Confessions of a Curious Bookseller: A Novel
A heartening and uproariously funny novel of high hopes, bad choices, book love, and one woman’s best—and worst—intentions.
Without question, Fawn Birchill knows that her used bookstore is the heart of West Philadelphia, a cornerstone of culture for a community that, for the past twenty years, has found the quirkiness absolutely charming. When an amicable young indie bookseller invades her block, Fawn is convinced that his cushy couches, impressive selection, coffee bar, and knowledgeable staff are a neighborhood blight. Misguided yet blindly resilient, Fawn readies for battle.
But as she wages her war, Fawn is forced to reflect on a few unavoidable truths: the tribulations of online dating, a strained relationship with her family, and a devoted if not always law-abiding intern—not to mention what to do about a pen pal with whom she hasn’t been entirely honest and the litany of repairs her aging store requires.
Through emails, journal entries, combative online reviews, texts, and tweets, Fawn plans her next move. Now it’s time for her to dig deep and use every trick at her disposal if she’s to reclaim her beloved business—and her life.
Reviews (189)
So-So Epistolary with a Modern Electronic Twist
Before such things as Facebook and emails existed, authors sometimes wrote books called epistolaries, written strictly in letter form and other typically non-fictitious, nonnarrative prose. One of the most famous is Dracula, made up of letters, ship logs, telegrams, diary entries, doctor's notes, and newspaper clippings. (Other books have used letters to great effect, like Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, even if the rest of the book is standard narrative prose.) This book takes that old writing format and adds a modern twist. It is told strictly in emails, tweets, texts, and other electronic forms of communication. Parts of it are certainly laugh-out-loud funny, but as a whole, I found it to be an unfulfilling way to show plot and development, though it is pretty good for showing characterization. Because essential elements were missing, however, I ultimately found myself disappointed in the book. Kudos to the author, though, for trying such a literary experiment.
Painful
I can't even finish this book. That's how much I dislike the protagonist. She's whiny, self-absorbed, stuck-up, and not as intelligent as she thinks she is. I think the modern twist on epistolary novels can be fun, especially in a light-hearted read, but much of this was like reading online comments--painful and disheartening. The stuffy bookish woman trope is one I often enjoy, but only when the heroine has some redeeming qualities. I hope this author will try again, but give the reader some reason to hope for (or even care about) the main character's redemption.
Painfully dull
I love indie bookstores and wanted to like this book. But the main character is someone I couldn’t like, not even a little. To me, Fawn wasn’t funny or endearingly quirky; she was petty, incompetent, dishonest, unkind and self-absorbed. The jokey parts fell flat. The use of emails to tell the bookseller’s story felt outdated and already done. The plot in which someone is opening a rival bookstore nearby — ditto. Overall, this book was boring when it wasn’t downright irritating. I couldn’t summon any empathy for, or interest in, this pathetic shop-owner. Although the author can write, in this effort she didn’t create an engaging character or tell a story worth reading.
E-mail galore and so much more
tells the story of a daughter trying to rise above her father’s expectations. Dueling bookstores is something I’m quite familiar with. Back in the 80 - 90’s I was highly involved in the superstore phenomenon that plastered green & white free standing chain book store locations in most A, B an C sized cities across the US. Independent stores were greatly impacted and many of the ideas implemented in this story brought back tho’ts from those days. It was akin to the online explosion that undid that transformation. Change is hard both in business and in one’s personal life and the heroine of this story is dealing with both. Fawn is the epitome of the charming, quirky, nerdy bookstore owner. Her store is part of the neighborhood, her employees are family and she takes care of the alley cats. When a new, bigger, brighter store comes to her block, it is almost complete devastation and the bulk of the story is Fern’s battle plan for survival. The story is told by way of e-mails between Fern and her 3 employees, her family, the new store owner, and everyone she deals with. There’s no dialogue, per se. History on her character is filled in by way of a diary and snippets that appear in lengthy entries of letters between her and a long time pen pal. Family relationships are difficult and long distance with lots of issues. Fern is a flawed character but somehow manages to evoke empathy. Her heart is good and she does have the ability to look at herself honestly on occasion. I like characters that show the ability to grow and change over the course of a story; it makes them more relatable. The cast of characters in the bookstore are all younger and make good counterpoint for the story. Author, Elizabeth Green, is best in this element. The descriptive portions are adequate and there really isn’t true back and forth dialogue due to the epistolary nature of the book. It is written without any foul language, sexual content or violence and could be enjoyed by anyone. My only criticism for the book is that the time period seems out of place. Perhaps it’s my own experience but the plethora of e-mails between characters seems out of keeping for 2018-2019. I’m 60 something and even my friends and I text most of the time or call on the phone. My youngins text each other sitting on the same couch, in the same room! It’s just a bit incongruous. It’s not enough to ruin the book but it did tick around from time to time. Easy to read, highly enjoyable and relaxing without offense; makes “Confessions of a Curious Bookseller” a worthy FirstReads title📚
Books, Cats, and a Flawed Woman
I like the idea of this book. But the main character was so incredibly terrible that it made me hate this book. I can appreciate a book about flawed humans, but she has no redeeming qualities and is downright terrible to all of the people in her life. That being said, I like the way this author writes. I like her descriptive moments. I'm not a huge fan of reading a story told through notes and emails, but it worked just fine. I'd be interested to read something else the author writes in the future but I couldn't get past how terrible of a person with zero redeeming qualities the character was.
