Reviews

The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, by Gabrielle Zevin

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aprilthelibrarian's review

5.0

I loved this short novel, the community, the characters, the bookstore, and the way it is written. I giggled several times throughout , and in the end I cried, as I do when a good story hits me in the gut or pierces me in the heart as this one did. I recommend this book to people who love reading and love books.

stephhreads's review against another edition

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4.0

A feel-good novel about books. It gets meta at times--pretty sure Zevin refers to her own first YA novel at one point--and it's fun to catch all the literary references. It definitely has its own tropes, but that's all part of the fun, isn't it?

sxtwo's review against another edition

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4.0

As if I didn't already daydream enough about opening a bookstore...

jan2bratt's review against another edition

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4.0

I loved all the references to other books in this one.

librariann's review against another edition

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4.0

"You read Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow?" my coworker asked the other day. "YES!!!" "We have to talk about it, I LOVED IT!" says she. "ME TOO," says I. "Have you read AJ Fikry?" "Not yet!" "YOU MUST!"

(The whole conversation was very effusive and capslocky, as rendered)

And then, like kismet, I found a like-new condition paperback for a dollar at the Friends Book Sale. "Surely, this is a sign," thought I. "I must make this my next read, in spite of everything else that I am currently attempting to start and/or complete."

So I did.

The result? Take that, every other book that I have gotten anywhere from 10-47% done with! I have found a book to usurp you, a book that merits staying up late to finish, a book that panders to librarians and English majors and book lovers everywhere.

NGL, it was more than a little twee. I'd call it Zevin's take on the uplifting depressed curmudgeon genre (see: A Man Called Ove). The book includes:

Spoiler

tragic unexpected death and suicide and abandoned baby and infidelity and fake memoirs and cancer

and all of those genre-cliches that the main character must overcome to Find Happiness. Yet it was also so, so lovely. It was full of love for storycraft and books and the people who love those things. Like all books in the genre, it's made to toy with your emotions. But it was also just so SATISFYING to read.

I feel like you have to read it as a little tongue in cheek, because if you're reading it seriously, then you are the sap who unironically loves The Midnight Library, and I just...can't be that sap. Even if I did love The House in the Cerulean Sea and Life of Pi.

File under: unapologetically charmed.

alysona's review against another edition

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5.0

Got the arc from the publisher. Thank you!

I stayed up pretty late to finish this one. But the guilt! I got the ARC as an ebook which was quite inappropriate for this book. I promise to go to a nice small, independent bookstore and buy a physical copy. I will want to reread this after I have read all the short stories mentioned.

Does is say anything about my reading taste that I related more to Maya's reading than to A.J.'s? Yea for [b:Little Pea|507402|Little Pea|Amy Krouse Rosenthal|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348556860s/507402.jpg|495427]!