The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry in Bookish Challenges

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The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

Gabrielle Zevin

Start date: April 1, 2024

Finish date: April 30, 2024

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What Members Thought

Oct 19, 2024 Catsalive rated it really liked it · review of another edition

A lovely, little book. Very easy & quick to read. What a lucky man to own & run a bookshop in a small town - my daydreams can consist of such a thing. A.J. is a cranky, crusty, cynical, middle-aged man, with very particular ideas of the type of books he wants in his shop:

'... How about I tell you what I don't like? I don't like postmodernism, post-apocalyptic settings, post-mortem narrators or magic realism. I rarely respons to supposedly clever formal devices, multiple fonts, pictures where the A lovely, little book. Very easy & quick to read. What a lucky man to own & run a bookshop in a small town - my daydreams can consist of such a thing. A.J. is a cranky, crusty, cynical, middle-aged man, with very particular ideas of the type of books he wants in his shop:

'... How about I tell you what I don't like? I don't like postmodernism, post-apocalyptic settings, post-mortem narrators or magic realism. I rarely respons to supposedly clever formal devices, multiple fonts, pictures where they shouldn't be - basically gimmicks of any kind. I find literary fiction about the Holocaust or any other major world tragedy to be distasteful - non-fiction only, please. I do not like genre mash-ups a la the literary detective novel or the literary fantasy. Literary should be literary, and genre should be genre, and crossbreeding rarely results in anything satisfying. I do not like children's books, especially ones with orphans, and I prefer not to clutter my shelves with young adult. I do not like anything over four hundred pages or under one hundred fifty pages. I am repulsed by ghostwritten novels by reality television stars, celebrity picture books, sports memoirs, movie tie-in editions, novelty items and - I imagine this goes without saying - vampires. I rarely stock debuts, chick lit, poetry or translations. I would prefer not to stock series, but the demands of my pocketbook require me to. For your part, you needn't tell me about the "next big series" until it is ensconced on the New York Times Best Sellers list. Above all, Ms Loman, I find slim literary memoirs about little old men whose little old wives have died from cancer to be absolutely intolerable. No matter how well written the sales rep claims they are...'

His wife was the people-person, & A.J. finds it difficult to relate to people at all until he is forced to by the circumstances of a major change in his life - the arrival of a two-year-old girl left in his shop. The book becomes a romance - love for his new daughter & love for his new wife, as well as love for books & a well-told tale. I found A.J. more interesting when he was a crank.

The introduction of glioblastoma multiforme seems melodramatic & soap-opera-ish in an otherwise agreeable tale &, although it didn't bother me as much on my second reading, I still find it irritating. I can understand it's relationship to the narrative but still find it unnecessary.

I agree with A.J. on 'the necessity of encountering stories at precisely the right time in our lives', as there are books I can now read that I couldn't when younger & others I can no longer read.

The name Lambiase seems un unusual choice - I kept calling him lambaste & picturing him being criticised whilst basting a leg of lamb.

The original (?) title, The Collected Works of A.J. Fikry, makes more sense than The Storied Life..., especiallyconsidering A.J.'s analogy: 'We are not quite novels. We are not quite short stories. In the end, we are collected works.' ...more

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Mar 13, 2015 Catsalive rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2015

I read The Collected Works of A.J. Fikry , which makes more sense than The Storied Life..., considering A.J.'s analogy: 'We are not quite novels. We are not quite short stories. In the end, we are collected works.'

A lovely, little book. Very easy & quick to read. What a lucky man to own & run a bookshop in a small town - my daydreams can consist of such a thing. A.J. is a cranky, crusty, cynical, middle-aged man, with very particular ideas of the type of books he wants in his shop:

'... How ab I read The Collected Works of A.J. Fikry , which makes more sense than The Storied Life..., considering A.J.'s analogy: 'We are not quite novels. We are not quite short stories. In the end, we are collected works.'

A lovely, little book. Very easy & quick to read. What a lucky man to own & run a bookshop in a small town - my daydreams can consist of such a thing. A.J. is a cranky, crusty, cynical, middle-aged man, with very particular ideas of the type of books he wants in his shop:

'... How about I tell you what I don't like? I don't like postmodernism, post-apocalyptic settings, post-mortem narrators or magic realism. I rarely respons to supposedly clever formal devices, multiple fonts, pictures where they shouldn't be - basically gimmicks of any kind. I find literary fiction about the Holocaust or any other major world tragedy to be distasteful - non-fiction only, please. I do not like genre mash-ups a la the literary detective novel or the literary fantasy. Literary should be literary, and genre should be genre, and crossbreeding rarely results in anything satisfying. I do not like children's books, especially ones with orphans, and I prefer not to clutter my shelves with young adult. I do not like anything over four hundred pages or under one hundred fifty pages. I am repulsed by ghostwritten novels by reality television stars, celebrity picture books, sports memoirs, movie tie-in editions, novelty items and - I imagine this goes without saying - vampires. I rarely stock debuts, chick lit, poetry or translations. I would prefer not to stock series, but the demands of my pocketbook require me to. For your part, you needn't tell me about the "next big series" until it is ensconced on the New York Times Best Sellers list. Above all, Ms Loman, I find slim literary memoirs about little old men whose little old wives have died from cancer to be absolutely intolerable. No matter how well written the sales rep claims they are...'

His wife was the people-person, & A.J. finds it difficult to relate to people at all until he is forced to by the circumstances of a major change in his life - the arrival of a two-year-old girl left in his shop. The book becomes a romance - love for his new daughter & love for his new wife, as well as love for books & a well-told tale. I found A.J. more interesting when he was a crank.

It's such a very nice story that I'm sorry that it was interrupted by the melodrama of glioblastoma multiforme. This bit of soap opera brought my rating down, although it was still a very pleasant way to while away the afternoon.

I agree with A.J. on 'the necessity of encountering stories at precisely the right time in our lives', as there are books I can now read that I couldn't when younger & others I can no longer read.

I don't know why Zevin went with the name Lambiase - I kept calling him lambaste in my head & picturing in my mind someone being criticsed whilst basting a leg of lamb. It must have been the use of Lamb to the Slaughter on the first page that put the roast in my head... and now I'm hungry.

...more

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Apr 07, 2024 Nistha rated it really liked it

Shelves: cry-cry-cry

A short but emotion-packed read - There is so much character development for such a short read that I was overwhelmed. I love books that describe an incident and then come back to it later on with more details - probably details that were itching you but you were still happy to read the story nonetheless. I felt the same about Maya's character development in this book. The ending was a bit lukewarm but I quite liked the read. Does this book not make you want to go to a small-town bookstore? ...more

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Apr 29, 2024 Jasmine's rated it it was amazing

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 07, 2020 Maddielucy(Patti) rated it it was amazing

Ahhhhhhhh. I loved loved loved this sweet, touching book. AJ was a wonderful character, who hates people while loving those close to him better than most people do. He鈥檚 more than a loner and curmudgeon. He is funny, kind, good, honorable and entirely lovable in spite of himself. Highly recommend!!! Did I say I LOVED this???

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