Friday, September 11, 2015

Fiction Review: The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry


Back in January, I gave one of my friends The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin for her birthday because I’d heard it was an uplifting novel about books. I finally got a chance to read it myself last month when my husband gave me my own copy for my birthday. I absolutely loved this warm, moving, funny novel that is full of literary references.

A.J. Fikry is the grumpy owner of a bookstore on tiny Alice Island, off the coast of Massachusetts. Although A.J. loves books and reading, his wife, Nic, was the enthusiastic salesperson, and now that she is gone, he lives alone over the struggling bookstore. As the novel opens, a new publishing sales rep named Amelia is on her way to visit A.J. and Island Books; her predecessor warned her about A.J.’s particular tastes and demeanor. In her brief meeting with A.J., his dismissive manner is true to form.

That evening, as with most others, A.J. closes the bookstore, goes upstairs, and drowns his sorrows in a bottle of wine and a frozen dinner, sharing the table with his most prized possession, a rare volume of early Poe poems. In the morning, the mess is cleaned up, and his rare book is missing, so A.J. hurries to the police station in the first of many hilarious scenes in this novel. Soon after, something unexpected is left in the bookstore, something that changes A.J.’s life forever.

I won’t describe more of the plot because half the fun of this novel is its unexpected twists and turns. Main characters besides A.J. and Amelia include the local police chief Lambiase, who enjoys reading detective novels, and A.J.’s sister-in-law, Ismay, and her husband, Daniel, who writes novels. As A.J.’s life changes, so does the bookstore, and the whole community with it.

Each chapter opens with a brief synopsis of a short story, apparently a collection of A.J.’s favorites, with reasons why he likes them, though it isn’t clear at first to whom he is writing these missives. In addition, books, reading, and literary references are woven throughout the book, in the bookstore’s business, A.J.’s reading, the books Amelia represents, and Lambiase’s evolving tastes, as A.J. recommends books to him.

Overall, this is a warm, uplifting, clever novel about opening up to all that life has to offer, about serendipity, and about books and love. And it is funny – often laugh-out-loud, hilariously funny. My husband kept looking at me curiously as I read in bed at night, saying he had never heard me laugh so much while reading! It also includes some sadness, as does life, but overall it’s a fun, joyful ride that I never wanted to end – one of those books that you finish reading and just hold to your chest and sigh. I loved every moment of it (and now I want to read all of the short stories A.J. recommended!).

258 pages, Algonquin Books
 
HighBridge
 

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.


Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/ordownload it from Audible.

 

Or get this audiobook from Libro.fm and support local bookstores (audio sample here, too).

 

Print and e-book from Amazon.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!



  

6 comments:

  1. I will interested to hear how this book "settles." I really, really liked it and then realized, about two months later that the plot was fading at a remarkably fast rate in my brain.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Doesn't really matter to me if the plot fades from memory because it made me feel so good while I was reading it! that pleasure will certainly stick with me! And this is one I will definitely read again - a feel-good novel perfect for times when I'm feeling down.

      Delete
  2. I love it when a book makes me laugh -- it happens so rarely because not many authors can hit that sweet spot for me, but when it does, I am a fan. This one sounds like so much fun!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was, Verushka! Just pure reading pleasure :)

      Delete
  3. Anonymous7:54 PM

    I have the audio of this one but haven't started it yet. From your write up I can tell I'm going to like it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, I bet it would be really fun on audio! Hope you enjoy it

      Delete