You Can't Resist "The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry" by Gabrielle Zevin - book review

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
Author:  Gabrielle Zevin
Published:  2014
Publisher:  Viking, a division of Penguin Random House Company
Pages:  260
Source:  borrowed

An irresistible novel about second chances and finding room for all the books - and all the love - that transform our lives

A.J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. 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. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island—from Chief Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who's always felt kindly toward him; from Ismay, his sister-in-law, who is hell-bent on saving A.J. from his dreary self; from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic (if eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who persists in taking the ferry to Alice Island, refusing to be deterred by A.J.'s bad attitude. Even the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. These days, A.J. can only see them as a sign of a world that is changing too rapidly.

And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore. It’s a small package, though large in weight—an unexpected arrival that gives A.J. the opportunity to make his life over, the ability to see everything anew. It doesn’t take long for the locals to notice the change overcoming A.J., for the determined sales rep Amelia to see her curmudgeonly client in a new light, 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.

As surprising as it is moving, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry is an unforgettable tale of transformation and second chances, an irresistible affirmation of why we read and why we love.

My Thoughts:

There's been a lot of buzz about the newest novel by Gabrielle Zevin, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, and I'll tell  you why.  A.J. Fikry is a bit of a grouchy bookseller.  Recently widowed, the bottle has become his means of escape.  Even the new rep from one of the publishers he does business with receives a most cold reception.  After sending her on her way and preparing to close up shop he hears and then finds a toddler with a note asking him to take care of her.  No mother or anyone in sight.

What does he know about babies, changing diapers, feeding a baby? he asks himself.  Turns out, you can Google that!  This sweet child changes his life, as often children have a knack of doing, and the rough edges that make up A.J. Fikry begin to soften and wear away.  

Not only does he change his lifestyle, but soon even his business is affected, his friendships, and the sales rep makes a welcome reappearance.

I absolutely love this novel.  It's hard not to.  The setting is a bookstore, the protagonist a bookseller, and we have the added joy of reading about various titles recommended and/or on his daughter's reading list.  A.J. Fikry even decides he loves short story collections.  Gasp!

"The most elegant creation in the prose universe is a short story.  Master the short story and  you'll have master the world, he thinks just before he drifts off to sleep.  I should write this down, he thinks." (page 246)

The author, Gabrielle Zevin, truly must love books.  She understands her reader does too for she writes, "We need to know we're not alone.  We read because we are alone.  We read and we are not alone.  We are not alone."  

"My life is in those books, he wants to tell her (Maya).  Read these and know my heart....We are not quite novels...We are not quite short stories.  In the end, we are collected works."

He has perfect insight - "We aren't the things we collect, acquire, read.  We are, for as long as we are here, only love."

Fikry's life has changed so much and the journey forward warms your heart as you read about this imperfect man who finally finds perfect meaning.  When you lose yourself in love, that is when you find yourself, as Fikry did.

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry is a warm, charming, intellectually stirring story... of romance, love and books and a man who finds he has it all after all. 

Rating:  a favourite of 2014

Meet the author:

Gabrielle Zevin has published six adult and young-adult novels, including an American Library Association Notable Children’s Book, Elsewhere. Her novels have been translated into more than twenty languages. She is the screenwriter ofConversations with Other Women, for which she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination. She has also written for The New York Times Book Review and NPR’s All Things Considered. She lives in Los Angeles.

Review: 419 by Will Ferguson

419
Author:  Will Ferguson
Published:  2012
Publisher:  Viking (an imprint of Penguin Canada)
Format:  hardcover
Pages:  399 including acknowledgments and notes
Source:  borrowed (but I am going to buy a copy so I can read it again.  It's that good!)

http://shirley-mybookshelf.blogspot.ca/2013/06/the-two-red-chairs-evening-with-author.html

http://shirley-mybookshelf.blogspot.ca/2013/06/scotiabank-giller-prize-winning-author.html

Summary:  "From internationally bestselling travel writer Will Ferguson, author of Happiness™ and Spanish Fly, comes a novel both epic in its sweep and intimate in its portrayal of human endurance.

A car tumbles through darkness down a snowy ravine.

