The Bookshop: A Novel

Book is great, but got it from Amazon

The book is excellent. A really enjoyable read. Unfortunately, B&N delayed my order for a week. I ordered from Amazon instead and had it in 2 days.

Expected so much more

One of those books that I could not get into. Very slow paced and forgetful. The only characters that I found likeable were Florence, the bookshop owner, and her assistant, Christine. I enjoyed Florence for her optimism and business naivete, and Christine for her young determination.

From the high reviews that I read, I was expecting much more. However, the book's choppy chapters and little character development were not able to hold my attention.

Did not like this book much at all

Old fashioned story, boring, felt cheated by having spent the time reading it.

Not likable

As with the author's other works, the characters are not likeable.

A little Arsenic with those crumpets?

I decided to read this little book in tandem with a few other women. We have yet to discuss it, but I expect all will agree that the writing is lovely. So many aspects of small town life are amusingly unveiled by this author. I especially enjoyed the character of the 10-year-old shop assistant, who smacks a customer with a ruler when they are rummaging in the 'Holds' shelf. The ending, however was grim and disapointing to me. I was expecting a charming and witty conclusion consistent with the tenor of the preceding story. What the reader is left with is a morality tale with a bad aftertaste.

True to day to day life

Many have commented on how brief this work is. There is no arguing the point, as ¿The Bookshop¿ is brief as defined by the pages it occupies. Ms. Fitzgerald also writes concisely, however she conveys as much or more than many who would take two or three times the length of this work to tell the same story. The result would be no better; nothing more would have been related, and the reader would have just consumed more time. The events in the story come to the reader as they affect the central character. We are not privy to every conversation between other characters, nor do we witness their every thought, their every action. Just as we do day to day, we receive and react to information and events, as we are made aware of them. We share the fears, the suspicions, and the insight Florence has, but that is where it ends. We are not taken away from her to hear the plans set in motion by others; we have little advantage over her in terms of information that we alone possess. I think the book is brilliant because it tells a story the way any of us would have experienced the events if they had happened to us. Ms. Fitzgerald cuts away anything that is remotely extraneous, but what she leaves is beautifully compact and true to life. I have just started her work ¿The Blue Flower¿ which is massive in comparison, should be interesting.

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