Told in a simplistic and understated tone, What You Are Looking For Is in the Library is a collection of short stories that focus on self-reflection, perceived happiness, and purpose. Consisting of five largely self-contained stories that average around 60-70 pages each, each story focuses on characters of a variety of ages and backgrounds whose only commonality are feeling unfulfilled with their current life. There’s a young retail worker fresh out of university, an office worker with a dream to open an antique shop, a young mother torn between her editorial work and her child, a NEET unable to find where he belongs, and a recent retiree left without a purpose. Each story follows the focal character through their usually monotonous days, finding the local library, and receiving an unusual book recommendation from the librarian Ms. Komachi. Through this seemingly random book recommendation and a few open-ended questions from Ms. Komachi, each character goes on a quiet journey of self-discovery as they seek what they’re subconsciously looking for; happiness and fulfillment. “For fans of The Midnight Library and Before the Coffee gets cold”, I curiously picked this up as I loved The Midnight Library and largely disliked Before the Coffee…
