The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry

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.