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megancrusante's review
3.0
I really liked this- so entertaining, fast read, hard to put down, and likeable characters. So many good ways to reflect on relationships of all kinds- family, romantic, work, and friendship. Especially interesting as a single woman in my 30s in present day NYC compared to the narrator as a single woman in her 30s in 1960s Denver. However large portions of this book left me feeling sad- it gave the impression you are supposed to choose between 2 extremes for your life, with no middle ground. Personally I felt the book leaned super super strongly towards one outcome as the more positive way for a woman to spend her life. Perhaps this is for consistency with the dated views on gender, race, sexuality,and mental health as contemplated by the characters.
teganbeesebooks's review against another edition
3.0
I really liked this at the beginning and was very intrigued, but felt like it started to drag towards the middle. Part of the twist surprised me, but the other part I guessed. Not a bad listen, good for historical fiction fans that like a bit of mystery.
gaderianne's review
2.0
I wanted to love this book. I really did. It just didn't end up captivating me. In fact, I believe I tried to read this book before and I ended up giving up. This time I persisted through and, although it was an interesting concept, I just didn't love it.
The concept is intriguing - Kitty, a single, 1960s business woman, starts having vidid dreams about a different life. One where married, had a family, and gave up her business. The dreams become so real she soon can't tell which world is real - is her dream world her real world? Or is she dreaming when she thinks she's awake.
Even the overall message of this book was good. It's about self-discovery, finding yourself, learning to live with regret, and reconciling the what-ifs we all have.
However, I just didn't think it was a captivating read for me.
The concept is intriguing - Kitty, a single, 1960s business woman, starts having vidid dreams about a different life. One where married, had a family, and gave up her business. The dreams become so real she soon can't tell which world is real - is her dream world her real world? Or is she dreaming when she thinks she's awake.
Even the overall message of this book was good. It's about self-discovery, finding yourself, learning to live with regret, and reconciling the what-ifs we all have.
However, I just didn't think it was a captivating read for me.
mnboyer's review against another edition
3.0
Kitty (Katharyn) wakes up one day to find she's in the middle of a life that isn't her own. In this new dream world she has married a man named Lars, has three children, and no longer runs her quaint bookstore with her best friend. And then she wakes up and returns to her life with a bookstore, single-lady status, and she and her best friend get to gab away. But which world is real? How can Kitty uncover which world is real? How can you trust anything when you don't know which reality is the "real" reality and which is "fiction"....
I added this book to my "must read" list in 2017 when I kept seeing this book pop up on lists of notable books, authors, etc. I finally realized that my public library had a Kindle version that I could borrow so, I decided to sit down and read this.
My first expectation: That this would be about a woman that sold books. I was expecting far more of the plot to take place in a bookstore. The cover misled me a little bit because this isn't necessarily about that job function at all. Kitty just so happens to be a bookseller (kind of, the business dwindles) and there's where we find our title. Good cover art choice though, as it lured me in!
My second expectation: The plot wouldn't be easy to unravel. I was hoping it would be harder to determine which life is 'real' and which is fake. There is a big reveal at one point later in the novel (almost at the end, as it were) but I had this solved a long time before that. I'm not necessarily saying that is a bad thing, as I suppose the reader gets to live in the suspense of trying to help Kitty understand reality/fiction. Yet... I wasn't as thrilled as I wanted to be.
The plot also tends to be similar to a lot of time travel/alter-reality novels in the fiction genre. Decent woman has to decide if her dream man is real or not. I'm not attempting to diminish the plot here or say this is the only story line in The Bookseller... but it is one of the major devices the book uses. Is Lars real? Is Katharyn real?
I appreciated some of the questions of domesticity that arose. If Kitty is indeed a mother of three... has she given up her book shop willingly? What happened to the strong independent bookseller? If Kitty has one child that has autism... was she a bad mother? (This takes place in the 1960s so doctors still believe autism is derived from bad mothering within the context of this novel)
There are some unique things scattered throughout the book.
