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bookworm247's review against another edition
5.0
I fell in love with this book at the very beginning. The characters seem like family now and the hardships they go through are very relatable. The writing of this novel is very simplistic which makes it a quick, yet amazing to me. I feel as though a part of this book will stay with me for years to come.
lisamquinn's review against another edition
2.0
I don't know what I hated more Mitchell or that Esme had her baby before me. .
finnspace's review against another edition
3.0
A nice read that held my interest. Esme infuriated me though...I found her spineless and just wanted to yell at her to grow a pair throughout. That's not a criticism of the plot or the writing, just annoyance at a character/person who doesn't feel strong enough on their own to stand up for themselves and/or assert independence against a domineering and manipulating person. And not just once, but repeatedly. This is part of what made the book so interesting to me though; I wanted to see if she'd ever be her own person.
sonaksha's review against another edition
1.0
Sigh, thoroughly disappointed. This book could have been so much more, but it wasn't. The writing was unnecessarily draggy and the characters were extremely whiny. Additionally, both the protagonist Esme and her boyfriend Mitchell were really frustrating. I almost felt like DNF-ing the book, but since I can nearly never bring myself to leave a book half read, I had to get to the end.
ely_reads's review against another edition
2.0
Meh...I listened to this and it was horrid...I couldn't even finish. Maybe if I were to actually read the book instead of listen to it maybe I could finish it but my hopes aren't too high.
cherylanntownsend's review against another edition
4.0
Englander, Esme Garland is in New York to study art history. She doesn’t feel a fit anywhere but inside a bookstore called The Owl. In there, she blends into the walls and reads, listens and breathes. She gets to know the staff and feels a bond, albeit slightly. More so than with her beau of just over a month, the hoity-toity, Mitchel von who cares? A self-indulgent, overbred mental case who can’t decide what he wants. When a one-time ooops results is Esme becoming pregnant, just as she’s headlong into her PhD at Cambridge, things get even more whacked. First he freaks, wants her to terminate, then demands marriage, then... oh, just read it.
Esme is a pillar of strength, along with the bookstore staff, (where she takes employment to pay for all that will transpire) and her photographer neighbor, she handles it all AND keeps her grades up.
I love her time in the bookstore, talking books and music and friending the homeless men who come in for menial labor and offing assorted books. The staff is quirky and compassionate. Well read and diverse.
As an added bonus, the book ended nowhere near how I expected. Bravo Ms Meyler, bravo!
Esme is a pillar of strength, along with the bookstore staff, (where she takes employment to pay for all that will transpire) and her photographer neighbor, she handles it all AND keeps her grades up.
I love her time in the bookstore, talking books and music and friending the homeless men who come in for menial labor and offing assorted books. The staff is quirky and compassionate. Well read and diverse.
As an added bonus, the book ended nowhere near how I expected. Bravo Ms Meyler, bravo!
keetha's review against another edition
A better title would have been, "A Twenty-Three Year Old Art Student at Columbia Gets Pregnant by a Guy Who Is a Caricature of a Complete Jerk, and She Remains in Love With Him For No Discernible Reason Until He Dumps Her for a Second Time, at Which Point She Has the Baby and Realizes Real Love Was Right in Front of Her Eyes in the Form of a Sensitive Guitar-Playing Co-Worker at the Bookstore Where They Both Work."
George, who owned the bookstore, was the most interesting person in the book.
George, who owned the bookstore, was the most interesting person in the book.
jeansbookbag's review against another edition
1.0
I was so looking forward to this book, but it ended up being a huge disappointment. The word that kept coming to mind was “pretentious.” This book was trying so hard to be deep and intellectual and in reality it was just trite and boring. I think we’re supposed to feel sorry for Esme, but I couldn’t. For someone smart enough to be working on a PhD at Columbia, she sure was dumb. I don’t know any 23 year olds as naive as her, which gave the story another layer of unbelievability. Mitchell was terrible, I don’t know why she put up with him, and yes, I get that the point is that he’s terrible, but if none of the characters are redeemable, he’s not a villain, he’s just one in a string of shitty characters! The customers and employees of the bookstore I think were supposed to be quirky and fun, but they weren’t. They all had a sad cloud hanging over them and while some lightness might have brought the rest of the book up, the fact that everyone seemed sad or bitter or snobby just brought the book down even more.
jojreads's review against another edition
1.0
Never have a read a book with such a narrator/main character I disliked so much. Not sure why I even finished this...
Esme Garland falls in love with the man she is sleeping with who gets her pregnant, maintains she loves him even after he breaks up with her, tells her they have not been exclusive, ghosts her repeatedly, then proposes in an elaborate public display with a ring she doesn’t like (which is so pretentious of her to even voice internally), orders her to have a threesome in advanced stages of pregnancy, dumps her when she refuses, doesn’t return her call after she has their baby, and barely acknowledges said baby when he runs into them on the street. Esme is just a vapid and weak character and I wished I could smack some common sense and backbone into her multiple times.
Also unsure why this book is called The Bookstore when the bookstore features so very little in the whole novel.
Esme Garland falls in love with the man she is sleeping with who gets her pregnant, maintains she loves him even after he breaks up with her, tells her they have not been exclusive, ghosts her repeatedly, then proposes in an elaborate public display with a ring she doesn’t like (which is so pretentious of her to even voice internally), orders her to have a threesome in advanced stages of pregnancy, dumps her when she refuses, doesn’t return her call after she has their baby, and barely acknowledges said baby when he runs into them on the street. Esme is just a vapid and weak character and I wished I could smack some common sense and backbone into her multiple times.
Also unsure why this book is called The Bookstore when the bookstore features so very little in the whole novel.