The Bookstore by Deborah Meyler

 

😀 😀 😀 _  _

 Every once in a while, when walking through a bookstore, you find a book that reminds you of a particular time and place in your life. Such was the case for me when, browsing in a used bookstore, I found The Bookstore by Deborah Meyler (Gallery Books, 2013)

Esme Garland, a twenty-something graduate of Oxford, is now preparing her doctoral thesis at Columbia University, in New York City. She lives in a small apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. When she finds out that she is pregnant, and almost simultaneously, she is dumped by her very rich, very snooty boyfriend, she is at a loss for a way to earn some extra money to prepare for the new baby. She finds an off-the-books job at “The Owl”, a small neighborhood bookshop. The friends she makes there, along with her best friend, help her navigate the ins and outs of her relationship with the baby’s father, and life in general.

I am not going to say this is a great novel, it is not. In fact, I have a lot of issues with the main character, Esme. I feel that she is very weak, reading more like a woman of the 1960’s rather than the 2010’s. What Ms. Meyler has caught, wonderfully, is the life of an Upper West Side independent bookstore. I used to work at Papyrus Books, on 114th street and Broadway. There is a rhythm to such a place, to the interplay between the staff, and with customers, especially regulars. There is a particular group of people who are drawn to work at these places. People who know books. The Upper West Side bookstore (not Barnes and Noble) are places where you could browse for hours. You can walk in and ask “What do I feel like reading next?” And, after two or three questions, the staff would find the perfect book for you. Ms. Meyler spent several years working at such a place while she lived in NYC, and it shows in the accuracy and love she writes with. She has caught that feeling of camaraderie completely. I found The Bookstore both nostalgic and enchanting.

So, if you are a bibliophile, and you have spent time in a really good independent bookstore, this novel is worth the time.