Friday 26 July 2019

The storied life of AJ Fikry - Gabrielle Zevin



Paperback, 243 pages
Published 2015 by Abacus (first published April 4th 2014)
Fiction
Library

This was another one of the the library is closing, let's grab a lot of books, book.

Character driven, nothing major happen, but all way through a really good book. Oh oh, it would make a good movie too!

AJ Fikry is a widower, he owns a bookstore, he drinks too much and he is grumpy. He is a total lit snob too, but, oh I forgive you. Of course if we ever met he would totally have looked down on my taste in books.

Amelia is a sales rep that comes to his shop a few times a year. Grumpy weirdo is the thought she leaves with, but she is still a constant in his life.

There is the cop that checks up on him and buys a lot f crime books cos of it. I liked him.

Then his priced possession is stolen!

And then the parcel arrives and his whole life changes, for the better. A grumpy sad man can also change. 

It was a pleasant and lovely read. It was all about these characters. A great random pick! 

We are not quite novels.

We are not quite short stories.

In the end, we are collected works.

A. J. Fikry's life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died; his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history; and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island—from Chief Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who's always felt kindly toward him; from Ismay, his sister-in-law, who is hell-bent on saving A.J. from his dreary self; from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic (if eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who persists in taking the ferry to Alice Island, refusing to be deterred by A.J.'s bad attitude. Even the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. These days, he can only see them as a sign of a world that is changing too rapidly.
And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore. It's a small package, though large in weight—an unexpected arrival that gives A.J. the opportunity to make his life over, the ability to see everything anew. It doesn't take long for the locals to notice the change overcoming A.J., for the determined sales rep Amelia to see her curmudgeonly client in a new light, for the wisdom of all those books to become again the lifeblood of A.J.'s world. Or for everything to twist again into a version of his life that he didn't see coming.

24 comments:

  1. I've had my sister's copy of this for a while but haven't felt compelled to pick it up.

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  2. I'm glad you had a good time with this one. I've never heard of it before.

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  3. Glad your random “the library is closing book” was a good solid read for you. It sounds interesting.

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  4. I want to own a book store someday.

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  5. I enjoy character driven stories. This guy would probably look down his nose at my reading choices, too, lol. Hopefully, he loosened up. :)

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    1. He was such a snob, he would have hated my bookshelf

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  6. Hmm I read this awhile back but now you make me think I should reread it and enjoy it again. Maybe its on audio.

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  7. It's the first time I know about this one I confess

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  8. You're library closed?? that's so horrible. Sorry, I've been a bit MIA.

    Melanie @ Hot Listens & Books of My Heart

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    1. yes! Sobs and this was my last library time before work and daycare

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  9. Sounds nice and yay for great yet random picks!

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  10. This sounds like a good one. I think he would have looked down on my taste in books too lol

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    1. Oh yes, what a snob, but he had a good heart and changes

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  11. I had read something else by her and didn't like ti but I didn't know about this one.

    Karen @ For What It's Worth

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  12. Yayy love when a random book is good!

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