I enjoyed the portrayal of the autistic son, Michael, and thought this was a clever way of saying no life is perfect to the reader. Perhaps even life is intricate. I found it to be a realistic portrayal of autism--and that was key, to me--because Michael wasn't used as some form of political plot device. He's just a young boy who is autistic. Simple, honest, representative of a group of individuals that I find are frequently left of out literary representations. This was a gem that was hidden within the text. (Also--Michael is extremely smart and helps Kitty begin to unravel and understand reality/fake world issues)
Lars was a very likable individual and so, portraying the hunky possibly dream man makes sense with him. I though he may have been the most developed character (potentially a conflict since this is supposed to be a story about Kitty).
There are a lot of historic references to try and situate you in the time/place of the novel. I learned some interesting information about Patsy Cline, for example. I feel like no one told me she died in a plane crash!!! But I fact checked.... who knew?! So again, I appreciate the accurate building of the time period.
Things I didn't necessarily enjoy:
1) The side plot with Kitty's parents. This will develop through postcard correspondence. Later you'll figure out why this is relevant:
2) The plot revolving around Kitty and her best friend, Frieda. The pair run the bookstore together and Frieda has been Kitty's rock when she needs it. In one world, they are best friends. In another world, they've had a falling out after Kitty has left the store to tend to her family. But I didn't necessarily need the "friendship fight" in this story. In one world Frieda ends up running a chain of bookstores, which are wildly popular at the time, but I want to caution Frieda that by 2018 many of the large bookstores (Borders, for example) have been put out of business. Invest in Amazon.... Frieda be wise and invest in Amazon! Sigh.
Overall...
A quick, fun read that does not provide what you might be expecting based on the cover and blurb. Only about 50% of the plot is actually about Kitty/Lars. The rest is divided up with Frieda, the parents, etc. I wouldn't classify this as something super romantic (like [b:Outlander|10964|Outlander (Outlander, #1)|Diana Gabaldon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1529065012s/10964.jpg|2489796]). The travel is not as intricate as some stories (like [b:The Time Traveler's Wife|14050|The Time Traveler's Wife|Audrey Niffenegger|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1437728815s/14050.jpg|2153746]) but instead manifests as a dream world when Kitty goes to sleep. It is fun. But in the end it does not live up to the "amazing" hype that I heard about it.
I added this book to my "must read" list in 2017 when I kept seeing this book pop up on lists of notable books, authors, etc. I finally realized that my public library had a Kindle version that I could borrow so, I decided to sit down and read this.
My first expectation: That this would be about a woman that sold books. I was expecting far more of the plot to take place in a bookstore. The cover misled me a little bit because this isn't necessarily about that job function at all. Kitty just so happens to be a bookseller (kind of, the business dwindles) and there's where we find our title. Good cover art choice though, as it lured me in!
My second expectation: The plot wouldn't be easy to unravel. I was hoping it would be harder to determine which life is 'real' and which is fake. There is a big reveal at one point later in the novel (almost at the end, as it were) but I had this solved a long time before that. I'm not necessarily saying that is a bad thing, as I suppose the reader gets to live in the suspense of trying to help Kitty understand reality/fiction. Yet... I wasn't as thrilled as I wanted to be.
The plot also tends to be similar to a lot of time travel/alter-reality novels in the fiction genre. Decent woman has to decide if her dream man is real or not. I'm not attempting to diminish the plot here or say this is the only story line in The Bookseller... but it is one of the major devices the book uses. Is Lars real? Is Katharyn real?
I appreciated some of the questions of domesticity that arose. If Kitty is indeed a mother of three... has she given up her book shop willingly? What happened to the strong independent bookseller? If Kitty has one child that has autism... was she a bad mother? (This takes place in the 1960s so doctors still believe autism is derived from bad mothering within the context of this novel)
There are some unique things scattered throughout the book.
