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shelfimprovement's review against another edition
"A witty, sharply observed debut novel about a young woman who finds unexpected salvation while working in a quirky used bookstore in Manhattan."
That right there? Whoever wrote that marketing copy deserves a prize for best fiction writing of the year. This novel is neither witty nor sharply observed. Nope, it's tedious and dull. I mean, if anyone should appreciate a lighthearted tale about a young woman finding herself while working at a bookstore, it's me. That's kind of the story of my life. But this? I couldn't get past the first fifteen pages.
That right there? Whoever wrote that marketing copy deserves a prize for best fiction writing of the year. This novel is neither witty nor sharply observed. Nope, it's tedious and dull. I mean, if anyone should appreciate a lighthearted tale about a young woman finding herself while working at a bookstore, it's me. That's kind of the story of my life. But this? I couldn't get past the first fifteen pages.
rebeccaweger's review against another edition
3.0
Some beautiful sentences throughout the book, but I had some challenges with the characters.
jennrid's review against another edition
2.0
This review originally appeared on Everyday eBook
A Novel for Book Lovers by Deborah Meyler
In The Bookstore by [a: Deborah Meyler|6544795|Deborah Meyler|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1371508669p2/6544795.jpg], a Cambridge graduate named Esme Garland has earned a full ride to Columbia to earn her PhD in art history. As most newcomers to New York City, she is enthralled by the city - the energy, the hidden gems, the odd neighbors. She finds a small used bookstore, The Owl, that has managed to survive on Broadway, surrounded by Big Box retail stores. The Owl becomes a place she views as a refuge from the bustle around her.
Esme is also completely beguiled by her boyfriend, Mitchell van Leuven. After a passionate encounter in a bar, they begin dating. He is rich, damaged, and passionate. Unfortunately, shortly into their relationship, Esme finds herself pregnant. When she meets Mitchell in the park to share the news, before she can even tell him he breaks off their relationship, and to add insult to injury he declares their sex life as exciting as a cup of tea.
Esme decides that she will have her child and do it on her own. She quickly realizes that she will need a job to cover her expenses, though; after all, having a child is not cheap. Finding a part-time job, especially with only a student visa, is not easy. Thankfully, The Owl does not exactly concern itself with rules; the manager hires her and pays her in cash. She quickly becomes part of the motley crew that works and frequents the store. The owner, George, is like a modern hippie, constantly concerned with the chemicals and additives of everyday life (and that may be doing harm to Esme and her baby). Luke is a (handsome) melancholy musician; one gets the feeling that his feelings for Esme are more than just friendly. And there are a few homeless men who help and hang out at the store.
When Martin returns to her life and begs her to take him back, she does. For me, this is where the book disappoints a little. It is obvious that Martin does not actually care for Esme or the baby. Unfortunately, even his character comes across more as a stereotype than as a fully formed person. Somehow, Esme remains blind to his shenanigans for too long. I continued reading, though, to see if Esme would ever come to her senses.
The intentions behind Meyler's novel will appeal to anyone who loves books and finds comfort in them and the community of readers they offer. Despite some missteps, The Bookstore is a quick read about a woman trying to find her way in a foreign place while faced with the twists and turns life throws at us.
A Novel for Book Lovers by Deborah Meyler
In The Bookstore by [a: Deborah Meyler|6544795|Deborah Meyler|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1371508669p2/6544795.jpg], a Cambridge graduate named Esme Garland has earned a full ride to Columbia to earn her PhD in art history. As most newcomers to New York City, she is enthralled by the city - the energy, the hidden gems, the odd neighbors. She finds a small used bookstore, The Owl, that has managed to survive on Broadway, surrounded by Big Box retail stores. The Owl becomes a place she views as a refuge from the bustle around her.
Esme is also completely beguiled by her boyfriend, Mitchell van Leuven. After a passionate encounter in a bar, they begin dating. He is rich, damaged, and passionate. Unfortunately, shortly into their relationship, Esme finds herself pregnant. When she meets Mitchell in the park to share the news, before she can even tell him he breaks off their relationship, and to add insult to injury he declares their sex life as exciting as a cup of tea.
