I fell in love with the story and then I fell in love with the story. It was a sweet pleasure, poignant and it talked to my emotions.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A must-read for anyone who enjoyed Messina's 'The Phone Box at the End of the World.' In many ways we cover similar ground, but that doesn't detract from the beauty and power of the book.

Shuichi has returned to the family home after the death of his mother, and soon notices that things go missing or are moved. We learn that these are the actions of 8-year old Kenta, who used to visit Shuichi's mother and who doted on him. As the book develops, both come to face certain events in their past, Shuichi in particular. And behind it all is the Library of Heartbeats, where people can go and record their own heart rhythm for posterity. There, on a remote island, stands the possibility for peace and redemption.

Messina writes with such assuredness and is able to turn beautiful phrases. A heartwarming and touching novel about grace and moving on, this is another wonderful book. 4.5 stars.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

📖 REVIEW 📖

The Library of Heartbeats by Laura Imai Messina

AD - PR Product

When I was offered this book to read, I jumped at the chance as I adored the author’s previous novel, The Phone Box at the Edge of the World.

This one took me a little while to get into, as I found that it jumped around from character to character without explaining who they were. As the book progressed, I got a clearer understanding of what was going on and started to feel complete affection for the characters.

Shuichi is a an illustrator coming to terms with the death of his mother, who befriends Kenya, a young boy who used to visit his mother. As each day passes, they learn to talk about their grief and find ways to remember Shuichi’s mother.

When reading translated Japanese fiction, I get a real sense that the Japanese have a more holistic way of dealing with grief. When someone they love dies, they don’t try to hide their grief or forget the person, instead they embrace their loss by finding ways to still communicate with them even though they know they won’t be heard. They talk to them, they write letters to them and even listen to their heartbeats, helping to keep their memories alive.

I don’t know how the author finds these unusual places, but the Heart Archives actually exist, just as the Phone Box at the Edge of the World does!

This is a life affirming read showing the path to happiness after a bereavement.

Thank you to @netgalley and @bonnierbooks_uk @manilla_press for the review copy.

Found this a slow and confusing book to tart with but I'm pleased I kept with it, because it was a beautiful and emotional read especially towards the end. I was also intrigued about a museum that stored heartbeats and wanted to find out more

Suichi has moved back to his mother's home following her recent death and a child named Kento starts to visit him whilst he's sorting through her possessions and their relationship starts to grow.

It's a story of relationships, parenthood, grief, love, happiness and imagination.

"over these years, I have come to understand that without imagination, nothing works"

Like the author's previous book, this was another sweeping, beautifully written and gentle book set in Japan. Her style is unusual and exquisite; the book kept my interest in the way it gradually revealed new sections of the story throughout. Sweet, moving and tender.

At first, I wasn't quite sure about this book and was finding it hard to follow, but then I got completely swept up in a beautiful story of love, life and grief.
The language is beautiful and the relationship between Kenta and shuichi is delicately told
I'm really glad I discovered this book. I will be recommending it highly.

Having loved The Telephone at the End of the World I was really looking forward to this one but no matter how many times I try to engage with it I end up looking for another book that captures my interest more. I'm really quite sad about that! Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me try & read this book.

I loved The Phone Box at the Edge of the World and I think it was the first Japanese set book I read that has led me to explore so many books from Japanese (and Korean) authors.
This one was a much slower build of a book, and for quite a long time I wasn't sure about it at all but the last third pulled it all together beautifully and I am glad that I stuck with it, and yes I did cry by the end.

Ad/gifted

This isn't an author I had heard of before but I was intrigued by the blurb for this one.

Here we follow a friendship between an adult, Schuichi and a child, Kenta as they find their way through life and loss. This is an unlikely friendship but the story shows how age is just a number and sometimes the unlikely friendships are the ones that mean the most.

This story sees us through friendships, grief, family and love. Exploring the importance of all these things in life.

For me I found this book strange to read at first, due to the way it is written it can feel disjointed in how the author has structured the chapters and understanding how they jump but are one. I did find that I struggled to read it and understand exactly where things were meant to be and how they linked but as the story went on I was able to follow easier.

I enjoyed reading this book and it was an easy read for me but I do wish there had been more meat to the bones in terms of the library of heartbeats as I was expecting more from this side of the story but it only comes in fully at the end. But the end really got me!

I think this is a great read for anyone who loves a heartwarming read.

My rating:
⭐⭐⭐

‘The Library of Heartbeats’ is a tender and poignant book which took my breath away! I had always meant to pick up this author and her last book is in my teetering tbr pile, so I jumped at the chance of reading this book. It didn't not disappoint, it has a calming essence and touches on deep themes of grief, loss, growing up and unexpected friendships.

When Shuichi, an illustrator, return home to Kamakura to deal with the aftermath of his mother's death, he was not expecting to deal with a daily intruder to her house. Every afternoon a young boy enters the garage and takes a few objects from the myriad of boxes. What grows from this is a beautiful friendship between Shuichi and Kenya, aged 8. Both the main characters touched my heart in different ways. They are both naive, gentle-hearted and isolated in themselves. But both have beautiful hearts and I loved getting to know them.