A woman without a name walks out of a dust storm in sub-Saharan Africa.

And in the seething heat of Lagos City, a criminal cartel scours the Internet, looking for victims.

Lives intersect. Worlds collide. And it all begins with a single email: “Dear Sir, I am the daughter of a Nigerian diplomat, and I need your help…”

Will Ferguson takes readers deep into the labyrinth of lies that is “419,” the world’s most insidious Internet scam.

When Laura Curtis, a lonely editor in a cold northern city, discovers that her father has died because of one such swindle, she sets out to track down—and corner—her father’s killer. It is a dangerous game she’s playing, however, and the stakes are higher than she can ever imagine.

Woven into Laura’s journey is a mysterious woman from the African Sahel with scars etched into her skin and a young man who finds himself caught up in a web of violence and deceit.

And running through it, a dying father’s final words: “You, I love.” (Amazon.ca) 

My thoughts:

From a writer best known for his travel literature and/or humour, Will Ferguson has entered his third foray into literary fiction with his most recent work, 419.  How does a writer known for other genres branch out to fiction?  According to his interview at the Arden Theatre, he uses a bit of humour [a love of travel, an inquisitive mind] and a bit of parental experience and the gap is bridged.  As he stated in an interview with MacLean, "I try to alternate between fiction and non-fiction. I think it uses different parts of your brain."

When I'd heard Will Ferguson had won the Scotiabank Giller Prize for his novel 419, I had to learn more about the book but it took me a year to finally make time to read it.  I picked up a copy after meeting Ferguson at the Arden Theatre in St. Albert in June.  I wish I'd done so sooner.

419 opens with a car crash which may or may not have been a suicide and the ensuing police investigation wherein we meet the family of the deceased, particularly a daughter who is intent on revenge.    419 then "travels" to Nigeria where a nameless pregnant woman leaves her tribe and walks alone across deserts, through villages, before she meets up with a man who will take her to the deeper south.  

The story of the oil industry in Africa is a caustic bi-line that introduces a new character, the man who befriends the nameless woman.  A significant portion of the novel follows Nnamdi, a "mechanic" and secondary driver of a tanker hauling stolen oil.  His story allows you to see a different Africa.  If you thought the oil industry here was bad, take a read at just how horrible it could be in the hands of Ferguson as he portrays a time when the Niger Delta was in an uproar over the oil. 

We also meet Wilson, a 419 scam artist who preys upon people using the internet as a fraudulent means of getting money from unsuspecting individuals.  At first Wilson is on his own but when he has some success and is about to score big, a mafia boss has him brought in to force him to work for him.  

As the stories converge, they each play a role, knowingly and unknowingly in each other's lives and in the outcome of the book.

What some might call disjointed, I found as an interesting sideline as Ferguson brought together four main characters, passing between their stories, and in the end merging them together to a climax that both made me angry and glad.  You have to read it to discover why.  No spoilers here.

419 is a book that is difficult to put down, shocking, eye-opening and could very well be non-fiction if it weren't fiction.  For me it was phenomenal and I would highly recommend it!

-----

The following was written of the winning book, 419, by the jury for the Scotiabank Giller Award: 

"Will Ferguson's 419 points in the direction of something entirely new: the Global Novel. It is a novel emotionally and physically at home in the poverty of Lagos and in the day-to-day of North America. It tells us the ways in which we are now bound together and reminds us of the things that will always keep us apart. It brings us the news of the world far beyond the sad, hungry faces we see on CNN and CBC and far beyond the spreadsheets of our pension plans. Ferguson is a true travel writer, his eye attuned to the last horrible detail. He is also a master at dialogue and suspense. It is tempting to put 419 in some easy genre category, but that would only serve to deny its accomplishment and its genius."

Meet the author:

photo taken by myself at the Arden Theatre
in St. Albert June 14, 2013

Will Ferguson is a travel writer and novelist  and has authored several award-winning memoirs, including Beyond Belfast, Hitching Rides with Buddha, and the humorous anecdotal collection Canadian Pie. His novels include Spanish Fly, Happiness™, and 419. Will has been nominated for both an IMPAC Dublin Award and a Commonwealth Writers Prize and is a three-time winner of the Leacock Medal.  Published in more than 20 languages around the world, one might say even his written works are well traveled.  He won the Scotiabank Giller Prize for best fiction (419) by a Canadian author in 2012.

