三人屋

Slightly poor start, but came together from about halfway

The book revolves around a shop run by three sisters, and the lives of the customers who frequent it.

I didn't really get on with this book to start with, but I did really enjoy the plot in the middle of the book involving まひる and her husband. All the second half was more based on the sisters, and more enjoyable.

Negatives:

• The first ~50% feels quite disjointed, and I didn't get into the plot that much.
• All male characters are pretty horrible, and not in a particularly interesting way
• The book tries to paint a picture of all the people connected the shop. This means a lot of characters (that was my biggest language difficulty in the book, at times, it was a real pain to keep track of)

Positives:

• Middle plot I really enjoyed
• Sisters have a complicated relationship, and that gently played out throughout the book
• 商店街 was almost a character in itself. Themes of how Japan and 商店街 have changed since the bubble era was interesting