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A review by livrad
The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald
2.0
Sara and Amy are book-loving pen pals, and just when Sara makes the trip from Sweden to small town Iowa to meet, she arrives right after Amy has died. She then stays in town for a while, opening a bookshop from all of Amy's books, despite the fact that the dead-end town isn't full of other readers.
This is a book strictly for book lovers, as it is as much about the plots of other books as it is about its own plot—probably more so, considering how little happens in this book. Even though I love reading and books and books about books, this novel was too sleepy. It had several elements I would normally love in a book (small town setting, ensemble cast, bookish plot, Nordic influences); however, the final product just wasn't to my liking.
The blurb compares it to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which was a grand mistake, as this just doesn't reach the same depth or impact. There was a shallowness to the plot that leaned too much toward a cozy book vs. contemporary fiction, let alone literary fiction. And many of the characters were one dimensional or forgettable.
This is a book strictly for book lovers, as it is as much about the plots of other books as it is about its own plot—probably more so, considering how little happens in this book. Even though I love reading and books and books about books, this novel was too sleepy. It had several elements I would normally love in a book (small town setting, ensemble cast, bookish plot, Nordic influences); however, the final product just wasn't to my liking.
The blurb compares it to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which was a grand mistake, as this just doesn't reach the same depth or impact. There was a shallowness to the plot that leaned too much toward a cozy book vs. contemporary fiction, let alone literary fiction. And many of the characters were one dimensional or forgettable.