Review: The Heartbeat Library

I initially came across Laura Imai Messina’s The Heartbeat Library in my search for demo material as part of the PRH Audiobook Narrator Mentorship. I was looking for something that was predominantly in English, but wove words and idioms from Japanese. While I didn’t ultimately use a scene from the book, I’m glad I bought it.

It is the story of Shūichi, a Japanese man in his forties, who returns to his childhood home after the passing of his mother, Mrs. Ōno. It is here, in a small rural town outside of Tokyo, that Shūichi’s past and present collide. As Shuichi begins to prepare his mother’s house for resale, he revisits his memories of her as a child. Born with arrhythmia, she often cautioned him to take it easy; to not ride his bike down a hill for fear it could kill him. This extra level of protection may have fostered a sense of resentment, but as Shūichi comes to know his mother through the eyes of Kenta, Mrs. Ōno’s eight-year-old neighbor, he begins to see her—and himself—in a new light. What begins as a misunderstanding unfolds into a story of unlikely friendship.

At it’s core, The Heartbeat Library is a love letter to Japan. It speaks to the quiet and subdued—yet deeply poignant—nature of Japanese culture. It deals in the moments of life that, on the surface, seem small, but add up to become the heartbeat of the human experience. What notably stood out to me were the chapter inserts—interludes that gave additional insight to a character or point in the story. Moments that seem trivial, but infuse the novel with the kind of detail that make you feel like you’re a part of someone’s life.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys slower paced, heartfelt stories. The words that come to mind when I think of this book are achingly beautiful because of how simple and intimate it is. I loved the depiction of unconventional friendship, even if the other person echoes something that Shūichi and Kenta both long for. Their friendship is also a reminder that wisdom knows no age, and that children can often teach us new life lessons we had yet to discover ourselves.

I gave this book four stars because I felt the middle didn’t quite match up to the compelling beginning. While not an impossible read by any means, I still felt The Heartbeat Library lost a bit of its steam halfway through. It felt a little meandering, but ultimately regained its place on the path for a satisfying, heartfelt end.

I also enjoyed learning that the Heartbeat Library (or 心臓音のアーカイブ in Japanese) is a real place and that the author’s visit to the island of Teshima was the inspiration for this story. If character-focused, slice-of-life stories are more your speed, I think you will enjoy this book.