Esme decides that she will have her child and do it on her own. She quickly realizes that she will need a job to cover her expenses, though; after all, having a child is not cheap. Finding a part-time job, especially with only a student visa, is not easy. Thankfully, The Owl does not exactly concern itself with rules; the manager hires her and pays her in cash. She quickly becomes part of the motley crew that works and frequents the store. The owner, George, is like a modern hippie, constantly concerned with the chemicals and additives of everyday life (and that may be doing harm to Esme and her baby). Luke is a (handsome) melancholy musician; one gets the feeling that his feelings for Esme are more than just friendly. And there are a few homeless men who help and hang out at the store.
When Martin returns to her life and begs her to take him back, she does. For me, this is where the book disappoints a little. It is obvious that Martin does not actually care for Esme or the baby. Unfortunately, even his character comes across more as a stereotype than as a fully formed person. Somehow, Esme remains blind to his shenanigans for too long. I continued reading, though, to see if Esme would ever come to her senses.
The intentions behind Meyler's novel will appeal to anyone who loves books and finds comfort in them and the community of readers they offer. Despite some missteps, The Bookstore is a quick read about a woman trying to find her way in a foreign place while faced with the twists and turns life throws at us.
laurengraham17's review against another edition
3.0
Although I enjoyed the writing style, I couldn't connect with the characters and I disliked the protagonist.
shelleyrae's review against another edition
2.0
I imagine there are few avid readers who could pass up a book set in a bookstore and the Owl is the type of store many wish would exist on their block.
"The store is narrow, about ten feet across, with a central staircase leading to a mezzanine. There are books on both sides of the stairway, in ever more precarious piles, and it is a hardy customer who will pick her way carefully up the stairs to the dusty stacks beyond. Downstairs is a tumble of books that I sometimes surreptitiously straighten. There are sections labeled with old notices, but they flow into each other in an unstoppable tide, so that history is compromised by mythology leaking into it, mystery books get mixed up with religion, and the feminist section is continually outraged by the steady dribble of erotica from the shelves above. When books do manage to make it to shelves, instead of being in piles near their sections, they are shelved double deep and the attempts at alphabetization are sometimes noticeable, with "A"s and "Z"s serving as bookends to the jumble in the center." p8
Open from morning to midnight and staffed by an eccentric group of people, including two homeless men, the second hand bookstore is a wonderful setting. While it was center stage I read eagerly, delighted by the laconic owner, George and his enigmatic assistant Luke, content to imagine sitting behind the counter with a book in hand while a succession of customers wandered into the gloom.
Esme is The Bookstore's protagonist. A British PhD scholarship student at Columbia she falls pregnant to her boyfriend, Mitchell. They have been dating only a couple of months and she is worried what the pregnancy will mean to their relationship if she makes the decision to keep the baby. But before she can tell Mitchell (though it is obvious he suspects) he cruelly dumps her and Esme is left reeling. Choosing to have the baby anyway, Esme knows she will need some extra income so she applies for part time position advertised at the Owl.
Sadly I found Esme less endearing as the story unfolded. The bright, articulate woman we are introduced to at the beginning of the story dissolves into the lovelorn victim of Mitchell's shallow charms, oblivious to his self serving manipulations. The focus on the on again/off again relationship reduces Esme to a caricature rather than a character and I quickly grew tired of her inane interactions with Mitchell.
Unfortunately there is not really any plot to speak of either aside from the anti-love story and the novel's ending is ambiguous and unsatisfying. I realised, three quarters of the way through, I cared little about Esme and her pining for Mitchell and was simply waiting to revisit the Owl.
That leaves me in a bit of a quandary, there were elements of this novel I liked, the Owl and its characters obviously and even the writing style, but the almost farcical relationship between Esme and Mitchell was an irritant and in the end I can't say The Bookstore was any more than OK.
kszr's review against another edition
3.0
This book was very expected, with no great surprises. Enjoyable, but not that memorable.
