Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - The Stationery Shop

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali

101 reviews

nataliecoyne's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Words cannot express how much I loved this book. It is such an easy 5 stars and I now really admire Marjan Kamali's writing. I loved her other book that I read, <i>The Lion Women of Tehran</i>, but it's entirely possible that I loved this one even more. The story is so beautiful, albeit tragic at times. And it felt very <i>real.</i> It didn't feel like I was watching some cheesy romance movie.

At first, I didn't really understand the decision to include a romance between Ali and [name I'm not including to avoid spoilers], when I read the chapter with introducing that romance at the beginning of part 2 I was like "okay, this is random??" But, by the end, it made a lot of sense.

I absolutely would recommend this to others. Easy 5 stars.

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obx_mt's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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rapitash's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

Although I tried to go into this book as blindly as possible, I fear that the blurb/summary of the novel gave me unrealistic expectations. Instead of a tragic story of two lovers who are torn apart by political machinations outside of their control, the novel delivered a much more generic love story that uses the 1953 Iranian coup as a backdrop more than as an actor. (And I would’ve loved to see more of the politics at the forefront, I can’t lie.)

It doesn’t help that I didn’t particularly care about Roya and Bahman’s relationship. There were red flags from the beginning, clearly more of an issue than the political context. It felt childish and puppy-esque, and for two people who had only known each other for six months and changed wildly after their engagement was over, it was hard to believe that they were still so devoted to each other.

I wasn’t ever convinced that if they had married, they would’ve ended up happy, either, and so it disappointed me when the narrative had made it seem that there would've been more to their lives if they had remained together. It made me feel so bad for Walter.

The back half of the novel was more engaging to me than the beginning, but it disappointed me because it skipped over so much time, and such pivotal moments in Roya’s life were glossed over.

Like what happened with Roya’s parents? Apparently they never met her son and had stayed in Iran, but we don’t know when they died or what happened to them post the Iranian Revolution. On Bahman’s end, we never find out how he ended up in America, or how his life was impacted by the Iranian Revolution, which he had clearly lived through.

What did devastate me, however, was

Badri and Ali. Badri was 14 and knew Ali was going to take advantage of her. And while he was in love with her, that’s exactly what he did. The consequences of that relationship and Ali’s cowardice resulted in so much pain for Badri that it stuck with me after the novel, more so than what had happened with Roya and Bahman.

Overall, this was a very easy read, and I enjoyed the prose, but my lack of interest in Roya and Bahman made it difficult to enjoy. Every time I learnt something interesting about them it was glossed over, which made it hard for me to properly connect to them. I really wish that there had been more of an intertwined narrative with some of the other characters—Zari comes to mind, more Mrs Aslan, and potentially Walter, who I liked a lot, or even more Claire—if only because their stories had felt more interesting to me.

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pagesofash's review against another edition

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challenging sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

It's a brilliant story, it's just not for me, despite how well written it is and how layer the characters are, despite the confronting history that makes me realise my privilege and question my perspective I just can't love a story that makes me feel sad from start to finish.

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joymargot's review against another edition

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4.0

I knew absolutely nothing about this but it caught my eye because I love stationery and wow, what a great find! It’s a beautiful tale of love and family set against the backdrop of 1950s Iran.

As others have remarked, some of the character development feels a bit thin on the ground but the imagery is so rich and immersive.

If you enjoyed this, you might also like Letters from the Ginza Shihodo Stationery Shop.

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natreadthat's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Amidst the rising Iranian revolution, two kids find solace in one another as their love story blossoms. A chance encounter more than sixty years later leads Roya back to Bahman, the boy she was going to marry. Will she finally learn why he never met her in the square all those years ago?

This story is not a happy one, it’s a tale of love, loss, and forgiveness. What would you do if the lost love of your life resurfaced decades later? How would your current partner handle it? The story follows Roya as she grows up, heals from heartbreak, leaves her country to attend college, marries, and crosses paths with Bahman once again. There are different kinds of love in the human experience, and this was a great reflection of that.

I really, really loved The Lion Women of Tehran (read it!!) and was hoping The Stationary Shop would be just as excellent. It was good, but Lion Women is my favorite Kamali so far! And wowee, check out that beautiful cover! 🤩

bookstagram: @natreadthat

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elizabethpowers's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

had to force myself to read it and finish it but at the end i was glad I did? some parts were really good but overall felt like something was missing, and I didn't really care for the characters. it was pretty predictable and followed some of the cliches and tropes of the notebook. i was surprised by random explicit parts that weren't needed at all.

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