A review by lingfish7
Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa

emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

📖 This was such a sweet read! If you’re looking for a short, translated, Asian authored, disability rec this book is it! Thanks for recommending it to me Hali! 

 

The premise is an ex-con is working at a pastry shop to pay off his debts after getting released from prison. He is depressed and buys the bean paste for the store’s dorayaki. An old woman, Tokue, comes to him asking for a job and she makes incredible homemade bean paste. Sentaro agrees to take her on but doesn’t tell his boss. Partially because the old woman’s hands are disfigured and he doesn’t want to risk asking his boss and his boss disapproving. The two form an adorable friendship and help each other a lot. 

 

Sentaro doesn’t find out until much later that his friend and bean paste maker is from an isolated leper community on the outskirts of the city where she was forced to quarantine even long after her Hansen’s disease was cured. It isn’t until 1996 that Japan allows the Hansen patients to leave and most don’t have any family left. What unfolds is a heartbreaking and emotional story about Tokue’s life before meeting Sentaro and how much working at the store meant to Tokue. 

 

I didn’t even realize leprosy (now called Hansen’s disease) was even a thing still. And that it took until the late 90’s to start normalizing people with the cured disease to become free from their prison is wild. This is a book about what a worthy life means and the idea that a human’s worth is defined by more than what they can do. Every detail in this story was so beautiful and heartwarming. I definitely teared up towards the end. Also the letters back and forth between Tokue and Sentaro are gold. Pure gold!