Book Review: The Storied Life Of AJ Fikry
This book review is about “The Storied Life Of AJ Fikry”, a New Yorks Times bestseller. It’s about a book seller who lives above his store.
My Review:
A.J. Fikry is a book seller on Alice Island. He abhors electronic reading. He loves the books lining the bookshelves, just waiting for someone to choose them.
His wife is dead and his life is pretty predictable. Book sales are down, and a rare collection of Poe poems, which he cherished, has been stolen.Â
Then life becomes totally unpredictable. He comes in from a run, and finds the front door is open.Â
He hears a cry, and finds a young child plopped on the floor in his bookstore. There is a note left for him. The note says that the mother wants her child, Maya, to live there at the bookstore and be a reader.Â
An Abandoned Child:
The mother writes that she has no one to help her. Her baby’s father is not in her life. And the child is 25 months old. She wants her child to grow up in a place with books, and among people who care about such things.Â
At first he is horrified. Who would have done such a thing? How could someone just leave a small child in an empty bookstore. And what does he know about children?Â
But he takes the child upstairs and then calls the police. It seems he might have to care for the little girl until social services has time to drop by and fetch her.Â
But A.J., despite all his reservations, becomes attached to little Maya. The child is quite precocious and she steals his heart a bit at a time. After a time he is allowed to adopt her.
A.J. has found himself attracted to a book rep, who he managed to be quite uncivil with last time she visited his store. He wants to rectify that. A.J. is not a smooth sell. He will have to find a way to win her over somehow.Â
This is a story about a man who does indeed have a heart, though it will have to come out of the freezer. That happens when the young child comes into his life.
i agree with what kirby said exactly! i thought- predictable and cheesy, but then i couldn't put it down and really loved it! 🙂 my post will be up sunday!
At first, I thought "too predictable." And then I thought "where's the conflict?" But then it kicked me in the butt and it told me to love it and I did. Haven't bought The Good Girl yet, but I will as soon as I can. I am going to post AJ on Friday.
Sounds like an interesting book. Different for me too on what I normally read. I'll have to check it out.
Isn't it always great when you're pleasantly surprised about something? I don't read a lot of books, but love watching movies. Sometimes, I feel the same way about movies that I wouldn't normally think to see.
Sounds interesting. I will see if my library has it. 🙂
My book club read this a few month's ago and we loved it!
Have you read Mr.. Penumbra's 24Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan? It was amazing! I loved A.J. Fikry and his
This sounds like such a good book…I will have to see if the library has it! 🙂
Can I join this book club?
Loved this book! As a Gabrielle Zevin fan, I had to read it. What a jewel. Anyone who is sitting on the fence about this book, just read it. You won't be sorry. Love your writing, Brenda. You are so talented.