Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - The Stationery Shop

This book is beautiful from the cover, to the love stories within. Not only did I fall in love with the characters and have my heart broken with them as well, I found out about some Persian dishes I need to try, because the food in this book leaps off the pages. Such a great love story.

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alexisgarcia's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

this absolutely wrecked me. i cried in public reading this.

it was so enlightening on the tribulations many Iranian people faced during that time. i felt my heart break when the characters faced grief and loss, which is hard for an author to achieve.

i would recommend this 1000%, please just check trigger warnings!!!

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bandysbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A couple months back, I found The Stationery Shop on the shelves of my local used bookstore. The cover was so stunningly beautiful that I picked it up without really knowing what it was about. Lucky for me, it is mostly a historical fiction set in Iran with some romance mixed in. The book follows Roya and Bahman as they witness political protests, attempted coups, and eventually fall in love with each other.

First of all, I really loved the way the author brought Iran to life. The setting is almost a character of its own as it is so present and involved in the plotline. I could fully imagine the stationery shop, the markets, and everything in between. It reminded me a lot of some of my own travels in the Middle East and I absolutely loved that sense of nostalgia from the reading.

Additionally, I loved Roya as a main character. She is clever, opinionated, and knows what she wants. She is a good daughter to her family and a loyal partner to Bahman when they fall in love. I felt a rapport with her immediately and continued to feel it throughout.

I also enjoyed the way the story was split between past and present. Sometimes when there is a split timeline in stories, one timeline is stronger than the other. That is not the case here. I loved both timelines and love the way the two timelines eventually come together.

My only real critique of the book is that the main source of conflict could've been so easily resolved. I won't give details here as I don't want to spoil the book, but suffice it to say, that you can't think about the conflict too deeply or it creates a bit of a hole in the story.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it without reservation to anyone who likes historical fiction and romance.

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shannonxvx's review against another edition

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challenging emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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brittanysimmons7's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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whatannikareads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny informative sad medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

hello reporting to you from the depths of my pain!!!!!!!! i loved this book!!!!!!!!!!!

i wouldn't go into this expecting to learn a lot of history about iran. the 1950s political scene is the backdrop of the plot and is involved with the characters but isn't loaded with facts and information, so adjust your expectations accordingly!

i loved this book because it was like "The Notebook" (the movie, haven't read the book) but ethnic and thus more interesting lol. while there are some cliches, i didn't mind them in this particular sense because it wasn't used distastefully, i don't think. when i put myself in roya's shoes, it felt like i was experiencing the new love and glamour that is associated with 1950s nostalgia (yes it was not a good time period for ethnic people i know).

i loved the main couple as well as the supporting couple and characters. i think they all sort of stood out, or at least helped move the plot along. i loved the time jump between the 1950s and modern times (1953) and i love that the "second lead" of sorts wasn't made to just juxtapose the first love; they were both good people to love in different ways, which pulled at your heartstrings even more.

the reasons i gave this a 4.75 instead of a full 5 (i know, tragic right): i'm not sure if the way mental illness is portrayed is mmmm PC? but also i think that's the point of how it's written—since this is a time and place where mental illness wouldn't really be handled with utmost care so i get it. also, i'm not sure if i liked the lgbtq small twist just because it was kinda random and not developed? it would've been interesting to dive into that more.

doesn't detract from the fact that i teared up at 3am when this ended!!!!!!

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valeriamrtnz's review against another edition

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emotional sad medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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