Japanese fiction always is a more measured and thoughtful form of literature and this one is no different. It's not about the destination but the characters journey and how they adapt and develop along the way. You expect beautiful descriptions, thoughtful and philosophical prose and that is what you get here. At times I inwardly gasped at some of the beautiful phrasing. I also enjoyed getting to know the background behind of the kanji and how different symbols come together to form the final phrase or word.

This is a melancholy story but one that will touch your heart and stay in your conscious for along time. Let me know if you pick this one up!

The Library of Heartbeats is a gorgeous book, gentle but emotional and almost poetic in its writing style. Set in Japan and inspired by a real life location, it is a slow burn that takes a little getting in to but it is oh so lovely when you do!

We meet forty year old Shuichi who returns to his family home following the death of his mother. Struggling to come to terms with tragedy in his own life, he forms a friendship with eight year old Kenta. As their relationship develops they discover a connection that ultimately takes them to the Library of Heartbeats on the island of Teshima.

It is a story of love, loss and friendship, gentle in its approach but intriguing in its structure and its introduction to Japanese culture and ultimately so mesmerising that it cannot fail to touch your heart and leave you full of reflection.

Shuichi and Kenta come together through different circumstances but provide much-needed support for one another.
This novel explores themes such as grief, family, friendship and love.

This is beautifully written and left me feeling many different emotions, especially at the end. This novel does have a slow pace, but that is due to the build-up and the sensitive themes.

I have read this author's other novel Phonebox at the Edge of the World and didn't hesitate to be on this book tour.

I look forward to whatever next this author writes.

The Library of Heartbeats by Laura Imai Messina is a unique, moving but ultimately uplifting book that took my breath away. Like The Phone Box at the Edge of the World before it, it is a beautifully written and mesmerising story of love, loss, friendship and hope that I know will stay with me for a long time to come.

In the ancient city of Kamakura, Shuichi, a forty year old illustrator, returns to his home town to fix up the house of his recently deceased mother. There he encounters eight year old Kenta, a child who wanders like a shadow around Shuichi’s house.

As the trust between Shuichi and Kenta grows, they discover they share a bond that will tie them together for life. Their journey will lead them to the Japanese island of Teshima and to the library of heartbeats, a place where the heartbeats of visitors from all around the world are collected. In this small, isolated building, the heartbeats of people who are still alive or have already passed away continue to echo.

The Library of Heartbeats is a powerful and thought provoking novel that moved me beyond words, bringing to mind my own personal losses as I allowed myself to be swept away on a journey of love, loss, friendship and hope…

Laura Imai Messina has a distinctive writing style that is skilfully brought to life by translator Lucy Rand. A beautifully written and unique book unlike any I have ever read before, The Library of Heartbeats is an emotional tale that really did touch my heart.

A beautifully written and thought provoking book that I would recommend..

What a beautiful, special story The library of heartbeats is. Even though Laura Messina isn't Japanese, she seems to have learned since living in Japan, this specific, uniquely beautiful way Japanese stories often are. With a beautiful, intriguing title as The library of heartbeats I started to read about Shuishi who has a heart condition and is an illustrator, returning to the house of his childhood to fix it up after the death of his mother. At the same time, we have eight year old Kenta who wanders around the house. There doesn't seem to be anything to bring these two people together, but they are inseparably linked to each other.
On the island of Tashemi there is a library of heartbeats. A place where heartbeats from people all over the world are recorded and can be visited. The unbreakable bond between Shuishi and Kenta brings them to the peaceful island and the library of heartbeats.

Some of the things which really spoke to me in this story are:

When we really love something and believe there is magic inside of it, buy more than one of them. (Said by the mother)

Convince yourself you're happy and really believe in it, and one day it might be true.

The more you add in your life, the more risk there is of the decline of happiness.

And something that really made me smile because it is true, I tried it and loved it: when you are crossing the famous, super busy Shibuya crossing in Tokyo, even with your eyes closed, nobody walks against you!

Beautiful story, even the cover makes you think calm thoughts. Thank you netgalley for the advanced copy

I found this book to be quite moving at times and a bit slow at others. Whilst it did take me a little while to get into it, after the first few parts I started to feel more engaged with the characters and the relationships forming.

In a similar vein to it's predecessor, the story has a real life location in Japan at its centre. At first as a reader you are unsure how this links to our characters and then all becomes clear.

The story doesn't shy away from difficult topics, with experiences of grief, loss and bullying shared amongst the characters together with hope, love and happiness. A thought provoking read overall which has definitely piqued my interest in visiting the archives.

