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A review by tfredrick
The Bookstore by Deborah Meyler
3.0
Mixed review on this one.
What I liked:
* Some lines in this book made me laugh out loud, they were so funny and wryly observed. The protagonist (and the author) live in the U.S. but grew up in England, and the insider/outsider view led to descriptions of NYC and U.S. culture that felt new and interesting to me.
* The depiction of motherhood--including its joys, tedium, and upsets--felt well balanced, but...
What I didn't like:
* ...it all felt too rushed, especially the material after the birth of the baby. It's like the book just runs out of steam and ends.
* A central conceit of the book surrounds Esme's relationship with Mitchell, the man she loves despite those around her all hating him (and him sometimes seeming to hate her). I've known plenty of people who have loved someone despite it being obvious to everyone else that the person is bad for them, but since this book is told from Esme's perspective, I would have expected a window into WHY she loves him, but he is presented as unrelentingly awful.
* The depiction of graduate school was not believable. She occasionally attends lectures (each one seemingly given by a different art historian), borrows notes from other students, and--in her spare time between holding a job and dealing with a pregnancy--dashes off a couple of brilliant articles that make her department swoon.
What I liked:
* Some lines in this book made me laugh out loud, they were so funny and wryly observed. The protagonist (and the author) live in the U.S. but grew up in England, and the insider/outsider view led to descriptions of NYC and U.S. culture that felt new and interesting to me.
* The depiction of motherhood--including its joys, tedium, and upsets--felt well balanced, but...
What I didn't like:
* ...it all felt too rushed, especially the material after the birth of the baby. It's like the book just runs out of steam and ends.
* A central conceit of the book surrounds Esme's relationship with Mitchell, the man she loves despite those around her all hating him (and him sometimes seeming to hate her). I've known plenty of people who have loved someone despite it being obvious to everyone else that the person is bad for them, but since this book is told from Esme's perspective, I would have expected a window into WHY she loves him, but he is presented as unrelentingly awful.
* The depiction of graduate school was not believable. She occasionally attends lectures (each one seemingly given by a different art historian), borrows notes from other students, and--in her spare time between holding a job and dealing with a pregnancy--dashes off a couple of brilliant articles that make her department swoon.