Dojmująco smutna, ale niezwykle ciekawa książka. Porusza ważne tematy, którym dotychczas nie poświęciłam uwagi.

‘I’ve heard plenty of juvenile idealism, tons of lukewarm optimism. (...). I’m tired of it' - Yeah, you and me both, sister...

I solemnly swear, this is the last time I get lured in by a Japanese book with a cute title 😅 This is so clearly not my genre and yet I keep trying again and again: The Cat Who Saved Books We'll Prescribe You a Cat The Kamogawa Food Detectives Before the Coffee Gets Cold The Vanishing Cherry Blossom Bookshop I did not particularly enjoy any of these books, my reactions ranged from meh to mildly annoyed.

This one was definitely on the "mildly annoyed" side of things. I could agree with some of the message of this story, about the power of literature, but the way it was told... I found it infantile and obnoxious. And the writing felt clunky, although I am taking into account that translation might have hurt it.

While it is certainly interesting and informative I did not enjoy this book very much. Partially because of my expectations, which were high and apparently misplaced. I expected mostly science and facts. What I got was mostly essay/memoir/random musings on life. But even if I set my expectations aside I find it mildly annoying that the author repeats the same information multiple times across chapters, gets overly sentimental, and presents well-know facts as brilliant insights (the negative impact of colonialism lasts to this day? who would have thought...).