worst book you will ever pick up
Cruel, vindictive, certainly not funny. Glad I did not pay for it, total waste of time and money. Author should be ashamed of herself.
BORING
I found the electronic delivery of plot and characters through text, email and so on, BORING! Forced myself to read for a while but couldn’t get very far. One star is too much!
INCREDIBLY DISSAPPOINTED
I was browsing the titles for Amazon Prime's First Reads program and was debating between a few of the titles offered and while I clicked on a DIFFERENT title to actually read, this one got downloaded and was NOT a title I was interested in reading. Very disappointed that I'm not able to return it and therefore am now stuck with a title I didn't even want and unable to get one I actually wanted to read for free.
A Total Waste of My December Free Book
This month I was getting a little tired of reading mysteries and other "serious" stories. I was in a hurry and didn't read the reviews as I normally do. I saw this one and the term "hilarious" was used. So I "purchased" it. I am now on page 79 and it will be the last page read. First of all, I don't remember even a slight chuckle up until now. As has been written by others, this is a boring read. The protagonist is a self absorbed, completely unsocialized, manipulative, whiner. Enough! I quit!!
A beautifully accomplished volume
In my youth, a book called UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE, by Bel Kaufman, achieved best seller status. A movie was made from it. CONFESSIONS OF A CURIOUS BOOKSELLER takes it's cue from the same style of literature, which, admittedly, is not for everyone. The epistolary format relies on notes, letters, email, emessages, diary entries, all collected and presented in order, to tell the story. In the whole book, there are no quotation marks, because there is never any active face to face conversation going on. And what a story! Fawn is a woman of a certain age, who lives a dull, repetitive, life. She has come from a less than happy childhood, and it becomes apparent that her coping mechanism is her imagination. She lost herself early on in great literature, and by projecting her literary self into every aspect of her life, she can survive. Within is an echo of 'YOU'VE GOT MAIL', with old and new competing bookstores; the made-up persona swapping that is the lynchpin of a number of classic Hollywood screwball comedies, from IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, to MRS. DOUBTFIRE. There are picturesque Dickensian details, presented with some of the same (now pretentious) language that one might find in a typical Victorian book. There is poignant loss, uproarious humor, and the interesting linguistic accidents accomplished by emailing when not sober, and living without a lot of common sense and good use of an education. (It did strike me as incredibly odd that Penzance was misspelled as Penzanse. In that case, I'm not sure whether we were being treated to a glimpse behind the stage curtain, or just stumbling over a proofreader's oversight.) This is a book that needs to be read with attention to detail, in smaller bites perhaps, rather than ingested at a single sitting. It is marvelously crafted, imaginative, atmospheric, and most enjoyable. Still, it may not be for everyone. I must take exception to other reviewers who could only write that it was a one-star book because they didn't like the main character, or the format. An unlikeable character is no reason for a poor review. That sort of shallow dismissal overlooks attention to detail, vocabulary, structure, atmosphere. The movie GOODFELLAS was well constructed, with (to me) believable dialogue, great costuming, stunning cinematography, and the pinnacle of great acting. It was a fabulous movie. But, I didn't like it. I didn't like the ugly lives that were portrayed, the subject matter... I never would watch it again. But, I'll be the first to say, 'Wow! what a movie!' I felt exactly the same way about PULP FICTION: dynamite acting, great work on script, story, costumes, camera, lighting...but in the end, people I wanted nothing to do with. But - it still was a great movie. Our heroine sails gallantly through life, adrift on a sea of genteel poverty and languishing Victorian architecture, insufficient love and advancing years, but with a soul that burns with literary fervor, recreating herself as a character within her own life's story. This is a lovely piece of fiction; I trust it will be followed by more work that is as carefully constructed.
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