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This book is about three lonely, lost souls trying to find their place in the world. Noah, Joyce and an unnamed bookstore owner are all misfits who are connected in ways they do not realize and whose lives have a lot of parallels to each other, even if they are not conscious of each other. All three of them were raised by a single parent and they all have, for one reason or another, distanced themselves from their families and are making their way in the world alone. They all are searching for meaning in their lives and, in that vein, all have a fascination with their roots and ancestry. All of them have a strong connection to maps and/or travel guides. They all have a fascination with trash or discarded objects in one way or another. The bookstore owner sells used books, even ones that others have thrown away, Noah majors in archaeology with a fascination for the archeaology of trash, and Joyce becomes a trash-diving treasure hunter as part of her quest to become an cyber-pirate.
The three story lines, although they intersect only tangentially, flow beautifully and the language is very lyrical (which is very interesting given that this book was translated from French and translations usually are a bit stilted). Of the three, my favorite character was Noah. He is so sweet and earnest and was a bit more focused and in control of his destiny than the other two. Although I adore books, bookstores and used bookstores in particular, I found it a little hard to relate to the bookstore owner because he is never identified by name and the author (perhaps deliberately) keeps the reader more distant from him. Joyce is a very interesting character but not quite as empathetic as Noah.
Overall, this was an excellent first novel by Nicholas Dickner. He has a real flair for character development and for seamlessly incorporating quirky traits and elements into the story (the archaeology of trash being only one example). I will look forward to reading future books by him.
The three story lines, although they intersect only tangentially, flow beautifully and the language is very lyrical (which is very interesting given that this book was translated from French and translations usually are a bit stilted). Of the three, my favorite character was Noah. He is so sweet and earnest and was a bit more focused and in control of his destiny than the other two. Although I adore books, bookstores and used bookstores in particular, I found it a little hard to relate to the bookstore owner because he is never identified by name and the author (perhaps deliberately) keeps the reader more distant from him. Joyce is a very interesting character but not quite as empathetic as Noah.
Overall, this was an excellent first novel by Nicholas Dickner. He has a real flair for character development and for seamlessly incorporating quirky traits and elements into the story (the archaeology of trash being only one example). I will look forward to reading future books by him.