The Storied Life of A J Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

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.