Welcome to the Hyungnam-dong Bookshop
Rating: 5/5Stars
Describing this book is challenging for me. There's so much I want to touch on without going on a million tangents. I started this book last year and finished it at the end of the year. This is the book that brought me back to reading and opened my eyes to a world I didn't know I already lived in. The author brings in topics and life lessons that mirror what I was going through.
Life is unpredictable, and there isn’t always someone to hold your hand and provide 15 podcast episodes on how life will get better. I found myself trapped with my own thoughts, with my feelings pounding at my door. I didn't know how to open the door and confront it. Should I say hi? Shake its hand? I was completely at a stop sign, and water filled my lungs. However, giving up was not a scapegoat I wanted to entertain. So I picked myself up and found ways to heal myself again. That's where I came across this book.
Yeongju is a character who is complicated, guarded, yet oozes confidence and wonder. She took everything she knew and drops it all to live peacefully by opening a bookshop. Learning form her employee Minjun and the people of the neighborhood, she unpack the baggage of fear and trauma from the book. Each chapter contains life lessons that brought me to tears because I saw little parts of my life within those words. We follow Yeongju as she brings in new improvements, recommendations, and stories to the bookshop. We see her change throughout the book by loving life again. Her influence and her love for books changes her community and ultimately makes her bookshop a staple of her perseverance.
A chapter called "Buttons Without Holes"
This chapter talks about Minjun, a young man who has done everything—university, long hours, good grades. He moved mountains just to get to the end up unemployed. Because that's what we all seek, right? Good grades, top education, and a support systems should have equaled a steady occupation. If you work hard enough and focus all your energy on school, you'll guarantee a job. In Minjun's case, he was taught to line up the first button properly and the rest would follow. This chapter asks question: What about shirts that don't have buttons? What about those who can't cut out a hole for a button to fit? What about shirts without buttons? If you can't button that first one, does life end?
My interpretation relates to me being a university student with lots of unknowns. There is no study guide in life—no exam, cheat sheet, or path you should follow to guarantee anything. Reading this chapter opened my eyes that, just because I don't button my shirt properly or traditionally, doesn't mean it's wrong. I will button my shirt how I want and when I want to. For the shirt with no buttons, have the courage to make your own buttons and move through life through your own lens. There is no right way to live. You are the main character in your own life. You get to decide your side quests, habits, interests, your own personal superpowers. You get to make alterations to make the shirt fit.
Yeongju and Her Books
Throughout the book, she gives her recommendations to the people in the neighborhood. As she aids in navigation, the game of life reciprocates on her. I feel like I learn more about myself as I read each chapter. Yeonju always brings in other authors for the book club to shared their insight—what shaped them to become who they are now and their backstory. I find it so fascinating that a collection of words could have a colossal impact.
All in all, I learned to appreciate the power of books have to heal you mentally and physically. For water that once filled my lungs, I can breach the surface and take a breathe. I learned to take things one step at a time. I love Asian authors because they give life lessons through the stories of their characters. It helps me understand their thought process, which in turn relates to my life. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to heal slowly, steadily, and leave your heart as warm as that coffee you brewed for yourself.
This saved me
Fav Quotes
“A day well spent is a day well lived” - Yeongjun
“I like that you’re a logical person. But sometimes logic doesn’t make great people, because you’ll always place logic above your heart. And you’ll claim to not know your feelings when in fact, you do” - Jimi
Mood Board
