The Bookshop: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: I noticed that several readers objected to the bleak ending of this book. Fortunately or unfortunately, I already knew the ending because it was given away in one of the New York Times reviews (don't they tell them not to do that?), and so I was prepared for it. Ms. Fitzgerald seems to me to be a genius: She is almost uncannily observant in terms of both landscape and character (including animals in the latter), and she provides a smooth and pleasant read in the tradition of Anita Brookner, Elizabeth Bowen, and Elizabeth Taylor -- a perfect book for a rainy Sunday and, for me, as satisfying as a pot of good English tea. A bit too much cuteness creeps in at times ("a bit twee," as the English would say), and I found the poltergeist not convincing. (However, I was interested to read in Amazon.con's interview with the author that the poltergeist was based on an actual experience of the author's in a real-life small-town bookstore.) All in all, I belive Ms. Fitzgerald will be a wonderful discovery for almost anyone who loves English literature.

Rating:
Summary: Small-minded pettiness
Review: I had previously read, and been most disappointed by, Penelope Fitzgerald's novel The Gate of Angels. Thus, it is only because of its strong recommendations and very short length (if it's too bad, at least I won't waste a lot of time reading it) that I took up her novel The Bookshop. Dickensian in the naming of places (the book is set in Hardborough, which it certainly is) and some characters, but not in length (only 123 pgs), Lively tells the story of a middle-aged widow who invests her small inheritence in a bookstore, the only such enterprise in her new hometown. In so doing, she makes a few enemies, and is at last forced to succumb to the small-minded pettiness that rural communities can foster. This is a sad book, and it makes one grieve for how mean people can be when they wish. That said, it is an excellent novel, and ample food for thought

Rating:
Summary: Holy sucky ending!
Review: Having received a bachelor's degree in English and about to receive a master's, I can usually come up with a better word than "sucky". However. There are some books you close with a satisfying snap--others just end. I just STARED at the last page, like when you look in the refrigerator, thinking 'Maybe if I stand here long enough, food will appear'. No new ending appeared.
The book was a little dull at first, but then became interesting in the middle as I got to know other characters and wonder how Florence will do with her new enterprise. I was hoping for a good ending to have made the read worthwhile. I won't "spoil" the ending--just go to your local library or bookstore and look at the last line; you'll see why it's not worth reading.
It's fine for a 'slice of life', not so great if you want a plot and a satisfying ending.

Rating:
Summary: a different view
Review: This book should be read as Greek tragedy wherein the inevitable downfall is insured by a flaw in the heroine's character. In this case, Florence's hubris alienates everyone about her. If read as just another story about small-town pettiness, this short novel is 100 pages too long.

Rating:
Summary: Holy sucky ending!
Review: Having received a bachelor's degree in English and about to receive a master's, I can usually come up with a better word than "sucky". However. There are some books you close with a satisfying snap--others just end. I just STARED at the last page, like when you look in the refrigerator, thinking 'Maybe if I stand here long enough, food will appear'. No new ending appeared.
The book was a little dull at first, but then became interesting in the middle as I got to know other characters and wonder how Florence will do with her new enterprise. I was hoping for a good ending to have made the read worthwhile. I won't "spoil" the ending--just go to your local library or bookstore and look at the last line; you'll see why it's not worth reading.
It's fine for a 'slice of life', not so great if you want a plot and a satisfying ending.

Rating:
Summary: What constitutes A Meaningful Life?
Review: If you insist on happy ending, perhaps this isn't the book for you. It's no Rogers and Hammerstein musical comedy, that's for sure. Penelope Fitzgerald, winner of the Booker for Offshore, has crafted a small book dealing with the big issues of life with the skill of the master that she truly is. Set in the English countryside during the 50s, The Book Shop is the story of Florence, a small town widow who decides to do Something Meaningful with the rest of her life: she opens a bookshop. Encountering surprise resistance from some important people, the rest of the book deals with showing how Florence quietly pursues her dream.

Rating:
Summary: The ideal book to give to someone locked in a room...
Review: as it can slide easily under most doors, and is an excellent read. It will become a precisely drawn world to live in for a few hours before devoting yourself to trying to get out of the room again. The characters were sharply drawn, and the ending grabbed at my throat a little. My only complaint is the same one I have about Hardy: the author, despite having a keen sense of humor, seems to think that life is inevitably a rather sad affair - which, who knows, maybe it is - but how one dramatizes that inevitability is a different story. Here the little doomsday machine that the author creates for her beloved people doesn't seem to arise naturally from the personalities of the characters or the general state of their world, but from the author's belief that things just can't work out for people. In a historical novel like The Blue Flower, the end is already a matter of fact, so no one can accuse her of contriving to scuttle the ship, but here I felt like maybe she had taken an axe down to the hold herself. A beautiful piece of writing nonetheless.

Rating:
Summary: Fitzgerald's characters are incredibly real and engaging
Review: The Bookshop is probably my favorite of this author's work so far. It's not a nice story. Not all great stories necessarily have happy endings. Priceless scene between the two aristocrats toward the end of the book. Fitzgerald takes provincial nastiness and describes it with such beauty it's impossible to be too disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: If Only There Were More Than Five Stars
Review: Penelope Fitzgerald's The Book Shop has entered the ranks of my favourite books, along with Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in This Castle and Geoff Ryman's Was, and a novel I that try to push on to all of my friends. Similar to Jackson's book, this beautiful little novel is about one person's struggle against a community's narrow mindedness. The story is told with the author's usual degree of gentle humour over icy emotions, with quirky characters developed in an amazingly crisp and illuminating short hand. The reader will identify and fall in love with Florence Green, who has the audacity to open up a book shop in a town that does not have one. One cannot help but catch a little of her optimism and this will drag the reader along and down with Florence. This book is a perfect gem that sparkles and dazzles the reader before it snatches the light away. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: The Precious Bookshop
Review: This was an incredibly enjoyable book to read. Penelope Fitzgerald had a precision with words that make them clear and pleasurable. One of the main themes she explores in this novel is the cosmopolitan view verses the small town sensibility. It was exciting for me to read about the prospect of a new bookshop because I enjoy to read just about anything, but many people whose reading is more selected wouldn't openly welcome the enterprise she tried to initiate. But this novel is patronising at all to people who don't happen to be bookish. It is simply a tale about the struggle of a failed idea. The many small comic and tragic stories that ensue are incredibly engaging. The relationship between Florence and her assistant is very touching. It is a sharp observation of a relationship between two generations. I thoroughly recommend that anyone should sit down in a cosy chair and read this novel.