The Library Of Heartbeats by Laura Imai Messina

 

The Library of Heartbeats by Laura Imai Messina.

Translated from the Italian by Lucy Rand.

Published 4th January 2024 by Manilla Press.

From the cover of the book:

To find what you have lost, you must listen to your heart . . .

On the peaceful Japanese island of Teshima there is a 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.

Several miles away, in the ancient city of Kamakura, two lonely souls meet: Shuichi, a forty-year-old illustrator, who returns to his home-town to fix up the house of his recently deceased mother, and eight-year-old Kenta, a child who wanders like a shadow around Shuichi's house.

Day by day, the trust between Shuichi and Kenta grows until they discover they share a bond that will tie them together for life. Their journey will lead them to Teshima and to the library of heartbeats . . .

***********

Forty-year-old book illustrator, Shuichi, returns to his home town of Kamakura to renovate the house of his late mother, looking for a way to distract himself from the personal losses that weigh heavily on his shoulders. It is a process that brings back many memories of his childhood, and the only way he can cope with the overwhelming emotions is to remove all trace of his mother from the house.

As he goes about his decorating task, he becomes aware of a small boy lurking around the house and removing items from the garage, where Shuichi has stored his mother's possessions. Intrigued, Shuichi sets out to meet the boy, and he discovers that eight-year-old Kenta also misses the kindly old woman that lived here.

An unlikely friendship develops between man and boy, which is rewarding for them both, and as Shuichi works through his grief, he also finds himself becoming closer to Sayaka, a local woman from his past. However, it is not until Shuichi and Kenta realise there is something else that binds them together, and they go on a quest to Teshima, the home of the Library of Heartbeats, that full healing can come about for them all.

As in Messina's English language debut novel, The Phone Box at the End of the World, The Library of Heartbeats is a gentle tale of individuals coming together to find a way to move past tragedy and heartache. The pace of the novel is sinuous and slow-burn, following the central characters Shuichi and Kenta as their friendship grows, and little connections between them are revealed in a series of highly emotional scenes - with the addition of an enchanting side story of Shuichi's reawakening romance with Sayaka. 

The novel follows an unconventional format, once again like in Messina's previous book, which seems very fragmented at the beginning. The story blurs in that characteristic Japanese way between the present and hazy recollections of the past (particularly when it comes to Shuichi's childhood), and there are enigmatic sections of narrative between two boys, whose identities only become apparent quite some way into the novel in a powerful twist. With a deft hand Messina cleverly brings all these threads together through a series of tear-jerking moments of clarity, which are immensely enriching, and engineers a delightful circularity to the whole story.

The theme of 'hearts' elegantly thrums through every part of this novel, from the recurring thread of 'broken hearts', to the importance of Teshima, the home of the Library of Heartbeats (in reality, The Heartbeat Archive in Japan). There is a subtle, beating rhythm throughout that draws you onwards to the healing that Shuichi and Kenta finally find together, and to Shuichi's ability to open himself up to romantic love once again, which fits beautifully with the theme. Messina plays on this with the titles she gives to each part of the novel too - and I really enjoyed how she also guides you through the emotional journey of the characters with little textual clues for you to discover among the chapters.

This is a quiet book without bangs and whistles, although there are plenty of emotive impacts, but Messina's ability to delve into the human spirit, memory, and dealing with loss, makes for a spellbinding story that works its magic around you all the same. I was not sure if I could warm to this book as much as I did to The Phone Box at the End of the World, but as I closed the cover with a final shuddering sob, I knew these characters would stay with me for ever. The Library of Heartbeats proved to be the perfect dose of life-affirming loveliness I needed on a cold, grey January day.

The Library of Heartbeats is available to buy now in multiple formats.

Thank you to Manilla Press for providing me with a proof of this book in return for an honest review, and to Compulsive Readers Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Laura Imai Messina was born in Rome, and moved to Tokyo at the age of 23. Her international bestselling novel The Phone Box at the Edge of the World was published in 31 countries. Laura teaches at some of Japan's most prestigious universities, as well as writing for newspapers and working with the Japanese National TV Channel NHK.

About the translator:

Lucy Rand was shortlisted for the TAFirst Translation Prize for The Phone Box at the Edge of the World which she translated while living in Japan. She has also translated n9vels by Italian authors Paolo Milone and Irene Graziosi, and us tge editor of the guided audiobook app, Audrey. She now lives in Norwich.