Book Review | Book Chatter

The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted
By Robert Hillman
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 9780525535928, April 9, 2019, 304pp.

The Short of It:

I wasn’t quite sure which direction this story would take but when I turned that last page I was pretty satisfied.

The Rest of It:

Tom and Trudy live on a farm. Trudy, not once but twice leaves Tom for greener pastures. Tom, a kind, gentle man, doesn’t understand her need to flee but in the end accepts it. His only regret is not keeping Peter, the son she brought back with her after leaving him that first time. A son who wasn’t his to begin with.

Enter Hannah. She’s older than Tom but her eccentricities appeal to Tom in a way that surprises him. She’s lived in Budapest and is more worldly than anyone he’s known and plans to open a bookshop in his tiny town. She seems a little out there but when she needs help putting the shop together, Tom offers his services and the two fall in love.

It sounds like a very sweet story but then it gets more complicated. Long ago, Hannah survived the horrors of Auschwitz but her first husband, and her dear son Michael did not. Tom doesn’t really understand what she’s been through and although she mentions it here and there, the full horror of her past is not revealed in its entirety. This makes Hannah push back when things get really serious and leaves Tom thinking that he has yet another wife who wants nothing to do with him.

This novel took me by surprise. It felt pretty safe when I read those first few chapters. The only thing that stood out at the time was that there was a lot of sex! I even mentioned it to another blogger because it seemed like there was a lot of it but the characters had barely gotten to know one another. But then we learn of Hannah’s past and the horrors that she was forced to endure and everything began to fall into place.

Love is complicated, especially when there is a lot of baggage brought into the relationship. I enjoyed the quirkiness of Hannah, and Tom’s genuine love for her. There is some bookish talk, but not as much as the title would suggest. This story isn’t really about the bookshop at all so if that’s what you are expecting, you might be a little disappointed. However, I really enjoyed The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted. The characters seemed very real to me and I like that not everything was perfect. I’ve always enjoyed stories about lost souls who find each other and this book was no exception.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher and First to Read.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

White Elephant
By Julie Langsdorf
Ecco, 9780062857750, March 26, 2019, 320pp.

The Short of It:

A neighborhood is in flux when one of the homeowners builds a giant, monstrosity of a home right next to his quaint, cozy, cottage style neighbors.

The Rest of It:

Any book centered around a suburban neighborhood is probably a book that will end up on my shelf because I am obsessed with suburbia. Mostly, its inhabitants and in White Elephant, they are an interesting group for sure.

The addition of this ginormous home sets everyone on edge. The early morning hammering and the lack of space between it and the other homes that flank it create stress and frustration for everyone involved. This “stress” is acted on in many different ways. One of which is an affair with the said neighbor. And then, suddenly people are pregnant and talking about their own homes expanding.

Such is the case with master planned communities. Things change. People change. Builders try to predict how people will live but in the end, there is always progress. Homes gets bigger as families get bigger. Marriages fall apart due to stress. Perhaps from having to carry a heftier mortgage. More kids to raise, too. You get it.

White Elephant puts it all right there for you to observe. My one complaint is that I didn’t feel attached to any of the characters so their individual struggles didn’t mean all that much to me. However, what it says about progress and how inevitable it is kind of depressed me. I’ve seen very similar things in my own neighborhood which used to be a cul-de-sac neighborhood but is now no longer that due to the end of the road being opened up to the main highway. With the added through traffic came speed bumps. Progress. Not the good kind.

If you don’t mind a book that is rather episodic in nature, and you have a fascination for suburbia, then you will appreciate White Elephant.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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