This was another of those “cat books.” I loved the last one and did not care for this one as much. There was so much unspoken tension where I was like “JUST TELL THEM THAT THING” that it was a stressful read even though it’s a gentle story of a (maybe depressed) woman in Japan who is not sure what to do with her life. She spends a lot of time at a family-owned bookstore, at first wallowing and later getting into the scheme of things. She develops a love of reading which helps sort it all out and preps her for managing the family drama that is coming down the road. There is a sequel and I will probably not read it.