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A review by karieh13
The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson
4.0
I really enjoyed "The Bookseller". I am a huge fan of books that manipulate time/present alternate realities. In "The Bookseller", a woman named Katharyn/Kitty finds herself dreaming of an alternate version of her life.
During the day she works with her best friend in their bookshop, goes home to her cat, and is very close to her parents. She enjoys the freedom of a single life. At night, once she is asleep, she finds herself as a married woman named Katharyn. She is married to a handsome, kind man named Lars, she lives in a custom home, has children and doesn't work outside the home. There is much of this dream life that she loves - Lars seems wonderful and their life together seems picture perfect. But the more dreams she has, the more she experiences of this alternate world, the more she learns that nothing is perfect. No life is perfect.
Her lives are similar enough that there is a great deal of intersection. She lives in the same town, at about the same time (the two versions are about 6 months apart). But in each - there are differences. She's made different choices, different life-changing events have or have not happened - and she finds herself struggling to keep a hold of what is real - what her true life looks like and what she really wants.
I usually make notes and mark quotes as I read a book. But this one was so engrossing and I was so eager to find out what happened next that I read it in two days with nary a note.
This is not only a book that gives Katharyn the chance to see "what if" - it also gets to the heart of how life changes us. How the events that occur, or don't occur, in our lives shape us and guide our choices. "The Bookseller" also takes a look at the person we are at our core. Who we truly are, regardless of circumstance, and how we deal with what lives we have.
This was a great book and a very enjoyable read.
During the day she works with her best friend in their bookshop, goes home to her cat, and is very close to her parents. She enjoys the freedom of a single life. At night, once she is asleep, she finds herself as a married woman named Katharyn. She is married to a handsome, kind man named Lars, she lives in a custom home, has children and doesn't work outside the home. There is much of this dream life that she loves - Lars seems wonderful and their life together seems picture perfect. But the more dreams she has, the more she experiences of this alternate world, the more she learns that nothing is perfect. No life is perfect.
Her lives are similar enough that there is a great deal of intersection. She lives in the same town, at about the same time (the two versions are about 6 months apart). But in each - there are differences. She's made different choices, different life-changing events have or have not happened - and she finds herself struggling to keep a hold of what is real - what her true life looks like and what she really wants.
I usually make notes and mark quotes as I read a book. But this one was so engrossing and I was so eager to find out what happened next that I read it in two days with nary a note.
This is not only a book that gives Katharyn the chance to see "what if" - it also gets to the heart of how life changes us. How the events that occur, or don't occur, in our lives shape us and guide our choices. "The Bookseller" also takes a look at the person we are at our core. Who we truly are, regardless of circumstance, and how we deal with what lives we have.
This was a great book and a very enjoyable read.