What immediately drew me to this unusual novel was author Gabrielle Zevin’s technique of beginning each chapter with the title of a famous short story like Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” and introducing that segment with a one-page link. Other stories she headlines her chapters with include Roald Dahl’s “Lambs to the Slaughter,” What We Talk About When We Talk About Love (Raymond Carver) and Flannery O’Connor’s “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.”

Getting to AJ Fikry’s island bookstore is a formidable task that culminates in a ferry ride, but for the new publisher’s representative, Amelia Loman, it’s her job. His destination is a quaint little business called Island Books in which an eccentric owner, AJ Fikry, has very limited tastes when it comes to selecting the types of books he can tolerate. He has a special taste for short story collections. Additionally, Mr. Fikry expresses rude behavior towards the stunned Loman, who recently replaced another (deceased) representative with whom he had felt comfortable. Fikry’s first meeting with Loman is a disaster, but she is determined to win him over.

Fikry and his late wife had invested in the bookstore (she loved it more than he did). He only has one employee and threatens to fire her one day. She seems nonchalant and he doesn’t like her carefree way.

As the novella progresses, a rare Poe book is stolen; a baby is abandoned on the premises; and a local cop who spends his time mainly reading massive fictional copies of Jeffery Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme novels, becomes a godfather and promoter of better reading among his fellow officers. Romance blossoms, mysteries are solved, and tragedy strikes.

Zevin’s dialogue rings true; descriptions of him are peppered with vivid imagery; and sets the pace of his novel so that the reader’s interest does not wane. Here’s an exception:

“Amelia introduces herself (to the single clerk, the moody teenager) as a sales representative for Knightley Press, and the teenager, without looking up from the page, points vaguely to the back. ‘AJ is in her office.’ Precarious stacks of ARCs and galleys line the hallway, and Amelia feels the usual flash of despair. The tote bag that’s embossed on her shoulder has several editions for A.J’s stacks and a catalog full of other books for her to throw… door to AJ Fikry’s office is closed. Amelia is halfway there when the sleeve of her sweater catches on one of the piles, and a hundred books, maybe more, crash to the floor with a mortifying thunderclap. The door opens and AJ Fikry looks from the wreckage to the dirty blonde giantess, who is frantically trying to re-stack the books. —Amelia Loman. She stacks ten more tomes and half of them fall over. ‘Leave it,’ orders AJ. ‘There is an order for these things. You are not helping. Please go'”.

Another excerpt illustrates his mastery of description (Fikry has become annoyed by his rude treatment with the representative and runs out of the store with non-buying customers): “Finally, he goes upstairs to the attic where he lives. He opens a cardboard box.” of frozen vandaloo (an Indian curry) in the microwave. Nine minutes, according to the instructions on the box. While he’s there, he thinks about Knightley’s girl. She looked like a time traveler from 1990s Seattle in her anchor-patterned wellies and granny dress and fuzzy beige sweater and her shoulder-length hair that looked like her boyfriend had done it. cut in the kitchen. By the time he gets back upstairs, the vindaloo is cold again. If he reheats it in that plastic dish, he’ll probably end up with cancer. He carries the plastic tray to the table. The first bite is fiery. The second bite is the Papa Bear vindaloo and the Baby Bear vindaloo. He throws the tray against the wall…”

If you like novels about far-flung places, adopting babies, bookstores, allusions to famous tales, and whimsical characters, The Storied Life of AJ Fikry is for you.

The novel is alternately sad, ironic, romantic, and tragic. It is about a turn in one’s life, selflessness, bonding, acceptance and friendship.

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