Gabrielle Zevin. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2014. 258 pages. ISBN 9781616203214.
My book club selected The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry for its November read, and it was a hit with all of us. We picked it out from a list: National Reading Group Month: Great Group Reads, which turned out to be absolutely correct in this case.
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry tells the story of A.J. Fikry, a bookstore owner who lost his wife to a car accident a year ago. He's letting the bookstore's management crumble and is slowly drinking himself to death. One night he passes out at the kitchen table, not an unusual occurrence for him, but finds himself tucked into bed when he wakes up in the morning. His kitchen's been tidied up, and his rare and valuable edition of Edgar Allen Poe's Tamerlane is missing. A.J. reports the theft, but the trail is cold. Not long after, he returns from a jog and finds that someone has left a two-year old child in his store. He decides to foster the girl, Maya, and ultimately adopts her.
This short novel covers the next 16 years as Maya develops into a young woman and changes A.J.'s life for the better. Will A.J. ever find love again? Will A.J.'s sister-in-law make peace with her cheating husband? Whatever happened to A.J.'s copy of Tamerlane?
I really enjoyed this book. Gabrielle Zevin's writing is lucid and amusing. There are no wasted words, and she manages to find the humor in even dire situations. The characters are warm and caring. I particularly liked the Police Chief, Lambiase, and his Chief's Choice Book Club. A.J.'s love interest and later wife, Amy, is an eccentric but lovable character. My favorite character, however, is Maya, the young girl who changed everything for A.J.
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