No, this book, Dendo: One Year and One Half in Tokyo by Brittany Long Olsen, will not convert you. Yes, Olsen does talk about her church and its beliefs. If you take this as a book that covers almost two years of her life, as a book that just lets you see into a person’s life and take it as that and not as a long LDS pamphlet, then it is fine. If you are a former missionary, if you are a member, if you are interested in being a member, this would be a nice look at the world. I learned a little about the church, I learned a few lessons about how we all can be a little kinder and have a bit more understanding and patience. I learned a little about Japan and its culture and even the landscape. I learn a bit about food and customs. It is just a nice and enjoyable book, but a long one. Do not read it all at once. Take your time. This is not just because of the length, but it is a journal comic/graphic novel. Olsen has busy pages, even in their simplicity and things are black and white with the illustrations. It is straightforward, but has a few twists.
Olsen is the author of several other books and The Happy Shop was the book that got me interested in finding more. The nice thing is that The Happy Shop is not a promotion of the church or even religion. Yes, there is a bit of spirituality, but it is more along the lines of being a good person, learning about others and yourself, and even the idea of feelings and how even seemingly bad ones can help you in the long run. The two styles are radically different allowing multiple ages to participate in her work.
Wrapping up, I am not really able to say a lot about the subject of the book other than it is a peek at Olsen’s missionary work in Japan in the mid 2000’s. We meet people, we might learn a few things and if you are like me, you have a little fun along the way, too. Just remember it was an interlibrary loan book and return it on the date they asked you!