The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry

What a real treasure. This book accomplishes so much in so few pages. At first A.J. Fikry is a very dis-likeable character. Why would I want to read about him? Keep reading. If you quit this book early, you are missing out on so much. The pages are short and the story moves along very quickly. The soul of this book is in the second half. It captures you. Nothing else exists but Alice Island and the little bookstore. It's a perfect little book for book lovers. Some books leave you happy, others sad, and others leave you wanting for more. This book... I just held it tight. It was happy, sad, mysterious, charming. It had a little bit of everything. It's a special little book and has earned a place of honor on my self.

I loved this book, and I think it would make an even better movie. Zevin has an interesting, almost flat way of writing that is almost indescribable. She does not over-describe anything or anyone, but you still feel like the characters are whole. I loved that the book traveled over time and made it feel like snapshots in time. There's a great, subtle humor to this book.

People who like books about books and enjoy scenic small-towns with a little bit of a mystery will love this.

“A place ain't a place without a bookstore, Izzie.”I have a soft spot for books about books. Last year's [b:Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore 13538873 Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, #1) Robin Sloan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1345089845l/13538873.SY75.jpg 6736543] landed on my favorites of 2020 shelf. This book wormed its way onto my favorites of 2021 shelf. It's sweet, heartfelt, very at-face-value, but I loved it all the same.AJ Fikry owns a bookstore on Alice Island. He purchased this bookstore with his wife, but in the way of these sorts of literary books, she's no longer in the picture. He's...sort of let himself go since, but maintains the bookstore (and a sour disposition) out of loyalty to the idea. He left the store unlocked one day while he was out, and comes back to find a small child, abandoned with a note asking for the owner of the bookstore to take care of her, because the mother wants the child to grow up around books. This is Maya. The book follows the unlikely pair as AJ remembers what it's like to be, well, a person with human emotions again, while caring for this abandoned child. The book is fairly straightforward, funny in spots, but the dialogue is a little simple. A few twists occur, monkeywrenches in AJ's life that he has to navigate, and there's plenty of witty remarks about books and authors. I really felt for Maya, who grows up without knowing who her parents were, who grows up around books and develops a love for them, who grows up wanting to write them. None of that describes me, but I can imagine how difficult such a background might be for a child like her. I can't really put my finger on why I loved this book so much, except that I did. The stories are funny, sad, heartbreaking, uplifting, in the way that books in the general fiction category tend to be. It's not deep, not thought provoking in the hidden meaning sort of way, but I did leave the book feeling sad, and any book that leaves an emotional reaction with me is a good book in my eyes. The ending touches on one of my personal fears about growing old, and maybe I projected a bit much. A good, quick read for people who love reading books set in old bookstores.

Very cute, good if you need some fluff. I liked the short story recommendations/synopses more than the story itself tbh; the characters are pretty flat and I was never emotionally invested in them. I reread this because the book was on my shelf but I realize that I only kept it for the short story rec.s and not cause I felt it merited reading again.

A cozy little story about the life of a small town book store owner which fully changes after a baby gets abandoned in his store. It's a story about choices that we make and the people that we choose to have around.

Even though there are some heavy themes, the underlining message and theme is hopeful and happy.

Books and the love of reading are an essential element to the story and are elemental in every characters life, and that's where I couldn't connect in the same way. I like reading, but not in the same life fulfilling way and I'm not as literary as all those characters.

I don't want to give this 3 stars. It's suited to my interests, it's funny, it's charming. But it feels so slight. I kept waiting for something deeper to come, and it didn't.

It's a small book with a small plot. That's not bad at all, if you can fit a lot of depth and substance. Unfortunately, this didn't. It had the setting and characters, it just didn't do enough with them.

Sometimes a book just leaves you feeling. I can't say with 100 percent certainty what I expected going into this book (things I knew about it: 1] It was likely literary fiction, and 2] it had something to do with books), but I know that got much more out of it. It's a simple story, in a way, though the plot gets a little convoluted at times. But this one's not so much about the plot, it's about the people, and the way that — like books — we connect with the right ones at the right time. You'll probably get more out of it if you're a reader, but as long you're a human, it's worth a read.

I don't understand why this book exists. A man loses a book then adopts a baby and loves the baby and develops a crush on someone. I assume more occurs but I've already spent three hours on this and it's so emotionally overwrought about the dullest, most mundane occurrences – like the little girl taking dance classes and not being too great but not that bad, either – that it's unbearable to continue pretending that anything is actually happening. Scott Brick's weepy narration doesn't help, either.

Kjøpte denne fordi det var en roman om bøker, samtidig med broderen, som også liker bøker, og fordi jeg trodde det var en New York-roman. Den handlet om bøker, men ikke om New York. Dette er en lettvint og overfladisk lesehygge om en liten krets mennesker på en øy i Marthas Vineyard-landskap som opplever oppturer og nedturer og hvor det viktigste er å være greie med hverandre. Den er ikke så fæl som halvparten av anmeldelsene skulle tilsi, ikke så fantastisk som den andre halvparten skulle mene. Boken følger et grep som Amelia, en av hovedpersonene trekker fram tidlig i fortellingen: Ingen ting dukker opp i teksten som ikke skal spille en rolle før eller senere. Sånn er det også her, og litt av poenget med å lese boken er å gjette seg fram til hvilken rolle de ulike elementene kommer til å spille.
Fort lest, men noe sier meg at jeg ikke glemmer denne så fort likevel - på tross av dens utrepgede banalitet.