With the English rose of a "heroine" in Esme, the big surprise was that she was such a doormat to Mitchell, an nonredeemable egomaniac, and that she kept believing that he deserved her. The favorite bookstore, with its cast of characters, were expected, if endearing. Would have liked more depth of Esme learning the new definition of family, and how the little things will get her through, instead of it being the windup at the end.
With the English rose of a "heroine" in Esme, the big surprise was that she was such a doormat to Mitchell, an nonredeemable egomaniac, and that she kept believing that he deserved her. The favorite bookstore, with its cast of characters, were expected, if endearing. Would have liked more depth of Esme learning the new definition of family, and how the little things will get her through, instead of it being the windup at the end.
karak's review against another edition
I got about 100 pages into the book and gave up. It just never really clicked with me as a compelling story.
librarianna81's review against another edition
3.0
shelfnotes.com
Dear Reader,
This was a really interesting book, because the entire time I was reading it, it felt quite a bit like "chick lit", but it really was quite far from that light-hearted, utopian genre. Maybe that's because the premise is that of a young woman living in New York City, who finds herself pregnant by a man she believes she loves. The book had a lot of those moments where you felt as if maybe she'd realize that the pensive, kind man with whom she works is actually the right one for her, but the book doesn't turn out as perfectly packaged as most of those sorts of girly books do, so I ended up enjoying it more - because of how real it felt. It wasn't a princess and fairy tale book, really. It was about real life, and how imperfect it often ends up being, but how you can find joy and love even when things don't turn out how you expect.
Esme Garland is an English expatriate who is doing her graduate work at Columbia, focusing her studies on fine art. She is an intelligent, very independent young woman who yes, sometimes makes mistakes. The book felt so very intellectual (often mentioning books and artists who I'd never heard of), which was a bit jarring to me, beacuse it also did feel like chick lit. I found this to be especially the case when Esme and the father of her child are planning to make a go at it, and you can see that they are just not a good fit for each other. It made me feel frustrated, because you could really tell that she didn't in fact love Mitchell, but she was forcing herself to feel those feelings because she wanted to make things work. Mitchell was the classic asshole boyfriend who thought only of himself. His selfishness was apparent right from the get-go, and you'd have thought Esme would have seen right through it - and would not want to raise a child in that sort of environment. But, I suppose that is also true to life: sometimes even the smartest girls end up trying to find the knight in shining armor, even when we know that's not how reality works. Esme just kept gamely trying to make things work, but the reader could really tell that it was a losing battle. Mitchell did seem to try at times, enough to make Esme feel special and as if she perhaps was choosing the right person to start a family with, but he often tempered his kindness with cruelty, most likely to protect himself. Again, very real, very true to life. Nobody is perfect, for sure, but it was clear that whoever Mitchell was perfect for, it certainly wasn't Esme. He could never have been happy in a relationship where someone else gets the glory sometimes. He needed to be the center of his world.
My favorite parts of the book were, fittingly, those that took place in the bookstore. The rag-tag cast of characters that made up the employees and regulars of the shop were a wonderful mixture, and again felt very real. The author herself actually worked in a bookstore, and said she drew heavily on the characters she encountered there. Esme finds a kind of family, which is important to someone who feels so alone and so far from home. The others rush to take care of her, each in their own ways, and I think without them she might have been lost, overwhelmed. I also of course loved the smattering of book discussions, and the feeling of actually being inside that ecclectic shop, piled high with books and strange knick-knacks.
Overall, I do think I enjoyed this book. I still can't get over that it felt like it was written specifically for women, which is why I can't rate it more highly (I like a book the transcends that sort of thing), but I do think I will recommend it to others, especially those who enjoy the "chick lit" genre. I think it is a nice, more intellectual departure from the normal fare found there, but would still be enjoyed by someone who loves those kinds of female-oriented books.
