Reviews - The Nakano Thrift Shop

923 reviews for:

The Nakano Thrift Shop

Hiromi Kawakami

3.34 AVERAGE

scottyreads's review against another edition

4.5

hopeful reflective relaxing medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

hannahcpk's review against another edition

2.0

This book was... infuriating. It's giving me Haruki Murakami vibes with the sexual overtones amidst mundane ongoings of daily life - except at least Haruki Murakami has the magical realism element of wtf-is-going-on-i-must-read-on-to-find-out-more.

The protagonist was agonisingly dull. Her existence in this book was to be morose over Takeo not returning her affections in the way that she expected and wanted, and being entirely boring. Her only redeeming points were where she bucked up in the end and started her bookkeeping course.

Mr. Nakano? A womaniser. Takeo? Possibly neurodivergent. His ending story of 'fitting in'? I call that masking. Masayo? Well... I liked her enough.

But that's it. I don't know what the point of this story was... I like mundane slice-of-life stories that peer into the daily lives of its characters without needing an adventurous plot well enough, like Maeve Binchy, but this. was just not it.

mattyyreadsbooks's review against another edition

5.0

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

reemasq's review against another edition

3.0

3.5

mythili's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

amymcphrsn's review against another edition

3.0

hopeful lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

A sweet slice of life! I would’ve liked it a lot better if I was in more of a mood for it. Each chapter is a different story with the same set of characters working in a thrift shop - I started this after finishing a big short story collection so I don’t think I was prepared for more short stories.