This unusual and touching little tale is set in Japan and tells the story of Sentaro, who works in a confectionery shop making and selling dorayaki, pancakes filled with traditional Japanese sweet bean paste. Life hasn’t been good to him, he lives alone, has debts to clear, and is often lonely. One day an old lady turns up claiming to make the best sweet bean paste ever. Sceptical of hiring such and old and infirm woman, Sentaro is soon won over by her sweet bean past and what follows will change his life for ever. It’s a gentle and sentimental tale, but just about stops short of becoming cloying, and I found it a compelling and heart-warming story of outsiders who come together and manage to give new meaning to their lives.

This book was a pleasant surprise and it read almost like a fairytale.

Sentaro is a man who works in a dorayaki shop but he feels no emotion nor attachment to the place, it's just a mere obligation for him. One day an older woman, Tokue, who shows clear signs of a past desease on her body, asks him to take her in and to let her work in his shop. She's been cooking sweet bean paste for the past 50 years of her life and her process enraptures Sentaro who's willing to dedicate himself to his work with more passion and interest than before. Prejudices about her desease force him to lay her off though and that's why Sentaro feels more invested in her life outside the shop, he wants to know how's she's coping and will find in her a precious friend, a friend who'll inspire him to live his life free from impositions that life will place on his path. "You just need to Listen." Tokue will tell him, and it'll take him some time to truly understand what she means by that.

I really enjoyed this book. As I said before it felt like reading a fairy tale, the cultural setting is enchanting and captivating and the overall story truly poetic. I rated it 3 stars only because I would have enjoyed if the characters had been flashed out a little bit more, I wanted to find them engaging but sometimes the story would take over and I wouldn't be given the chance to know them a little better. Nevertheless I really liked this book and I'd recommend it to whomever was interested in it!

Sweet Bean Paste is a modest and unassuming short novel that is so full of empathy one can't help but love it. Very quiet, slow-moving, almost meditative, and told in direct straightforward prose, it is beautiful and sad but not overly sentimental. A very touching reflection on loneliness and finding meaning in unexpected ways. This book's key message is one that will stay with me.

Sentaro si sente un fallito.

Ha rinunciato al suo sogno di diventare uno scrittore, e dopo un periodo in carcere lavora di malavoglia in un baracchino di doriyaki, dolci giapponesi farciti di crema di fagioli rossi. Preferirebbe decisamente lavorare in un bar, data la sua passione per gli alcolici, ma ha un debito da pagare - e la dignità di volerlo saldare.

l'incontro con Tokue, anziana sorridente dalle dita contorte e dal meraviglioso talento per la pasticceria, cambia le carte in tavola per lui e per Wakana, adolescente in cerca di conforto che frequenta il baracchino.

Perché attraverso la scoperta del passato di Tokue i più giovani scoprono anche il coraggio di cambiare, e cercare la propria via, senza lasciarsi influenzare da ciò che è stato.

delicato romanzo sulle seconde possibilità, mette in scena tre generazioni apparentemente sconfitte dalla vita, che nel succedersi delle stagioni prendono in mano il loro destino, riconoscendo il valore di ogni vita, ogni esperienza, ogni attimo.

Da questo bel romanzo è stato tratto un film altrettanto suggestivo, Le ricette della signora Toku: non consiglio l'uno o l'altro, ma solo di goderseli entrambi. :)