Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses abortion and child loss.

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop follows the personal development of Takako as she recovers from heartbreak and finds new confidence and direction in her life. Much of her growth stems from her relationship with her uncle, Satoru, and the kindness and patience he extends to her. Satoru is not the only influence on Takako, however, as her discovery of the magic of reading pushes her out of her isolation and into a brand-new world with a new outlook. Through Takako’s character arc, the novel explores the role of literature in self-discovery.

As Takako begins reading more and more, she finds herself drawn out of her depression. The Morisaki Bookshop is a secondhand bookshop, meaning that each book she chooses has been read before. When she finds that their previous owners were moved by similar passages in novels, Takako feels a new kinship: “At some point in the past, someone reading this book had felt moved to take a pen and draw a line under these words. It made me happy to think that because I had been moved by that same passage too, I was now connected to that stranger” (36).