Sweet Bean Paste [J0209]

2017 - PB Nice clean condition. Translated by Alison Watts Sentaro has failed. He has a criminal record, drinks too much, and his dream of becoming a writer is just a distant memory. With only the blossoming of the cherry trees to mark the passing of time, he spends his days in a tiny confectionery shop selling dorayaki, a type of pancake filled with sweet bean paste. Until, that is, Tokue comes into his life. An elderly woman with disfigured hands and a troubled past, she makes the best sweet bean paste Sentaro has ever tasted. The unlikeliest of friendships blossoms, but it will take all of their resolve - and plenty of pancakes - to protect themselves when Tokue's dark secret comes to light.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "This shows how intergenerational friendship can work and how we co-exist despite not having a grandiose purpose in life. That simply surviving is thriving."; "This book doesn't loudly try to "fix" you. It just quietly reminds you that life still has small beautiful things left in it."; "A sweet little package like the Doroyaki that features prominently in the story. There's a quintessential Japanese aesthentic to this novel -- the floating cherry blossoms, a wise old women, a struggling protagonist, a young girl in school uniforms -- the pace of the novel is slow, communications goes through postcards and letters, conversations unfold in days, life lived out in years and decades."