3.8 Stars
One Liner: Sweet and melancholic; slice-of-life type novel

Teshima is a tiny peaceful island in Japan with a library of heartbeats. It’s where the heartbeats of people from around the world are collected and safeguarded. Away in Kamakura, Shuichi, a 40-year-old illustrator, arrives to renovate his home after his mother’s death. He spies an 8-year-old boy shadowing the house. After much deliberation, he approaches the kid in his own manner.
As Shuichi and Kenta form a bond, they decide to travel to the library of heartbeats. Here, the journey is as important as the destination.
The story comes in the third-person POV of Shuichi and Kenta, with a few chapters from others.

My Thoughts:
I went into the book with no expectations. From what little I’ve read of Japanese Lit, I know it’s different and needs patience. The beginning is vague and intriguing, even if the pacing is slow. The story comes together in the second half. However, the book will work better if you go with the flow. Categorizing the sections can be confusing.
There is a short note about surnames and pronunciation before we get into the story. It was quite helpful.
Suichi is not an easy character to like at times, but he manages to be very much real. Kenta is, of course, a darling little boy you can’t help but empathize with. Sayaka is fine, though she seems more like a side character. I couldn’t connect with her.
I love the explanation of kanji (Chinese/ Japanese alphabet) and the mini-stories woven around them. Since the alphabet is also provided, it was easy to understand the explanation.
While the writing is melancholic, halfway through, we realize there’s more sadness and death in the book. We see themes like grieving the death of loved ones, dysfunctional families, a wee bit of bullying, types of mourning and moving on, bonding between two seemingly unrelated people (the man and the boy), etc.
A few recurring themes are happiness, past (memories), acceptance, and opening one’s heart to love. There are some ‘moral’ dilemmas too.
The book needs to be read with proper formatting. The ARC (PDF) is missing italics and scene breaks. This made it a bit hard to track the jumps. Luckily, I thought I understood the pattern, but turns out I was wrong and figured it out in the last quarter. The saving grace is that what was supposed to be story-in-story was very much a part of the narrative. I didn’t skip those sections, so I didn’t miss any info.
While the Library of Heartbeats is the title, the book is about hearts and emotions. TBH, I expected a little more about the wonderful place and the setting. But the focus is more on the main characters. I’d have loved it if the island played a more prominent role.
The book has an author’s note, glossary, and acknowledgment page, providing a little extra insight into the content. Don’t skip these, as you will understand why the entire premise has such melancholy to it. And the Heartbeat Archives is a real place (good if you already know; I thought it was fiction).

To summarize, The Library of Heartbeats is a mellow and bittersweet story of loss, grief, family, friendships, and finding love (not romantic) to have the courage to live again. It may not be for everyone and definitely not a book I would NOT recommend if you are already down. While it does have a hopeful ending, the overall sadness will further affect your spirits.
Thank you, NetGalley and Bonnier Books UK (Manilla Press), for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
******
Remaining links will be updated in 3-4 days

‘To find what you have lost, you must listen to your heart . . . ‘ - cover tag line.

My thanks to Bonnier Books U.K. Manilla Press for an eARC via NetGalley, of ‘The Library of Heartbeats’ by Laura Imai-Messina. It was translated from the Italian by Lucy Rand.

As with her ‘The Phone Box at the Edge of the World’ this novel is set in Japan and is inspired by a real life location.

The Heartbeat Archive, here called the Library of Heartbeats, is located on the peaceful Japanese island of Teshima. The heartbeats of visitors from all around the world are collected, allowing for them to continue to echo through time.

The main narrative involves a meeting between two lonely souls. In the ancient city of Kamakura Shuichi, a forty-year-old illustrator, returns to his home-town in order to prepare the house of his recently deceased mother for sale. He encounters eight-year-old Kenta, a child who wanders like a shadow around Shuichi's house.Slowly trust grows between them and they discover a connection that will lead them to Teshima and to the library of heartbeats.

This was a slow burn, character focused novel and it did take a short while for me to feel engaged with the narrative. As it deals with topics of grief and loss, it was quite an emotional experience though ultimately rewarding if bittersweet. I found that it did require a close reading.

Overall, I found ‘The Library of Heartbeats’ a moving novel, lyrically written. I was amazed by the existence of such an archive and appreciated how well the author had woven it into this story.

I found the idea behind this novel rather intriguing; an island in Japan that had collected an archive of heartbeats from around the world. This archive only really comes into the story at the end.

There are several different threads to the story, which is quite confusing at first, but does become clear eventually. Mainly it's told from Suichi's point of view - his mother has recently died and he has moved back to his childhood home to sort through her things. He becomes aware of a child who has been visiting the house and making off with low value stuff. Eventually, they strike up a friendship; Kento has an unhappy homelife, and few friends in school.

I think the story was rather beautifully told, but ultimately, I just failed to connect with it. It may simply be bad timing on my part. It certainly will appeal to many readers. There is nothing actually wrong with it.

*Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a review copy in exchange for an honest opinion.*

I’m sorry, but despite loving the previous book by this author, this one was just not for me. It didn’t hold my attention at all, although it was beautifully written. I can imagine that many people will love this however, so please give it a go.