The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry in Bound Together

Aug 06, 2014 Connie Cox rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: new-authors-2015, recomended-friends-5-stars-tbr, 2015, book-club-reads, favorites-i-recommend, audible-cd, best-of-2015-5-stars

Delightful, a gem....just what I needed! Full review to come!

We read to know we're not alone. We read because we are alone. We read and we are not alone. We are not alone.My life is in these books, he wants to tell her. Read these and know my heart.

We are not quite novels...We are not quite short stories ...In the end, we are collected works.”
― Gabrielle Zevin, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

I read to escape, to go to new places, to learn new things, to sympathize with characters. This lovely s ...more

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Nov 27, 2014 Dale Harcombe rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I may not have read had it not been for my friends here on Goodreads who raved about it and I would have missed so much if I had not read it. From the beginning this book drew me in. The characters are portrayed well. A.J. Fikry is one of those characters that work better on the page than in real life. A bookshop owner, he loves the books but not people. Nic his wife had been the people person. He is still struggling to come to terms with her death. Fikry is grouchy and difficult to deal with an I may not have read had it not been for my friends here on Goodreads who raved about it and I would have missed so much if I had not read it. From the beginning this book drew me in. The characters are portrayed well. A.J. Fikry is one of those characters that work better on the page than in real life. A bookshop owner, he loves the books but not people. Nic his wife had been the people person. He is still struggling to come to terms with her death. Fikry is grouchy and difficult to deal with and yet strangely endearing to the reader. Then something precious is stolen from his shop. A few days later something even more precious is left - a two year old child Maya. Amelia a sales rep from one of the publishing houses is another character who impacts A.J. Fikry’s life in ways he never expected.
I liked the way each chapter starts with Fikry's opinions of a book. I initially thought this would be a five star review, as the book sucked me in so completely I resented anything that took me away from it and would have liked to just sit down and read it straight through. It had me smiling and chuckling to myself at times so much so that my husband decided he needed to read it too. When it comes to books, our tastes don’t agree too often. This time they did. I loved the way relationships developed in this book, and yet I found myself less enchanted as the book went on. His opinion was the same. We also agreed about the jarring use of the F word sprinkled around. To our minds it neither fitted the characters or the timbre of the story, but seemed like it was only put there for effect. The book would have been better off had it been left out.
The book is a little predictable at times and yet it mostly works. It contains some great quotes about books and reading scattered throughout and quirky characters, so a lot to like but strangely I was left a tad disappointed by the end. My husband’s reaction was similar, so this is two for one review of this book. However our overall opinion is it is worth reading and many people will enjoy it.
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Dec 27, 2014 Martha☀ rated it it was ok

Shelves: own

This over-hyped novel disappointed me from page 10 onward.
Firstly, it is filled with literary references and name-dropping which had the lovely effect of making me feel inadequate and ill-prepared, during my leisure time no less, for being its humble reader.
Secondly, the whole book is written in the present tense which has a very off-putting effect, making time seem to stand still.
In the beginning of the book, A.J., the main character, is a crotchety, bitter old widower at the ripe age of 39 a This over-hyped novel disappointed me from page 10 onward.
Firstly, it is filled with literary references and name-dropping which had the lovely effect of making me feel inadequate and ill-prepared, during my leisure time no less, for being its humble reader.
Secondly, the whole book is written in the present tense which has a very off-putting effect, making time seem to stand still.
In the beginning of the book, A.J., the main character, is a crotchety, bitter old widower at the ripe age of 39 and he seems impervious to the look-at-the-bright-side appeal of Amelia, the newly-hired publisher representative who comes to his bookstore. Methinks some romance is going to come of this get-off-on-the-wrong-foot meeting of these two character foils.
Now, enter a two-year old orphan, abandoned in the bookshop, and easily accepted into the crotchety old man's life, barely causing a ripple due to her pretty eyes and tight ringlets. Luckily A.J. is able to learn how to parent by using Google!
The plot thickens slightly with a stolen E.A. Poe first edition but that is kind of it, other than the unrequited love interest. The whole story is told with a condescending tone as A.J., the most elitist and judgemental of readers, 'graduates' his book club members from one genre to another and 'promotes' them into new areas - as if readers have to become worthy of reading certain books!
The true flaw in this book is the characterization. A.J. goes from a crotchety drunk to amazing father without explanation. His bookstore moves from dusty, elitist cavern to the central hub of the island community. The abandoned 2 year old adapts to the suicide of her mother and her new living arrangements without tears. Ismay gets rid of her cheating husband and moves on without regret. All of these developments occur without the required sweat and tears. Zevin over-simplifies the ability of people to get on with their lives after tragedy so that she doesn't have to deal with the mess of real life.
A generously given 2 star read.
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