That decision detours "his plan to drink himself to death" and reinvigorates his life and his bookstore. He adopts Maya, spurred by her immediate attachment to him. Fikry cannot bear to leave the precocious child to the system once it becomes apparent her single mother has drowned herself in the sea. Then, within a span of days, his rare copy of Poe’s Tamerlane(worth $400,000) is stolen, and 2-year-old Maya is deposited at his bookstore. He’s not yet 40 but already widowed, his wife, Nic, dead in an auto accident. Fikry, a man who holds no brief for random acts, who yearns for a distinct narrative, who flounders about until his life is reordered by happenstance.įikry owns Island Books on Alice Island, a summer destination off Massachusetts-think Nantucket. Fikry is an unforgettable tale of transformation and second chances, an irresistible affirmation of why we read, and why we love. ( From the publisher.Zevin ( Margarettown,2006, etc.) chronicles the life of A.J. or for that determined sales rep, Amelia, to see her curmudgeonly client in a new light or for the wisdom of all those books to become again the lifeblood of A.J.’s world or for everything to twist again into a version of his life that he didn’t see coming.Īs surprising as it is moving, The Storied Life of A. It doesn’t take long for the locals to notice the change overcoming A.J. Fikry the opportunity to make his life over, the ability to see everything anew. It’s that unexpected arrival that gives A. It’s a small package, but large in weight. can only see them as a sign of a world that is changing too rapidly.Īnd then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island-from Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who’s always felt kindly toward Fikry from Ismay, his sister-in-law who is hell-bent on saving him from his dreary self from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic (if eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who keeps on taking the ferry over to Alice Island, refusing to be deterred by A.J.’s bad attitude.Įven the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. His wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. Fikry, the irascible owner, is about to discover just what that truly means.Ī. On the faded Island Books sign hanging over the porch of the Victorian cottage is the motto "No Man Is an Island Every Book Is a World." A. In the spirit of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Gabrielle Zevin’s enchanting novel is a love letter to the world of books-and booksellers-that changes our lives by giving us the stories that open our hearts and enlighten our minds.
0 kommentar(er)
