This summer I have read two books about bookstore owners and
each was interesting and different. This story is heartwarming as well as fun
to read. I enjoyed the way the author
began each chapter with a portion of another’s short story. It was like a
prelude to what was to follow. Every
life has a story and how we tell it is unique.
AJ Fikry’s life was that at well.
He is essentially a loner. He lives on an island. His wife
has died and he has no interest in pursuing anyone else. However, when he finds a baby left in his
bookstore he changes. He recognizes that
the idea of keeping the child by himself is crazy but cannot let her go into
foster care. I think he might not have
been the loner he thought! Maya brought
a different story to his life and filled him with love and hope.
This book has many twists and turns. People are not who they are first introduced
as being. The policeman, Lambiase, is not a reader but reads a lot. He makes
excuses to come the store so he can help with the child. He gets AJ to buy
books his co-workers would read, begins book clubs and eventually takes over
the bookstore. Leon Friedman is supposedly the author that brought Amelia and
AJ together but when he is introduced we see that he not only could not have
written the book but probably would not have written anything! Leonora Ferris has her own reasons for
writing under a pseudonym but probably because she thought no one would take
her seriously. I think this is the author’s story becoming intertwined in the
book.
One twist I enjoyed was finding out that Maya was Daniel
Parrish’s daughter. Ismay was furious with him, a notorious womanizer, for
denying her the child she so wanted. I
did not see her killing him though. Technically, it was an automobile accident
but, he still died. Doubt he would ever
have changed despite his vow to do so.
I also enjoyed that Ismay and Lambiase take over the
bookstore after AJ’s death. Many believe
the print book is dying but I still love to wonder the aisles of a bookstore
and actually prefer reading paper over e-readers. I wonder if having AJ die was alluding to the
death of the bookstore?
There is much more to like in this book and I look forward
to our discussions.