I enjoyed the portrayal of the autistic son, Michael, and thought this was a clever way of saying no life is perfect to the reader. Perhaps even life is intricate. I found it to be a realistic portrayal of autism--and that was key, to me--because Michael wasn't used as some form of political plot device. He's just a young boy who is autistic. Simple, honest, representative of a group of individuals that I find are frequently left of out literary representations. This was a gem that was hidden within the text. (Also--Michael is extremely smart and helps Kitty begin to unravel and understand reality/fake world issues)
Lars was a very likable individual and so, portraying the hunky possibly dream man makes sense with him. I though he may have been the most developed character (potentially a conflict since this is supposed to be a story about Kitty).
There are a lot of historic references to try and situate you in the time/place of the novel. I learned some interesting information about Patsy Cline, for example. I feel like no one told me she died in a plane crash!!! But I fact checked.... who knew?! So again, I appreciate the accurate building of the time period.
Things I didn't necessarily enjoy:
1) The side plot with Kitty's parents. This will develop through postcard correspondence. Later you'll figure out why this is relevant:
Spoiler
something having to do with the parents causes Kitty to get stuck between the real/fake world.2) The plot revolving around Kitty and her best friend, Frieda. The pair run the bookstore together and Frieda has been Kitty's rock when she needs it. In one world, they are best friends. In another world, they've had a falling out after Kitty has left the store to tend to her family. But I didn't necessarily need the "friendship fight" in this story. In one world Frieda ends up running a chain of bookstores, which are wildly popular at the time, but I want to caution Frieda that by 2018 many of the large bookstores (Borders, for example) have been put out of business. Invest in Amazon.... Frieda be wise and invest in Amazon! Sigh.
Overall...
A quick, fun read that does not provide what you might be expecting based on the cover and blurb. Only about 50% of the plot is actually about Kitty/Lars. The rest is divided up with Frieda, the parents, etc. I wouldn't classify this as something super romantic (like [b:Outlander|10964|Outlander (Outlander, #1)|Diana Gabaldon|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1529065012s/10964.jpg|2489796]). The travel is not as intricate as some stories (like [b:The Time Traveler's Wife|14050|The Time Traveler's Wife|Audrey Niffenegger|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1437728815s/14050.jpg|2153746]) but instead manifests as a dream world when Kitty goes to sleep. It is fun. But in the end it does not live up to the "amazing" hype that I heard about it.
biblio_amy's review against another edition
3.0
This was a different style of reading for me. I figured out the twist in this story after we find out that Katherine's parents have died in a plane crash. I figured that her "dream" of being married and having children was her actual life and the other was the dream in which she was trying to cope with her loss of her parents and then her friendship with Frida.
catmom21's review
3.0
3.5 stars. This book is engrossing, right up until about the last third. Kitty Miller begins having very realistic dreams in which she is in another world, still herself but slightly altered - she is now Mrs. Anderson, no longer called Kitty but her full name.
I'll admit that I much preferred Kitty's world, and kept hoping that was the "real" world. I was excited to see what would happen to Sisters, and how Kitty's life as a children's author would take off. So needless to say I was slightly disappointed when that ended up being the dream world. I suppose that's likely the point of the book - Mrs. Anderson invented this world because she was unhappy and shocked at the way her life had turned out, so she dreamed up a place in which her life had not taken the unfortunate turns she so regretted.
I could see this as being a coping mechanism in response to grief, and it's clear that perhaps the main character has some sort of psychological issue. If that's the case, though, I do think it was resolved somewhat too quickly and easily. Most of the time, people don't just snap out of it.
It was very well written, though as I mentioned by the last third I was ready for the "secret" to be revealed and to find out what was really going on. At that point it just got tiresome. I know that's probably to help us understand what the main character is feeling, but ultimately I don't need to feel everything she is - I was intrigued enough to read that far.
Overall I'd recommend to anyone who loves the idea of bookstores, and also the concept of a "twist".
Spoiler
I'll admit that I much preferred Kitty's world, and kept hoping that was the "real" world. I was excited to see what would happen to Sisters, and how Kitty's life as a children's author would take off. So needless to say I was slightly disappointed when that ended up being the dream world. I suppose that's likely the point of the book - Mrs. Anderson invented this world because she was unhappy and shocked at the way her life had turned out, so she dreamed up a place in which her life had not taken the unfortunate turns she so regretted.
