Recently our senior cat died. Not completely unexpectedly, she'd had a bad heart murmur for a number of years, but still it was pretty quick - she was fine, albeit a bit wobbly for a day and dead the next morning. Which put a spanner in the works of crime fiction reading for a few days while I adjusted. For some reason I went looking at the library's ebook catalogue and there was THE MEMORY BOOKSHOP. No idea why I selected it, but I glad I did.
The story, it seems, has been a Korean sensation. I have to confess I'd never heard of it at all, but then it's magical realism, which is very much outside my normal area of interest. It's frankly beautiful, lyrical, weird and moving, just the right thing for me as I came to terms with a little furry big gap in my life.
Reading the blurb will give you an idea of the premise behind the story:
If you could relive the past with the time you have left – what would you choose?
Jiwon’s life has been slowly disintegrating since her mum died. Until one day, caught in a downpour, Jiwon comes across a mysterious bookstore. Uneasy, she turns to leave when a voice calls ‘If you open that door—You can leave, but you can never come back here.’
The Memory Bookshop stores all of one’s memories within an infinite number of books and appears to those who are looking for a reason to live. Its manager, 'K', offers visitors the chance to travel back three times, in exchange for part of their futures.
Browsing the shelves, Jiwon must choose whether to revisit three chapters of her life. But will changing the past really rewrite her future? Only The Memory Bookshop has the answers – and it’ll teach Jiwon about what it really means to live…
The journey that Jiwon willingly takes herself on is a rediscovery of family, connection and a chance to revisit important moments, she perceives she missed as a result of distraction, or lack of thought. It's the story of a teenager not recognising the moments that will come to mean so much in adult life - and haven't we all been there.
The author note at the end of the story touches on her motivations for the book, and how it's not meant to be an ultimate answer to navigating loss, but in many ways, it works exactly as that. It's reflective, gentle and surprisingly enthralling. Not a long ebook at 184 pages, it's not exactly a quick read either, as it's contemplative and involving. All in all, I loved this one and it came into my life at exactly the right time.
The Memory Bookshop
If you could relive the past with the time you have left – what would you choose?
Jiwon’s life has been slowly disintegrating since her mum died. Until one day, caught in a downpour, Jiwon comes across a mysterious bookstore. Uneasy, she turns to leave when a voice calls ‘If you open that door—You can leave, but you can never come back here.’
The Memory Bookshop stores all of one’s memories within an infinite number of books and appears to those who are looking for a reason to live. Its manager, 'K', offers visitors the chance to travel back three times, in exchange for part of their futures.
Browsing the shelves, Jiwon must choose whether to revisit three chapters of her life. But will changing the past really rewrite her future? Only The Memory Bookshop has the answers – and it’ll teach Jiwon about what it really means to live…
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