Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bookworm_Girl
I liked the book, although I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I was disappointed as I was reading the book because it did not match my expectations. I had never read anything by Fitzgerald before. I was expecting a more sentimental book and perhaps a transformation in characters and the town as a result of the bookshop.
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I wouldn't have thought it nearly as brilliant if it had been sentimental and hopeful. Things don't always work out for the good and we need books that reflect that.
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I can't speak for others, but I will anyway
. When an avid reader sees the title "The Bookshop", they have different expectations* than they would to a title like "The Souvenir Shop", or "The Widget Shop" or whatever. Books, to an avid reader, are not mere commodities, but that is exactly what we get with this story. The shop could have been pretty much anything at all. (Although, I think "The Craft Shop" would set up similar expectations to "The Bookshop" in that we expect some enthusiasm from the participants for the goods they are peddling.) Why did the author choose a bookshop? Apparently because she had once worked in one.
I think the next shock was the gradual realisation that there were no contrasting emotions in here. Everyone was miserable, even Violet Gamart - although we might imagine a grim smile of satisfaction after the final page of the book. The most hopeful thing about this book seemed to be, or should have been, opening the bookshop, but we only hear about that in a vague sort of retrospective, with most of any sentiment sucked out. And this felt false to me. Such an endeavour - even for a "Widget Shop" - should be one of hopes, at least early on, but no, after eight years in this dismal town, Florence seems to be as lacking in passion as Milo, and is apparently opening a bookshop for no better reason than she had once worked in one.
You cannot properly reflect the impact of not working out for the good, if you do not reflect the hopes that have been dashed. There was so little sentiment at the start of this that the failure seemed of little consequence. It seemed to me that Florence would cry about it for a while on the train and then move on; no harm done.
For my tastes the book was either too short or too long. As a short story I think this could have worked quite well. Or, it could have been filled out and the characters given a bit more room to breathe - we could have started to see their character rather than relying on the author's descriptions, clever though they be.
* Don't forget this was nominated under the theme "books about books", so the expectation was obviously there.