Reviews with content warning for Death - The Stationery Shop

This book was an amazing read. I really loved how the relationship is developed in part one and then parts two - four is about taking the reader on a journey through the aftermath and seeing how their lives went on and how it all came to be.

I found myself confronted with so many emotions reading this, which has now left me in an emotionally confused state as I keep processing this book and everything in it. It does not shy away from making very complicated characters, that you despise for their actions, but sympathetic because of their circumstance, but then frustrated as those circumstances are not an excuse for their actions, and so the cycle continues whilst reading. It leaves you in a strange but also real situation where not everything is black and white.

The plot at the beginning had me interested but not hooked. I enjoyed it for the most part, but when I stopped reading at part 3 during my first sitting of this book, I could have left it as I didn't have me hooked (granted I was also in a bit of a slump so that contributed to this feeling as well). Part 3 was much of the same from part 2 but had some really heart breaking and warming moments that felt so real., but part 4 is where this book shines in my opinion. This part hit me like a train. I was all over the place and the epilogue had me stunned and tore my heart from my chest with the emotions that I felt and everything that lead to that moment.

I highly recommend this book , but also encourage to look up the trigger and content warnings as there is some heavy and triggering moments in this book.

Content Warnings

trilljessie's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

ailli1's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

marissasa's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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? No

4.5

I never thought I would cry listening to an audiobook but boy did this one prove me wrong. The Stationery Shop was full of love and culture and humanity and sadness, so much so that it felt like the characters were real people and this was a true retelling of their lives rather than a historical fiction. The descriptive setting of a politically-charged Tehran, all the side characters full of personality, the themes of the pursuit of knowledge and truth through literature and social justice, and the mouthwatering descriptions of traditional Iranian food brought this story to life and helped to make it memorable to me as more than just a star-crossed lovers plot. Although it was slow in the start and I didn't immediately connect with Roya and Bahman's relationship because of how fast it happened, my mind changed by the end once I had seen all the angst, pain, yearning, heartbreak, and acceptance that they had to go through to get to the point when they would finally meet again 60 years later. With each detail of how Bahman's memory of Roya lived on in his heart and mind every single day, my own heart hurt. From the stationery shop he established in the US modeled after the place they first met, to his favorite poem from Rumi that he shared with Roya and exchanged letters through which his children then read at his funeral, I was tearing up. Just when I thought this sweet and sad story couldn't tear my heart out anymore, the epilogue started and the tears were just flowing. This book was a truly emotional one full of the losses, joys, and complexities of life that make up the human experience.

Content Warnings