I could see this as being a coping mechanism in response to grief, and it's clear that perhaps the main character has some sort of psychological issue. If that's the case, though, I do think it was resolved somewhat too quickly and easily. Most of the time, people don't just snap out of it.
It was very well written, though as I mentioned by the last third I was ready for the "secret" to be revealed and to find out what was really going on. At that point it just got tiresome. I know that's probably to help us understand what the main character is feeling, but ultimately I don't need to feel everything she is - I was intrigued enough to read that far.
Overall I'd recommend to anyone who loves the idea of bookstores, and also the concept of a "twist".
tobyyy's review
3.0
This just seems to be the year (or perhaps the month) for me to pick up books, read them and enjoy them, and then ask myself the question that always seems to come up: "What the fuck did I just read?" (I swear that this never used to happen. Maybe I'm reading weirder books now, or maybe my outlook on life, reading, and everything else has shifted a little...? Not really sure.)
So... I'm going to break The Bookseller down into parts I liked and parts I didn't, and rate them accordingly.
* Originality of the idea behind the story:5/5 stars.
* Writing style: 5/5 stars.
* The way autism was portrayed: 4/5 stars. Mind you, I'm only rating it that high because this book takes place in the 1960s and back then, most mental illnesses (especially ones such as schizophrenia) were blamed on the mother. Take, for example, this quote from The History of Autism, under the 1960s & 1970s section:
(And I did check - autism was indeed referred to as childhood schizophrenia in the 1960s, which was something I was curious about.)
* Balance of action to description: 3.5/5 stars (I'm sorry. I love descriptions, but there was a LOT of describing in this book.) And, following up on that --
* My sense of filler writing to actual important-to-the-story writing: 3/5 stars. Ish. Maybe 2.5/5 stars. There was a lot of filler writing, but as mentioned above, I like descriptions. I like being able to picture the world and the people in the world that I'm reading about. But there really was a lot of filler stuff that had nothing to do with the actual storyline. Who cares what the cabinets are like in Katharyn's house? (Seriously.)
* The way the plot was carried out: 3/5 stars. It felt weak, and I'm not entirely sure how I should feel about what is real and what isn't... and that kind of pisses me off. Because for me it was an intriguing mystery throughout the book but I feel like the ending should've shown the reader which was real and which wasn't. It kind of did, but also, it kind of didn't. And that's infuriating to me.
* Likeability of Kitty/Katharyn: 2.5/5 stars. I never really felt attached to her. There isn't a whole lot of character there to get attached to.
* Kitty's vs. Katharyn's lives: 2/5 stars. There was loss in each life, but Kitty's life was at least tolerable whereas Katharyn's sounded horrible. However, I do think that Katharyn's life can be improved and at least at the end she was consciously trying to improve it.
* Showing us how Kitty/Katharyn got through the days when Kitty/Katharyn were in their opposite lives: 1/5 stars. This really wasn't explained AT ALL. *sob* And I felt like that was something that really, really needing to be explained.
* Knowing how I should feel after finishing the book: 0/5 stars. Seriously. I have NO IDEA. Am I supposed to be happy how it turned out? There's elements of both happy and sad to the ending, but there's also so, so, SO MANY "what ifs" or "why didn'ts" or or or.......
Overall, I would totally read something by Swanson again. I loved her writing style, I loved the descriptions, and I do think that she shows promise, both in originality of her plot and her writing style. The Bookseller was her debut novel and honestly, it kept me interested. I finished it in 2 days, and that's with doing a lot of other stuff in between reading. :)
So... I'm going to break The Bookseller down into parts I liked and parts I didn't, and rate them accordingly.
* Originality of the idea behind the story:5/5 stars.
* Writing style: 5/5 stars.
