Whitney Atkinson's Reviews > The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

When people would say, "Every book lover needs to read this book," I always thought it was such a stupid basis to recommend a book off of. Just because a book breaks a fourth wall and presents a story about a fellow book lover doesn't mean it's better than any other book out there. But after reading this book, I get it. I get it so much. This book is for every book lover. And I will never shame someone for recommending it on that front ever again. This story will truly connect to people who live and breathe books, much like the characters themselves. Even though I was like none of these characters, I saw myself in them nevertheless just because of our shared passion for literature.

This is another one of those books that has emotional parts to it but I don't ever cry until I finish it and close the book and the weight of it finally descends upon me. It's not a heavy story, but it's just so phenomenally done. It reads with the simplicity of a short story but still carries its own weight throughout the progression of the entire lifetime of its characters. And the characters were the best part about this--SO many threads came together and not one detail goes unwoven somewhere into this story. Nothing is meaningless. I loathe this book for how much I wish I could write like it.

I anticipate this book will be sticking with me for a long time. It was so heartfelt and although I questioned if it's truly deserving of 5 stars, the sheer structure of this and the mastery of connecting every little detail together was so precise, I had to give it the credit it deserves.