| written by Alice Hause

Alice Hause is an avid reader and writer who likes to draw parallels between her favorite characters and her experiences as a mother, sister, wife, daughter, and friend. Every month, she breaks down a favorite book, offering her life takeaways and thoughtful questions to spark deeper reading and conversation. This month, Alice explores the novel What You Are Looking for Is In The Library by Mishiko Aoyama.

What are you looking for?

I asked myself the very question that Sayuri Komachi, the vibrant character in Michiko Aoyama's novel What You Are Looking For Is in the Library, asks visitors to her library seeking her help. With this one question, Ms. Komachi senses exactly what her visitors are truly searching for, even if they can't articulate it themselves.

The question seemed especially poignant as I just celebrated a birthday, which always brings about a period of self-reflection. I readied myself with a cup of freshly brewed coffee and the donuts my children sent me for my birthday and sat down for some introspection.

For some, less demands on their time means taking up a new hobby or a deeper dive into something they enjoy. A new hobby? Well, I've always wanted to try painting. I mean, who hasn't seen a painting with two black dots in the middle of a blank white canvas and thought, I could totally do that?

If I were to visit Ms. Komachi at her desk in the reference section of the library with my new hobby in mind, she would probably hand me a printout with titles like The Student's Guide to Painting, Painting for Beginners, and The Beginner's Guide to Oil Painting. But what would she recommend for what I truly need at this point in my life? That is her true gift: a seemingly off-topic book recommendation at the bottom of the page that only later reveals its true meaning. 

After a few moments of thought and the last bites of my donuts, I decided this would require deeper reflection and more dessert. Maybe now would be a good time to head to Michaels for my art supplies. I started making a list: Canvas. Actually, make that a value pack since I'm a beginner. Paint brushes. Paint brush cleaner. Palette tray. Do I need an easel? Or is that for intermediate painters? Thinking I might be a natural, I added easel to my list. And most importantly, paint. But what kind of paint? Acrylic? Oil? Watercolor? Which one is better for beginners? Which one is easier to work with? I realized this would require research, so I couldn't go to Michaels yet.

Looking over this list, I realized I would need somewhere to put all of these supplies. I went to the closet located at the bottom of the stairs. It was perfect. It already had a shelving unit on one of the walls. I opened the door. Shoot. The top half of the shelves were already full with the piles of clothes from my closet clean-out that still needed to be sorted into donate and resell piles. I needed garbage bags for that project, and I just used the last one that morning. No time to drive to Target right now. I look at the bottom shelves. How could those be full, too? I bend down to move them but realize they are full of books I am donating to the book drive at a friend's school. And I couldn't empty that part now either because some of the boxes were too heavy to carry to the car by myself. Ugh!

At this point, I began to think that maybe this new hobby was too big an endeavor and would have to wait. There was research, gathering of supplies, and cleaning I needed to do first. But just as I was about to turn my attention elsewhere, an image of Sayuri Komachi popped into my head. At that moment, I knew that just as with one of the characters in the novel, my off-topic recommendation would also be a children's picture book. The title at the bottom of my list would be Hippos Go Beserk! by Sandra Boynton.

No doubt many of you can still recite the book, but as a refresher: 

"One hippo, all alone, calls two hippos on the phone." 

And after "nine hippos come to work" 

“All the hippos go beserk! All through the hippo night, hippos play with great delight."

Tired of sitting all alone, the one hippo called two others to start the party. Did the hippo worry about the messy state of his house and how much time it would take to tidy up? Did he lament that he didn't have enough food and drinks for all his guests? No. Not for a minute. And it was a good thing because 44 other hippos later, they were living their best life partying until dawn. It was an evening filled with laughter, clunky dance moves (these are hippos, after all), and endless memories. 

That is my lesson. Don't miss out on all the joy and delight life has in store for you because you want to get things just right. Just go and buy the paint! If the first type of paint isn't right, try a different one. Embrace this time in your life and jump right in. The painting supplies can live on the floor until the shelves get cleared. It's okay for things to be messy, like having 45 hippos crammed into a small space. What was I waiting for?

As one character said to another in the What You Are Looking For Is in the Library, "Finally, you're ready to do all kinds of things. Have fun, the playground is big."

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Alice’s Take

Each of the five narrators in Michiko Aoyama’s novel makes their way to the room located on the ground floor of the Hatori Community House in disparate states of need. They pass various meeting rooms and even a small kitchen before they find a wide-open door with a sign on the wall that says “Library.” Once inside, they are directed to the screen partition with a sign hanging from the ceiling that says “Reference.” There, they encounter Sayuri Komachi, a librarian with an uncanny ability to recommend just the right book for what each visitor is searching for.

By asking each visitor the same simple question, “What are you looking for?” Sayuri can give them not only a list of books about the topic they requested but also a curious and unrelated book that will eventually provide them with just the nudge they need to achieve their dreams.

Michiko focused each chapter in the book on one person’s journey, which was told in the first person. We meet each person at a point in their life when they are struggling with unfulfilled things, whether it be a dream, a career, or their own place in society. The accountant has a dream of opening his own antique shop. “But the more I say ‘one day,’ the more I feel like it might only ever be a dream.” Or the new mother who stepped away from a job she loved for maternity leave and returned to a new lesser position and is struggling with the demands of motherhood. “I found myself now in a position where I was neither fully satisfied with my job nor with motherhood, yet I had to spend every moment juggling both.” Or the heartbreaking realization of Masao, who has recently retired. “It was a shock when New Year came after I retired, and I received none of the usual cards or end-of-year gifts. I was shaken to realize that all my relationships had been business ones and that I had no real friends after all, not even somebody to drink tea with.”

The story is originally written in Japanese and translated in such a way that retains attention to politeness, respect, and gratitude. It’s a warm and cozy read I was drawn to because it’s on the other end of the spectrum from so many of the books I have been reading lately. No murder has gone unsolved or secrets from the past re-emerging unexpectedly. It’s not a spoiler to say that each character finds themself all the better after their encounter with Sayuri Komachi.

And I must admit that after finishing the novel, I asked the same question: What are You Looking For? 

—Alice

Questions for Deeper Reading and Discussion

Who was your favorite character? What character did you identify with the most? Were there any characters that you disliked? Why? 

The librarian Sayuri Komachi tells Masao, “Readers make their own personal connections to words, irrespective of the writer’s intentions, and each reader gains something unique.” What was the last book that you personally connected to? Why did it resonate with you?

Did you find the author’s writing style easy or hard to read? Why?

Have you ever read a Japanese book translated into English? Does this book make you want to read another one? Why or why not?

In Natsumi’s chapter, Madam Mizue tells Natsumi, “Things don’t always go to plan, no matter what your circumstances. But the flip side is all the unexpected, wonderful things that you could never have imagined happening. Ultimately, it’s all for the best that many things don’t turn out the way we hoped.” Do you have any examples of this being true in your own life?

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