Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry: A Novel (original 2014; edition 2014)by Gabrielle Zevin
Work InformationThe Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin (2014)
» 31 more Books Read in 2017 (94) Top Five Books of 2018 (150) Female Author (282) Top Five Books of 2017 (237) Top Five Books of 2022 (342) Top Five Books of 2016 (646) Books Read in 2023 (674) Books Read in 2018 (632) Carole's List (141) Indie Next Picks (12) Books Read in 2022 (3,940) FAB 2021 (13) Books Set on Islands (54) SantaThing 2014 Gifts (181) Books read in 2015 (47) READ IN 2021 (227) Mystery & Detective (132) Books to Read (60) Contemporary Fiction (17) To Read (14) Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. AJ is a widowed bookseller on Alice Island, drinking himself to death, until a toddler is left in his bookstore. With no-one else to take her, and her mother later turning up drowned, he adopts and raises her. Now that he's sobered up for Maya, he starts turning the bookstore around, and putting in orders with the beautiful saleswoman from Knightly books. A few other good characters and a lot of literary references - some books I've read and others I haven't. Tearjerker ending, but a happy ending for Island books. ( ) Book Bub purchase-Very enjoyable read. Each chapter began with a review of a book. KIRKUS REVIEWZevin (Margarettown, 2006, etc.) chronicles the life of A. J. Fikry, a man who holds no brief for random acts, who yearns for a distinct narrative, who flounders about until his life is reordered by happenstance.Fikry owns Island Books on Alice Island, a summer destination off Massachusetts¥think Nantucket. He?s not yet 40 but already widowed, his wife, Nic, dead in an auto accident. Fikry drinks. Island Books drifts toward bankruptcy. Then, within a span of days, his rare copy of Poe?s Tamerlane (worth $400,000) is stolen, and 2-year-old Maya is deposited at his bookstore. Fikry cannot bear to leave the precocious child to the system once it becomes apparent her single mother has drowned herself in the sea. He adopts Maya, spurred by her immediate attachment to him. That decision detours "his plan to drink himself to death" and reinvigorates his life and his bookstore. Add Amelia Loman, quirky traveling sales representative for Knightley Press, and a romance that takes four years to begin, and there?s a Nicholas Sparks quality to this novel about people who love books but can't find someone to love. With a wry appreciation for the travails of bookstore ownersÂ¥A. J. doesn?t like e-readersÂ¥Zevin writes characters of a type, certainly, but ones who nonetheless inspire empathy. Among others, there are the bright and sweet-natured Maya, who morphs into an insecure but still precocious teenager; Lambiase, local police chief who finds in Firky the friend who expands his life; A. J?s brother-in-law, Daniel Parish, a once?best-selling author riding out a descending career arc; and Daniel?s wife, Ismay, who sees A. J. as everything Daniel should be. All fit the milieu perfectly in a plot that spins out as expected, bookended by tragedy. Zevin writes characters who grow and prosper, mainly A. J. and Lambiase, in a narrative that is sometimes sentimental, sometimes funny, sometimes true to life and always entertaining. A likable literary love story about selling books and finding love. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to Publisher SeriesNarrativa [Nord] (592)
Fiction.
Literature.
The irascible A. J. Fikry, owner of Island Books-the only bookstore on Alice Island-has already lost his wife. Now his most prized possession, a rare book, has been stolen from right under his nose in the most embarrassing of circumstances. The store itself, it seems, will be next to go.One night upon closing, he discovers a toddler in his children's section with a note from her mother pinned to her Elmo doll: "I want Maya to grow up in a place with books and among people who care about such kinds of things. I love her very much, but I can no longer take care of her." A search for Maya's mother, A. J.'s rare book, and good childcare advice ensues, but it doesn't take long for the locals to notice the transformation of both bookstore and owner, something of particular interest to the lovely yet eccentric Knightley Press sales rep, Amelia Loman, who makes the arduous journey to Alice Island thrice each year to pitch her books to the cranky owner. No library descriptions found. |
LibraryThing Early Reviewers AlumGabrielle Zevin's book The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.6Literature English (North America) American fiction 21st CenturyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
HighBridge AudioAn edition of this book was published by HighBridge Audio. |