Study Guide

An odd bird, plenty of drunken dialogue and references to people most likely being gay, while set mostly in St John's Wood (this is the 'Wood' that Albany comes to). I had a memory of this book from the school library but had the title as 'To the wood we came,' which it isn't called but that phrase practically occurs in the flyleaf text ... so I probably looked inside at some point.
Set in the early years of the C20th which I can tell by a reference to "The new King's Theatre in Hammersmith." Which opened in 1902 and was demolished in the early 1960s having been a BBC studio for its last years. Its site is now occupied by the second of two office blocks. Raymond would have been familiar with it as he was at school nearby at St Paul's. Many decades later a resident on that site had a very short commute while working in an office on the site of the King's.
Raymond's main character here being a baronet and formerly a parson, he gets to see many sides of life, most of them in London. Raymond was himself a theology graduate and a minister in his early years, but preferred writing the profane to the sacred.

"A place ain't a place without a bookstore, Izzie."

I have a soft spot for books about books. Last year's [b:Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore|13538873|Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore (Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, #1)|Robin Sloan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1345089845l/13538873.SY75.jpg|6736543] landed on my favorites of 2020 shelf. This book wormed its way onto my favorites of 2021 shelf. It's sweet, heartfelt, very at-face-value, but I loved it all the same.

AJ Fikry owns a bookstore on Alice Island. He purchased this bookstore with his wife, but in the way of these sorts of literary books, she's no longer in the picture. He's...sort of let himself go since, but maintains the bookstore (and a sour disposition) out of loyalty to the idea. He left the store unlocked one day while he was out, and comes back to find a small child, abandoned with a note asking for the owner of the bookstore to take care of her, because the mother wants the child to grow up around books. This is Maya. The book follows the unlikely pair as AJ remembers what it's like to be, well, a person with human emotions again, while caring for this abandoned child.

The book is fairly straightforward, funny in spots, but the dialogue is a little simple. A few twists occur, monkeywrenches in AJ's life that he has to navigate, and there's plenty of witty remarks about books and authors. I really felt for Maya, who grows up without knowing who her parents were, who grows up around books and develops a love for them, who grows up wanting to write them. None of that describes me, but I can imagine how difficult such a background might be for a child like her.

I can't really put my finger on why I loved this book so much, except that I did. The stories are funny, sad, heartbreaking, uplifting, in the way that books in the general fiction category tend to be. It's not deep, not thought provoking in the hidden meaning sort of way, but I did leave the book feeling sad, and any book that leaves an emotional reaction with me is a good book in my eyes. The ending touches on one of my personal fears about growing old, and maybe I projected a bit much.

A good, quick read for people who love reading books set in old bookstores.

uhhhh, hmmm. 2 1/2 stars

Judging by all the 4 and 5 star ratings for this book, I expected to be blown away. Or at least maybe, somewhat... fulfilled, satisfied, impressed (?)... I don't know, I expected to feel something positive, because of the superlatives lavished on this book and this author, by just about everyone, but, eh, I just ain't feeling it.

The main problem I had with the book, and it's a BIG problem because there are only 3 main voices telling the story, is that there was no difference in the "voice" between the 3 narrators. A few times I got confused because I thought I was still reading the thoughts of one of the other characters. And, I mean, there should be a huge difference between the inner voice of the young drug addicted mother Leonie and her 13 year old son, JoJo and/or a young uneducated black youth from, what, the 1950s? But there really wasn't much difference at all. In addition, they didn't speak true to their character's place in life (poor, rural black folks); they sounded too educated and insightful for the reality of the setting of their lives. These 3 characters weren't really brought to life for me which was a real shame because, uh, they are the whole friggin' point of the book. They remained flat and 2 dimensional and it was difficult to feel the emotional connection I need to really get into the story - to feel I understand what motivates that particular character and why they are acting in the way that they do. I don't need to like the character, I need to understand them.

The whole car ride didn't make sense because I couldn't stop thinking "this mother doesn't really care about these kids on a good day, why the fuck is she insisting on taking them on a god-awful road trip across the state, to a prison to pick up her man, the only person she actually loves???" (well, and do a drug deal along the way, wtf ? with her co-worker and fellow druggie seemingly along for the ride, why?) It did not ring true one bit. I couldn't get that thought out of my mind especially since the mom basically ignored the kids the whole trip and couldn't be bothered even though the toddler was sick and puking all over the place. IDK, whatever. It was pointless. Or maybe the author wanted to really hammer home the idea that this was a crappy mom? Yeah, we get it. Or, OR?, major plot device? Clunkily executed. You decide.

The mom inadvertently takes an overdose of meth and that whole interlude didn't ring true either. I've done some drugs back in the day (ahem) and I have, unfortunately, one time, taken too much meth and uh... I don't think it went down quite as depicted in this book. I'll spare the gory details. Then after all that, everyone covered in puke, kid still sick, everyone a little tense and on edge, especially Leonie, (ha) they finally arrive back home and immediately go to visit her man's family, right that minute, because, why not? Even though they hate her and her kids and are huge racists and never acknowledged her or the kids in the past. She didn't say "No baby, not today. I ain't feeling too hotsy right now. Let me at least go home and take a shower. Clean up the kids. Make a good impression." uh, nope.

I feel this could have been better. There was a story here. The ghosts did not bother me, which was surprising as I don't usually enjoy magical realism, but I can go there if it's done right. That wasn't the issue here. I knew it would be a major part of the story going into this. I was willing to accept that part of the story, no problem. It was these other issues, I've laid out, that had me shaking my head.

This kind of seemed like a mess of a book to be honest. It had a potential it didn't reach as far as I'm concerned. Too bad. For me, I guess, as all of the rest of you all loved it, omg.

This is an anthology of short stories, some incredibly short and over before they barely start. They are all set in the Midwest. As one leads to the next you will notice mention of characters from the stories that came before. Most notably in "The Swing" which was my favorite story about Sue Ellen, the little girl from the first story "Last Storm First" now as a grown woman who finds and reads a journal written by her husband long after he is gone. It is a sad tale of loss and regret, as is "Dan 4 Danica" a story about Dan Rensburg, a boy in junior high labeled as "dummy Dan" ever since elementary school and obsessed with Danica Patrick the race car driver. Dan wishes he were smarter like his sister or brother (The brother who is in the next story "A Single Word") "Kaitlin's On The Corner" at first seemed to be entirely about a pubescent boy's masturbatory habits and fantasies up until the end which was a heck of a twist. This was an enjoyable read. I would rate it 4 out of 5 stars.