Yours,
Arianna
Dear Reader,
This was a really interesting book, because the entire time I was reading it, it felt quite a bit like "chick lit", but it really was quite far from that light-hearted, utopian genre. Maybe that's because the premise is that of a young woman living in New York City, who finds herself pregnant by a man she believes she loves. The book had a lot of those moments where you felt as if maybe she'd realize that the pensive, kind man with whom she works is actually the right one for her, but the book doesn't turn out as perfectly packaged as most of those sorts of girly books do, so I ended up enjoying it more - because of how real it felt. It wasn't a princess and fairy tale book, really. It was about real life, and how imperfect it often ends up being, but how you can find joy and love even when things don't turn out how you expect.
Esme Garland is an English expatriate who is doing her graduate work at Columbia, focusing her studies on fine art. She is an intelligent, very independent young woman who yes, sometimes makes mistakes. The book felt so very intellectual (often mentioning books and artists who I'd never heard of), which was a bit jarring to me, beacuse it also did feel like chick lit. I found this to be especially the case when Esme and the father of her child are planning to make a go at it, and you can see that they are just not a good fit for each other. It made me feel frustrated, because you could really tell that she didn't in fact love Mitchell, but she was forcing herself to feel those feelings because she wanted to make things work. Mitchell was the classic asshole boyfriend who thought only of himself. His selfishness was apparent right from the get-go, and you'd have thought Esme would have seen right through it - and would not want to raise a child in that sort of environment. But, I suppose that is also true to life: sometimes even the smartest girls end up trying to find the knight in shining armor, even when we know that's not how reality works. Esme just kept gamely trying to make things work, but the reader could really tell that it was a losing battle. Mitchell did seem to try at times, enough to make Esme feel special and as if she perhaps was choosing the right person to start a family with, but he often tempered his kindness with cruelty, most likely to protect himself. Again, very real, very true to life. Nobody is perfect, for sure, but it was clear that whoever Mitchell was perfect for, it certainly wasn't Esme. He could never have been happy in a relationship where someone else gets the glory sometimes. He needed to be the center of his world.
My favorite parts of the book were, fittingly, those that took place in the bookstore. The rag-tag cast of characters that made up the employees and regulars of the shop were a wonderful mixture, and again felt very real. The author herself actually worked in a bookstore, and said she drew heavily on the characters she encountered there. Esme finds a kind of family, which is important to someone who feels so alone and so far from home. The others rush to take care of her, each in their own ways, and I think without them she might have been lost, overwhelmed. I also of course loved the smattering of book discussions, and the feeling of actually being inside that ecclectic shop, piled high with books and strange knick-knacks.
Overall, I do think I enjoyed this book. I still can't get over that it felt like it was written specifically for women, which is why I can't rate it more highly (I like a book the transcends that sort of thing), but I do think I will recommend it to others, especially those who enjoy the "chick lit" genre. I think it is a nice, more intellectual departure from the normal fare found there, but would still be enjoyed by someone who loves those kinds of female-oriented books.
Yours,
Arianna
sheahbartlett's review against another edition
5.0
The most sensational aspect of this book was its setting. Deborah Meyler's ability to bring New York City and the small, hole-in-the-wall bookstore, The Owl, to life was simply astounding. As someone who could hardly be described as a fan of the Big Apple, I found myself longing and nostalgic for it's streets, parks, and bagels. The Owl and its eccentric characters strengthened my resolve to visit more locally owned bookstores! The characters were rich and the prose was was fantastic. The literary and artistic references were certainly engaging, though I imagine those not well-read in the classics or without much knowledge of art history would certainly be lost.
That being said, I struggled to find reason why Esme would initially fall for Mitchell, and her constant returns to him were increasingly annoying. I disliked the chapters in which he was featured, as I wanted to return to The Owl and continue to learn more of its employees and patrons. The romance was definitely the weakest part of the book, and I honestly wish it wasn't there.
Overall, it was a great book with rich characters. I would definitely recommend it to a friend!
That being said, I struggled to find reason why Esme would initially fall for Mitchell, and her constant returns to him were increasingly annoying. I disliked the chapters in which he was featured, as I wanted to return to The Owl and continue to learn more of its employees and patrons. The romance was definitely the weakest part of the book, and I honestly wish it wasn't there.
Overall, it was a great book with rich characters. I would definitely recommend it to a friend!