Reviews

A Bookshop in Algiers by Kaouther Adimi

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zhelana's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This book was alright. I mean it wasn't spectacular but it wasn't bad either. It's basically about a guy who founds a book store which becomes more of a library and the life of this book store through world war ii when there was no paper to be had and he published most of the books he sold himself, and there was a shortage of paper, ink, and everything else. He survived wwii just to move to France to try to open another similar store, but then they run out of paper and can't get any and he goes bankrupt after selling the initial store to his brother. Then there's the freedom movement for Algiers and the bookstore suffers again. It survives all of that. Then in 2017 the store goes out of business for reasons I didn't quite understand and a kid gets an internship cleaning it out. Most of the story is really about wwii and the revolution, though. I'm not sure why the parts about the modern cleaning were included at all, but it did really change the meaning of the story from one of hope to one of despair. If after all that you still just go out of business, what hope is there for anyone? So anyway, I don't even know if I liked this book. There were parts I liked and parts that I didn't, and I came away from it feeling pretty meh.

ariadn_pn's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

beforethefever's review against another edition

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although some parts were slightly dull, overall this was an enjoyable story and an engaging way to learn more about the history of algeria and its colonisation by france

drsldn's review

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5.0

beautiful

causticcovercritic's review

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3.0

In theory this book should be catnip for me, but it has one fundamental flaw. The narrative is in two strands, and only the boring one (man dismantles old shop) has any depth and texture, while the interesting one (establishing a bookshop and publishing house during WW2, publishing Resistance work, going to prison, the Algerian independence fight, etc) is schematic and often nothing more than lists of names.