Bookish People is a book about, well… bookish people. Set at an indie bookstore in Washington D.C. the week in 2017 which began with the white supremacist Unite the Right Rally of Charlottesville, VA featuring “very fine people” like neo-Nazis and Klansman, and Trump enthusiasts, et. al., and ended with the once in a century solar eclipse (what a week, huh?) The story features a cast of bookstore employees but primarily focuses on owner Sophie, who at 54 has recently been widowed and is grieving the loss of her husband while ever so subtly carving out a secret room behind shelves where she can go into hiding, and her much younger events manager Clemi, an aspiring author, who is hosting an event featuring a controversial poet who might bring protestors to their door and who might also be her absentee father, there’s also a tortoise named Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
I didn’t realize this going in, and I don’t think I’m alone in this, Bookish People is a character driven work of satirical literary fiction. I feel like perhaps the cover or synopsis may have given me a different impression, but once I caught the vibe I was really very pleasantly surprised by this story!
It’s very of the literary world, Readers will recognize some of the employees and customers (they may even find themselves within the pages) and humorously peppered with gems like describing a new buzzy author as “Lauren Groff meets Haruki Murakami meets Jodi Picoult” or fictional fiction such as a speculative work featuring Vice President Dan Quayle as an undercover narcotics agent, and of course, there’s this seasons bestseller which everyone is reading and the store just can’t seem to keep stocked: The Girl in Gauzy Blue.
The humor is sharp and sophisticated, the characters relatable and endearing, I just really enjoyed this book!
Recommended for fans of Tom Perotta, those who enjoyed Backman’s Anxious People (somewhat similar vibes, I think!) and bookish people everywhere!
This one is severely underrated on Goodreads those reviewers just aren’t getting it!
Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Muse Books for an advanced review copy.
That Bookish Life 