The Storied Life of A J Fikry

THE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY, Gabrielle Zevin published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill in 2014. The life of A. J. Fikry told by using bits and pieces of short stories, novella's and novels to write letters about his life to his adopted daughter Maya. Mr. Fikry is a bookseller on an Island only reached by boat. He is a widow and would rather not deal with the public. His wife makes him a slogan for the Island bookstore "No man is an Island, every book is a world." She had modified a quote by John Donne. The store was his wife's idea.  After her death he definitely wants to become an island and live in the world of books. I think his introverted character sets the tone at the beginning of the book.

Out of his life goes a rare book and into his life comes Maya. There are many layers to the story and I think my only criticism is that the book seemed to be in chunks. One of my book club members reckoned it being like a series of short stories inside of a novel. I think the book could have been expanded as we jump from Maya as a two year old and the next chapter we jump three years. This made me have to go back at the end of the book and figure out exactly how old she was and how long she had been with her adopted family. 

Also in this book was the e-book versus a handheld book, and bookstores having to change in order to stay up-to-date with the current trends in reading. I am a person who likes to go into a store browse all the books, read the first pages, feel the book and make my decision. It is the same thing I do in the library. But I do have an e-reader and when I am looking at a book that is rather large, it is nice to have it in a smaller format, where I do not need to hold a heavy tome in my hand. Both forms have there place but my favorite form and that of A.J. Fikry is the book. That is until later in his life, when he found the e-reader helpful.

Again as I said there are many layers in the book and I was not pleased with the ending but it was a good story. It is a life and I want to go and read all the short stories and novellas that he referenced in his letters to Maya. I have already read one and will read the others if I can find them in the library.