Favourite Books I Read in 2012

Favourite Mystery:

Annie Darling has planned another exciting event, this time aboard a ship cruising in the waters near Broward Rock, South Carolina. (fictional island). Annie is pleased to see so many in costumes of popular book sleuths and all is going well when there's a scream and someone is overboard. Is it a suicide or murder? Within days, the body count grows as shortly thereafter another murder occurs, a car is missing and a wealthy senior is dead, presumably another suicide. Things just don't seem to be so cut and dry to Annie who proceeds, with the enlistment of her husband and some local friends, to uncover the mystery of these occurrences and find the murderer before he/she strikes again.  

http://shirley-mybookshelf.blogspot.ca/2012/11/murder-walks-plank-by-carolyn-hart-book.html

Favourite Memoir:

The End of Your Life Book Club is touching, thoughtful, inspirational and most definitely my favourite book of 2012.  If you are looking for a book that will touch your heart and soul and linger in your thoughts long after you closed the cover, this is the book for you.  Better still, give a copy to your loved ones.  It's just that good!

http://shirley-mybookshelf.blogspot.ca/2012/11/the-end-of-your-life-book-club-by-will.html

Favourite Business:

As children, we were all curious and full of questions.  The favourite word for a five year old is usually "why?"  Not because they are trying to be difficult, but because they really want to know.  Over the years spent in the educational system children are discouraged from being disruptive, the fear of failure grows and children are less inclined/discouraged to ask questions.  Amanda Lang's theory of The Power of Whyencourages that childlike wonderment, the curiosity, the lack of fear of failure, and a desire to learn.  By allowing ourselves, our employees, our co-workers, our family members to think laterally, to embrace the challenges, and to respectfully question, we unleash the power of innovation and creative solutions.  
http://shirley-mybookshelf.blogspot.ca/2012/12/the-power-of-why-by-amanda-lang.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+blogspot/FVabo+(My+Bookshelf)

Favourite Children's 

I squealed with glee!  Yes, I did!  A co-worker showed me The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore today and I was thrilled to see this new release in children's books!  I saw the animated Acadamy Award winning feature a while ago and fell in love.  Needless to say, when I found this book upon which the animated featurette was based, I just had to have it.  I read it....devoured it in minutes, and then returned to the beginning to appreciate the artwork!  As you can see from the sample pages above and below, this book is a feast for the eyes.  The way William Joyce wrote it, in a tale with messages that reveal themselves with the maturity of the reader, intermingled with terrific illustrations done by Joe Blum, it is a treasure!  

http://shirley-mybookshelf.blogspot.ca/2012/06/fantastic-flying-books-of-mr-morris.html

Favourite Fiction:

State of Wonder is definitely one of the very best books I've read...ever!  When I first introduced this novel, I had barely begun the journey that I will not soon forget.  Here's what I said, "Now I know what all the fuss is about! This book is phenomenal! It had me wiping away the tears in the first chapter, sitting at the edge of my seat, feeling astounded by elements of the story, and mesmerized by the entirety of it all!" (GoodReads and My Bookshelf)

http://shirley-mybookshelf.blogspot.ca/2012/06/state-of-wonder-by-ann-patchett-review.html

Clara and Mr. Tiffany is a story with wide appeal.  For the history buff, the lover of art, a supporter of feminism, a fan of love stories, triumph over trials....it's all here.  Susan has fleshed out each character and the ensuing relationships, allowing the individuals to live and breathe as vividly as if the reader knew them personally. 

http://shirley-mybookshelf.blogspot.ca/2012/05/clara-and-mr-tiffany-by-susan-vreeland.html

I loved this novel. for within the pages of Falling Together, I found true heart, real love, and soul.    If you are looking for a book of substance and humour to warm those chilly days and nights, you simply must give this one a read.  Falling Together is definitely a good thing!

http://shirley-mybookshelf.blogspot.ca/2012/10/falling-together-by-marisa-de-los-santos.html

Favourite Christmas:

The accomplishments of the power of infinite love, through various trials and triumphs,   are the perfect examples of love, courage, and fine humanity we wish the world would embrace.  Kris Kringle may not be perfect in his efforts but he means well and in the end he shines as beautifully and fantastic as a fairy tale Prince Charming.  Strong messages of charity and love abound in this short novel which reinforce the message of Christmas:  to love one another.