* The way autism was portrayed: 4/5 stars. Mind you, I'm only rating it that high because this book takes place in the 1960s and back then, most mental illnesses (especially ones such as schizophrenia) were blamed on the mother. Take, for example, this quote from The History of Autism, under the 1960s & 1970s section:
[In the 1960s and 1970s], the notion of poor parenting remained in the forefront for many researchers and physicians during the decades to follow. None is as prevalent as the Refrigerator Mother theory, in which the mother fails to bond with her baby.
(And I did check - autism was indeed referred to as childhood schizophrenia in the 1960s, which was something I was curious about.)
* Balance of action to description: 3.5/5 stars (I'm sorry. I love descriptions, but there was a LOT of describing in this book.) And, following up on that --
* My sense of filler writing to actual important-to-the-story writing: 3/5 stars. Ish. Maybe 2.5/5 stars. There was a lot of filler writing, but as mentioned above, I like descriptions. I like being able to picture the world and the people in the world that I'm reading about. But there really was a lot of filler stuff that had nothing to do with the actual storyline. Who cares what the cabinets are like in Katharyn's house? (Seriously.)
* The way the plot was carried out: 3/5 stars. It felt weak, and I'm not entirely sure how I should feel about what is real and what isn't... and that kind of pisses me off. Because for me it was an intriguing mystery throughout the book but I feel like the ending should've shown the reader which was real and which wasn't. It kind of did, but also, it kind of didn't. And that's infuriating to me.
* Likeability of Kitty/Katharyn: 2.5/5 stars. I never really felt attached to her. There isn't a whole lot of character there to get attached to.
* Kitty's vs. Katharyn's lives: 2/5 stars. There was loss in each life, but Kitty's life was at least tolerable whereas Katharyn's sounded horrible. However, I do think that Katharyn's life can be improved and at least at the end she was consciously trying to improve it.
* Showing us how Kitty/Katharyn got through the days when Kitty/Katharyn were in their opposite lives: 1/5 stars. This really wasn't explained AT ALL. *sob* And I felt like that was something that really, really needing to be explained.
* Knowing how I should feel after finishing the book: 0/5 stars. Seriously. I have NO IDEA. Am I supposed to be happy how it turned out? There's elements of both happy and sad to the ending, but there's also so, so, SO MANY "what ifs" or "why didn'ts" or or or.......
Overall, I would totally read something by Swanson again. I loved her writing style, I loved the descriptions, and I do think that she shows promise, both in originality of her plot and her writing style. The Bookseller was her debut novel and honestly, it kept me interested. I finished it in 2 days, and that's with doing a lot of other stuff in between reading. :)
katmarieholt's review
4.0
This made a great audio book! Easy to follow while driving and intriguing enough to make the time pass quickly. It didn’t end the way I expected and it would be interesting to go back and read it again with the end in mind. I think the theme of a woman being pulled in 2 directions and wondering what life could’ve been like is very relatable. And of course the lengths our minds will go to to protect us is amazing.
graggirl's review
3.0
There were things I really enjoyed about this book and parts that rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't like the writing style of the beginning and the end. This is what left me with three stars as a rating. For me this book hovered between 3 and 4 stars.
The story was compelling albeit a little predictable. The characters were mostly likable. But, parts of it felt too 1950's cliche and lacked depth. This book is worth a read and definitely is a great vacation/beach read!
It has an interesting and engaging premise and the main character has the right amount of conflict that you can drift along the story with her.
This book does have some stereotypical notions about family life and career, and also about raising a high needs child. The book also seemed to throw in aspects of Frieda's character just to make her timely, I didn't like the way this was done. I could sense where the author was going but felt it should have been done differently. Worth a read!
The story was compelling albeit a little predictable. The characters were mostly likable. But, parts of it felt too 1950's cliche and lacked depth. This book is worth a read and definitely is a great vacation/beach read!
It has an interesting and engaging premise and the main character has the right amount of conflict that you can drift along the story with her.
This book does have some stereotypical notions about family life and career, and also about raising a high needs child. The book also seemed to throw in aspects of Frieda's character just to make her timely, I didn't like the way this was done. I could sense where the author was going but felt it should have been done differently. Worth a read!