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A review by a_chickletz
The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland
3.0
I think I'll be one of the first to give this book a solid 3 stars.
I love to read. I love books that feel like a love letter to reading. I love characters that love books and know books.
The bulk of why I knocked this book from a two star raiting is going to be put behind spoiler cut.
Item #1: The Abusive Ex Who Either Has OCD, some unsaid mental illness, or Is JUST A REALLY AWFUL PERSON?: The author lets us know that something is not so right with the ex boyfriend who is called Rob. Rob apparently is abusive... because everything has to be perfect/he has to be in control.. An example being he gets out of bed to clean the main character's shoes and place them at a perfect 90* angle, which creeps out the main character. Then she is late to a dinner that he was making at his apartment for them, ruining the said moment of having the dinner. Then, when she decided to add to the fire by getting another tattoo he slaps her because she didn't tell him/discuss it with him. The fuck? It is never exactly stated what is going on or what Rob is diagnosed with, just that he fails to take his medication and he 'fails' to get help... Oh, btw, he burns down the bookshop with the main character in it... wtf. I feel like the author didn't really do research and used a blanket 'unsaid diagnosis' to fill in what is going on with him. Um. No, that's not how it works. What he is showing is signs of a dozen different disorders and not all of them are entirely linked to one another. Will we ever know what Rob was diagnosed with? No.
Item 2: The Malaysian coworker that the main character works with who does nothing but add to the scenery and get beat up by the ex. This character was poorly handled through the entire thing and the author apparently made her a bitch with ESL issues. Then, when the ex boyfriend actually beats up the girl (her name is Melodie), the main character feels guilty because she didn't tell anyone because of her own issue with Rob. But, the author made a comment that after Melodie got beat up she was less annoying. THE FUQ? The girl's jawbone was shattered and she's less annoying now because of that? How is that a good thing?
If you can take into account those two issues, everything else seems to be in order. But honestly, those two issues brought the book down for me. Now thinking more about it after writing all that, it's still a three star read. It's just bland. Bland bland bland.
I love to read. I love books that feel like a love letter to reading. I love characters that love books and know books.
The bulk of why I knocked this book from a two star raiting is going to be put behind spoiler cut.
Spoiler
Item #1: The Abusive Ex Who Either Has OCD, some unsaid mental illness, or Is JUST A REALLY AWFUL PERSON?: The author lets us know that something is not so right with the ex boyfriend who is called Rob. Rob apparently is abusive... because everything has to be perfect/he has to be in control.. An example being he gets out of bed to clean the main character's shoes and place them at a perfect 90* angle, which creeps out the main character. Then she is late to a dinner that he was making at his apartment for them, ruining the said moment of having the dinner. Then, when she decided to add to the fire by getting another tattoo he slaps her because she didn't tell him/discuss it with him. The fuck? It is never exactly stated what is going on or what Rob is diagnosed with, just that he fails to take his medication and he 'fails' to get help... Oh, btw, he burns down the bookshop with the main character in it... wtf. I feel like the author didn't really do research and used a blanket 'unsaid diagnosis' to fill in what is going on with him. Um. No, that's not how it works. What he is showing is signs of a dozen different disorders and not all of them are entirely linked to one another. Will we ever know what Rob was diagnosed with? No.
Item 2: The Malaysian coworker that the main character works with who does nothing but add to the scenery and get beat up by the ex. This character was poorly handled through the entire thing and the author apparently made her a bitch with ESL issues. Then, when the ex boyfriend actually beats up the girl (her name is Melodie), the main character feels guilty because she didn't tell anyone because of her own issue with Rob. But, the author made a comment that after Melodie got beat up she was less annoying. THE FUQ? The girl's jawbone was shattered and she's less annoying now because of that? How is that a good thing?
If you can take into account those two issues, everything else seems to be in order. But honestly, those two issues brought the book down for me. Now thinking more about it after writing all that, it's still a three star read. It's just bland. Bland bland bland.