I liked the character of AJ Fikry, the heartbroken bookseller on the fictional Alice Island off the coast of Massachusetts, who takes in the 2 year old foundling left in his bookshop. He's prickly and barely even trying to cope after the death of his wife and business partner, Nicole, in a car accident. However, I was disappointed by all the worn out tropes in the The Storied Life of AJ Fikry. Without spoiling it for anyone who wants to read the book anyway, I thought a little bit about the chapter headings and made an educated guess about what was going to happen. Unfortunately, I was right.

There were enjoyable parts that were not predictable, though. The author's booktalk and reception that goes ridiculously sideways is one that I thought would be developed further on, but it wasn't. Developments concerning the parentage of the foundling were surprising to me, and were developed a little later in the book. Gabrielle Zevin's lovely dialogue writing kept me reading even when I was pretty sure I knew what was going to happen. I enjoyed the book, but I wanted it to be more than it was.

I love a bummer book, so lighter and more feel-good fare is something I'm often a little skeptical of. If that's the mood you're going for, though, this is a very solid option, with lovably-flawed characters and literature references galore. Does it go anywhere unexpected or particularly interesting? Not really. Is it very pleasant reading? Yes!

I don't know where to begin. I knew a few pages in that I would love this book. It is a love letter to books, reading and readers, and I am obviously a reader. So I suppose it was inevitable that I would love it.

A.J Fikry is the owner of a small, struggling bookstore on Alice Island. His wife has recently died; he has lost a very valuable collection of poetry and seems to be determined to drink himself into an early grave. Then one day a mysterious package arrives at his door, and he can't ignore it. His life is about to change.

The story is quite simple. It has love and loss; romance and humour; even a little mystery thrown into the mix, but at its heart, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry is a novel about books. Books frame every action and every character in the novel. It is a bibliophile's delight. Gabrielle Zevin makes so many literary references in this book, and the great thing is they are not obscure. At one point she even talks about a YA vampire series (which sounds very much like Twilight). It was fun recognising the names of books and going “Hey! I've read that!”

I am sure there will be a few book snobs ranting about the substance of this book – the characters are one-dimensional – blah blah blah. When you are having as much fun as I did reading this – who really cares?

The characters are quirky and loveable, the setting is quaint and the plot is hopeful, and an innate love of books radiates through every page. It is simply wonderful.

I don't understand the hype. It was weird. As other haters of this book have said, the book doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. Sometimes it sounds like a comfy old classic but then there's randomly a bunch of melodramatic elements like the car crash and cancer and stuff and the characters will randomly swear a bunch and then not again for another 100 pages. It didn't make sense. Also, it was very sentimental but in a bad way (at least for me) it felt very cliched especially at the end. Maya kind of pissed me off but I can't really say why she's just really snobby (like her stepdad). I was skimming his stupid “deep” prose about life and love and stuff. Also the time jumps were muy confusing and the romance skipped too many steps. They met then suddenly its been 4 years and they're both single now, they kiss then we skip like 3 or 4 years and he proposes then we skip again to the wedding. There's no time for development because they keep skipping. Just wasn't the right book for me.

I loved this book! It was a short, sweet, read about the fictional life of A.J Fikry and gave you hope, sadness and compassion. The author did an amazing job taking a bitter man and throwing things his way that helped him grow as a person and ultimately helped him lead an amazing life. I would highly recommend this book for anyone in a reading slump.

What a charming, touching novel! It came into my life as a surprise, and it was just what I needed.

A.J. Fikrey is the kind of character to whom I immediately feel a kinship. He is a “book person,” which is my favorite kind of person. Most of what he believes and says resonates with me. In my favorite line of the book, Fikrey thinks, “They had only ever discussed books but what, in this life, is more personal than books?” My sentiment exactly!

Fikrey begins this novel as a cranky widower who seems not to have much hope that his life will ever hold any happiness for him again. Then, he finds a unexpected gift in his bookstore that changes his outlook and his life for the better. Fikrey gains a reason to go on and live again. His journey from this point on is enthralling and uplifting. I couldn't put the book down.

This book has claimed a place on my bookshelf among my favorites. I cannot wait to read it again in the future!

Zevin must have written this book with readers in mind. Big readers. People that tromp to bookstores like they are on a pilgrimage. Folks that zing with the mention of anything book-ish.


This book is for them. It is for me. It is probably for you.


Here's a little of the plot: A curmudgeonish widowed bookstore owner finds a baby in his shop and the baby changes his life.


It's a gentle story, a happy story, a perfect summer read for the book-ish.

Summary: A. J. Fickry is the owner of the only bookstore on Alice Island. He has a reputation for being a bit gruff, especially after the death of his wife, and, with publishers hoping to sell to him, difficult to please. A series of surprises, however—a new rep from a publishing house, the theft of a very valuable item, and a baby found in the bookstore—cause (or one might argue, force) A. J. to soften up and come out of his shell.