I started reading Bookish People by Susan Coll during a relaxing weekend at the lake. It took me a bit to get into this one and I wasn't totally sold at first, but I am so glad I stuck with it, and it is definitely a great book for book-lovers like me!
The story is told from multiple perspectives, all people who enjoy books - as the title would suggest, but with two main female characters. Sophie is a 50ish year old widow who runs a bookstore but is finding it hard to live in a world with so much violence (Southern US uprisings due to the removal of confederate statues) and without her soul mate. Clemi is a 23 year old aspiring writer with no time to write because she works at Sophie's bookstore organizing signing/publicity events while nursing a dangerous crush on a douchy coworker and trying to help her slightly wacky friend/roommate who is suffering from some kind of mental crisis. Oh and her crush convinced her to co-parent a turtle they adopted somewhat together even though she lives in a pet-free apartment... The main premise of the story is that a controversial author is going to be doing a reading at the store and Clemi thinks he might be her biological father. Sophie is a little out of the picture as she contemplates going into pre-apocalyptic hiding while still trying to maintain some level of managerial awareness of the goings on of her bookstore. Both main stories, as well as a few of the secondary character plotlines all come to a head at the controversial event that could change the future of the bookstore and it's staff forever! (maybe not quite so dramatic, no one dies or anything, but you definitely need to read to find out!)
Look at this sunset at Lake of the Woods, Ontario. Isn't it the perfect place to enjoy a good book?
There are some truly wacky and hilarious moments in the story, including anthropomorphic turtles and vacuum cleaners, as well as a drunk poet, a strange cat slash bird protest which involves heavily costumed sports fans, and two security guards named Clinton and Bill who come armed with guns but are no match for the chaos of this odd little bookstore. It also has some really interesting themes throughout, especially one of self-reflection and multiple journeys of self-discovery. There are many parallels between Sophie who is trying to figure out where to go from here, as a widow and empty-nester, and Clemi who is young and ready to take on the world but a bit afraid to take risks and be confident in her choices. It is interesting to see how they are so different, yet facing very similar journeys at different stages in their lives. Content about the civil unrest in the states, very light mentions of suicide (in relations of secondary characters), and dealing with grief are also very delicately handled, while also not bogging down the storyline. Finally, this idea of everyone writing a book these days is a common joke/sub plot/ random insight that makes readers think a bit, especially true book-lovers who have seen a galley or two or a million lol!
The writing style is entertaining and despite having a few additional point of view chapters, the story is quite easy to follow. I did have a bit of a hard time getting into it, I think it took me a while to connect with the two main characters, but once I did I was sold. The wacky characters and how they all come together in a bookstore but are interwoven within each others' lives outside of the store as well is interesting and is clearly well thought-out by the author. It reminded me a bit of Fredrik Backman's Anxious People and a recent favourite, Shari Low's One Last Day of Summer. It is not really a romcom, but with loveable characters, it feels almost sitcom-like. It's not quite a comedy but definitely has that "finding the weird in the daily life" feel of a sitcom. Is there a book-sitcom genre? That was an odd tangent I just went on...
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Harper Muse for giving me the chance to read and review this silly, yet inspiring book!