The Heartbeat Library is a lovely novel centering on Shuichi, a well-known children’s book illustrator, who returns to his childhood home after his mother’s death. Along with the home, he seems to have inherited an 8 year old neighbor, Kente. The little boy was close to Shuichi’s mother, who helped him with homework. His parents both work and he is a latch key child. He is socially awkward, lonely, and needs what Shuichi ends up offering him, a caring mentor. But Shuichi is also lost and needs something. We eventually learn that he suffered a tragedy that permeates his life. He is middle aged, but carries the weight of grief for his supportive mother and for his terrible tragic experience. He and Kente add in a friend, a woman they meet who happened to have an unexpected connection to Shuichi and his mother.
I read the audio version of this novel. It was lovely. I was entranced. It may seem slow at times, but I did not feel that way. I felt like every piece of the story had to belong to make it so meaningful. How each of us processes loss, grief, not quite fitting in, needing others but not expressing our needs well and coming out okay, sort of, is what this powerful book tackles in a way that sounds right. The title gets its name from a fully indexed library of recorded heartbeats on an island in Japan. The recordings are from all over the world. At the right time, Shuichi realizes he needs to go there. I highly recommend this novel.
Narration by Kenichiro Thomson was very good.
They Called me Bookworm 