A review by jeansbookbag
The Bookstore by Deborah Meyler

1.0

I was so looking forward to this book, but it ended up being a huge disappointment. The word that kept coming to mind was “pretentious.” This book was trying so hard to be deep and intellectual and in reality it was just trite and boring. I think we’re supposed to feel sorry for Esme, but I couldn’t. For someone smart enough to be working on a PhD at Columbia, she sure was dumb. I don’t know any 23 year olds as naive as her, which gave the story another layer of unbelievability. Mitchell was terrible, I don’t know why she put up with him, and yes, I get that the point is that he’s terrible, but if none of the characters are redeemable, he’s not a villain, he’s just one in a string of shitty characters! The customers and employees of the bookstore I think were supposed to be quirky and fun, but they weren’t. They all had a sad cloud hanging over them and while some lightness might have brought the rest of the book up, the fact that everyone seemed sad or bitter or snobby just brought the book down even more.