Brilliant, idealistic Esme Garland moves to Manhattan armed with a prestigious scholarship at Columbia University. When Mitchell van Leuven— a New Yorker with the bluest of blue New York blood—captures her heart with his stunning good looks and a penchant for all things erotic, life seems truly glorious . . . until a thin blue line signals a wrinkle in Esme’s tidy plan. Before she has a chance to tell Mitchell about her pregnancy, he suddenly declares their sex life is as exciting as a cup of tea, and ends it all. Determined to master everything from Degas to diapers, Esme starts work at a small West Side bookstore, finding solace in George, the laconic owner addicted to spirulina, and Luke, the taciturn, guitar-playing night manag...
This Domestic Life give to us some advantages, like this :
1. Great Book Club Selection
I think that, sadly, this will be a polarizing book. readers will either connect or not, it will be just that simple. I found The Bookstore to be a well written, well researched, and easy to read debut novel. The premise was good, an unexpected pregnancy and the journey of personal discovery of the heroine, Esme, and a romance. I found the human characters to be a bit too formulaic. The non-human characters; The Owl Bookstore and New York City were however, enchanting and multi-dimensional. The book is full of literary references and quotes from poets, authors and history; again that will either appeal to or repel readers. The pacing was fairly even, if a little heavy on the main characters "reflections." I was rather dismayed by the abruptness of the ending, I would have liked it to be stronger with definite resolution, but that may be my personal preference. I can see this book being quite successful as a book club selection.
*I received my copy from NetGalley.com in exchange...
2. Quite interesting
This book made me feel seriously guilty for reading books on my ipad, the second hand bookshop in this story is built up so well, you can imagine the atmosphere and how the small number of staff care for and interact with each other really pulls on the heartstrings when you think of all the business they must have lost through eBooks and websites like Amazon.
Reading this left me quite frustrated at times, I lost count of the number of times I wanted to shout at Esme (the main character) or slap some sense into her. She makes bad decision after bad decision in her relationships; she could have got rid of the boyfriend to save herself all the games. The relationship with Mitchell didn't really make much sense anyway. The author puts Esme across as this intelligent women who's independent enough to cross the Atlantic to further her education and then decide she's capable of raising a baby on her own, yet she becomes completely dependent on the love/approval of a man who to be...
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LOVELY DEBUT! Will read more from this author
I managed to do with this book something I haven't been able to achieve in a very long time...reading the whole thing in one uninterrupted sitting. Yes, it was that good and engaging. And it's a debut novel, so kudos to this British author for finding her distinctive voice and her way to my 'bookworm heart' at her first release. The Bookstore had several features that appealed to my reader's sensitivity: the introspective tones, the numerous literary references, the heroine's personality (sweet, naive, and yet smart and articulate), the vivid characterization of supporting cast (all extremely likable, humane, memorable, and three-dimensional in their quirkiness), strong sense of space and the loving portrayal of a community (New York, The Owl bookstore and its patrons) that shields and supports Esme throughout her heartaches and some life-altering decisions. I think that labeling Deborah Meyler's debut novel as 'fluffy chick lit' doesn't really do justice to the graceful and...
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