem to be there for flavor without ever leading to anything. At the same time, none of them were important or interesting enough to justify a sequel. It feels like a short story that got expanded into a novel, with lots of diversions and doglegs to pad it out. ( )
  wishanem | May 27, 2021 |
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» Add other authors (4 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Hiromi Kawakamiprimary authorall editionscalculated
Powell, Allison MarkinTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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In the Nakano Thrift Shop, the young woman who works the register falls for her reserved co-worker and asks her employers sister for advice in attracting him and soon comes to realize that love requires acceptance of idiosyncrasies and secrets.

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