Book Review: The Collected Works of A.J. Fikry

Posted on May 9, 2014 by booksellersnz

I am not a sentimental reader. I loathe feeling like I am being emotionally manipulated. To me, it cheapens the relationship between a writer and a reader so it was with some trepidation I agreed to read this book having seen pages of gushing comments from American Mom book groups online.
But then I read the first 5 pages.

The house could have caught on fire and I wouldn’t have known. For the next 2 hours my world disappeared and I instead inhabited the world of A.J Fikry.
A recent widow, he’s the notoriously prickly owner of bookstore on a small island that relies on summer tourists and the goodwill of locals. Adrift without his wife, he plans on drinking himself to death amongst his precious books angry at a world that robbed him of his future. But like the plot of many great books, surprises are coming and in unlikely forms.

With a plot that sounds like it should come with a lemon attached to offset what sound like cloying sweetness, this is one of the funniest, most insightful and charming books I’ve read in years. I was literally in fits of laughter, tears rolling down my face reading this.

If you’ve ever worked in a bookstore or been involved with publishing, you’ll recognise a lot of the banter, conversations and problems A.J & Amelia face on a regular basis. Likewise, any true reader will relate to the wisdom and love for books that A.J., Amelia and Maya feel.

Whether you read to escape or to learn or to experience what you have not yet encountered, books open that door for us. And this book captures that magic and the salvation that those opportunities offer. I won’t lie. I was in floods of tears at the end of this − happy and sad. It’s a beautiful book and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Which is why I bought a copy for my Mum and for my three closest reading friends. (Male and female by the way, remarkably it works well for both − he’s already finished it and loved it.)
If there’s one book you buy this year. THIS is the book to buy.
Reviewed by Sarah McMullan  @sarahmcmullannz

The Collected Works of A.J. Fikry (published in the USA as The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry)
by Gabrielle Zevin
Published by Little, Brown
ISBN  9781408704615

Footnote:
The Bookman absolutely loved this one too.