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mariaili's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
pickpoppies's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I wanted more of everything. Two times lines, one is modern day where we get to follow Ryad who’s in Algiers as part of his studies, he needs manual work experience to complete his engineering degree and gets the job to clean out and old bookshop.
And then we have the life of the original bookshop owner Edmond Charlot who’s life we get to follow in short notes he has made of his life and work at the bookshop.
I liked the opening and I liked the ending but other than that it didn’t give me enough.
Oh and I did not like the narrator, sounds almost AI generated…
PS. Read it because of the Read Around the World challenge
And then we have the life of the original bookshop owner Edmond Charlot who’s life we get to follow in short notes he has made of his life and work at the bookshop.
I liked the opening and I liked the ending but other than that it didn’t give me enough.
Oh and I did not like the narrator, sounds almost AI generated…
PS. Read it because of the Read Around the World challenge
martine_01's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
ciaraisabookworm's review against another edition
informative
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
afmartins's review against another edition
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
annie_lu's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.5
A book that flashes between the past and present, enlightening me to a part of history I was completely unware of through a story of books and love of the creative endevours.
ibtisam_n's review against another edition
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
nedge's review against another edition
challenging
informative
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
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.