Highly recommended as a family read for Christmas.  Kris Kringle's Magic is sure to be a welcome tradition in your home!

http://shirley-mybookshelf.blogspot.ca/2012/11/kris-kringles-magic-by-diane-tolley.html

Favourite YA:

I wholeheartedly admit to LOVING this book!!  I read it on the transit to and from work, during my breaks, including my lunch breaks.  I was so involved in the story that I longed for lunch time just so I could pick up the book again!  It's been a while since I've read a book of this magnitude!  I am just sorry it took so long for me to discover The Hunger Games.  The plot is unique, the characters well-fleshed out and realistic, their emotions and thought processes genuine.  It's an "on the edge of your seat" kind of read. One that stays with you and makes you long incessantly for the next book in the series, which is Catching Fire.  

http://shirley-mybookshelf.blogspot.ca/2012/02/book-review-hunger-games-by-suzanne.html

Suzanne Collins authors another powerful novel in Catching Fire, the second book in The Hunger Games series.  She manipulates the environment, the mood, the plot masterfully, weaving in subplots and new characters while maintaining the hold she has on the readers' attention.  It is hard to put down, though not so difficult as The Hunger Games was (probably because The Hunger Gameswas so action-packed).  Catching Fire ends with a lovely little cliffhanger, just to keep the reader excited and eager to read the next book in the series, Mockingjay.  

http://shirley-mybookshelf.blogspot.ca/2012/02/catching-fire-author-collins-published.html

 I was 257 pages into Mockingjay when I just knew I had to buy the entire series.  I had originally borrowed each book in turn but by book 2, I knew it was a buyer!  I didn't finish reading the original borrowed copy, but rather returned it and bought the set for myself and finished reading from my own copy.  I know my daughter will like it too!

Mockingjay is a roller coaster ride of events, danger, joy, sadness, thrills, edge of your seat reading.  In conclusion, Mockingjay sings!

http://shirley-mybookshelf.blogspot.ca/2012/02/mockingjay-by-suzanne-collins-ya-book.html

I loved this book!  I know, my readers know I don't read much Young Adult Fiction but this one is definitely worth every second of your time!!  I was mesmerized as I read of this society, captivated by the story, drawn into Lena's life.  I laughed. I cried. I cheered.  Not necessarily in that order.  

Do I recommend it?  Wholeheartedly!!  Am I following author Lauren Oliver's blog?  You bet!!!  Am I anxious and excited for the second book in the series?  That is an automatic and enthusiastic yes!! 

http://shirley-mybookshelf.blogspot.ca/2012/01/delirium-is-contagious.html

Pandemonium finds Lena vulnerable, afraid and weak from her injuries.  Time heals her physical wounds and the emotional despair lessens and Lena finds herself acting as a spy.  She is in New York, spying on the son of the DFA leader, pretending to be one of them, acting cured and in favour of the cause to eradicate the disease called love.  But in all this, Lena finds herself in physical and emotional danger... danger of falling in love...again.  Where does this all lead her?  From vulnerable to resistance fighter, from sorrow to hope, and possibly to love.  But then, in the last few paragraphs, a twist is unveiled that leaves the reader hanging.....

http://shirley-mybookshelf.blogspot.ca/2012/03/pandemonium-by-lauren-oliver-2nd-in.html

From the first chapter, I was taken in by Cinder's story.  Cinder is a strong protagonist who battles herself as much as she battles the environment of the day.  I love the unique angle on what was once a favourite fairy tale.  With a twist here and there, Cinder sweeps you along until the last chapter where you are left dangling, hoping the second book will answer the questions of the cliffhanger ending.

http://shirley-mybookshelf.blogspot.ca/2012/01/cinder-by-marissa-meyer-ya-book-review.html