This is a sentence placed on the waist cover of the book "Bookstore on the Island". For the hero of this book, A.J. Fickley, this is the most difficult year. He lost his beloved wife, his bookstore was in crisis, and even the most valuable treasure was stolen, which can be said to be the lowest valley of his life.
However, it was this series of bad things that brought the greatest savior in A.J. Fickley's life. As police chief Lan Buys said, "Almost every bad thing in life is the result of bad timing, and every good thing is the result of just right timing."
1. The owner of Gudao Bookstore climbed out of the trough of life step by step.
A man is approaching middle age, his beloved wife died, and the bookstore business is bleak. Even the wealth he hoped to use as pension capital for the rest of his life was stolen. For a.j. Fickley, his life should not be worse than it is now.
But it was because the baby was stolen that he decided not to lock the door when he went out for a long run. In a word, there is nothing of value in the shop. This day seems to be God's regret. A mysterious gift specially tailored for A.J. Feckley was delivered.
Two-year-old girl Maya.
In the eyes of his wife and sister, A.J. Fickley is the most selfish and self-centered person. Against his will, he stressed to everyone that he could never and could not take care of a two-year-old child, but he could not help worrying about the future fate of Maya and finally left Maya firmly.
A.J. Fickley is a withdrawn and unreasonable guy. He insists on his unique reading taste and refuses to contact anyone except his wife. After his wife died, the bookstore he ran became a real island on the island.
A.J. Fickley intends to close the bookstore soon, sell the rare book Timur worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and then drink himself to death. In fact, he received a mysterious gift just because he didn't lock the door when he went out for a long run.
As a bachelor with no parenting experience, A.J. Fickley had to force himself to accept the kind home visits from enthusiastic mothers on the island, the experience they taught, and the suggestion made by the kind sheriff Lan Bias that he should be the godfather of the children.
In the life of A.J. Fickley's wife Nicole before her death, his life picture was black and white, and Nicole was the only color in his picture. After Maya entered his life, his pictures not only became colorful, but also various noisy voices followed. A.J. Fickley suddenly jumped from the state of isolation to the fireworks of daily necessities.
During those years of stumbling to take care of Maya, his life changed greatly. He had to ask his wife and sister Ismail for help, and arranged their favorite reading groups for the mothers who always visited Maya in the shop, and then agreed to set up a "Sheriff's Selection" reading club in Rambis.
After taking care of Maya for many years, he finally learned how to give his love generously, how to establish contact with people around him, how to brush away the fragrance of books and infect the fireworks in the world, and finally let go of Nicole and fell in love with another lovely woman-Amelia.
Even if he didn't accompany Amelia to her later years, and didn't see Maya go to college and meet her the only thrill, at least he died surrounded by love, and he didn't waste his time in this world.
2. The story structure is cleverly designed, the plot is memorable, and the language is plain and humorous.
The bookstore on the island is divided into two parts. At the beginning of each chapter, A.J. Fickley's evaluation of a book is quoted, which echoes the following stories as a foreshadowing of how the plot will unfold or what the author really wants to express.
For example, a diamond as big as hotel ritz uses diamonds to compare Timur, which is a rare treasure he lost; The lucky man at Roaring Camp hinted that he would adopt a little girl Maya; A good man is hard to find explains why he and Amelia hit it off and really fell in love, because there are some strange and beautiful aspects in their personalities.
This design is really interesting and meaningful.
In terms of storyline, the endings of some chapters are a little sudden, and the connection with the next chapter is not necessarily very close. For example, Ismay miscarried again and was hospitalized, and A.J. Fickley went to the hospital to visit her. The next chapter becomes the daily life of Maya and A.J. Fickley.
For example, Ismay had an argument with her husband Daniel on her way home after attending the wedding of A.J. Fickley and Amelia. Daniel was killed in a car accident, and the next chapter suddenly jumped to Maya to finish her writing class and write some unforgettable memories about her mother.
Although the structure looks a little loose, there is an invisible dark line connecting the chapters in series, which makes people feel endless and not obscure. After reading the whole book and looking back at the slightly confusing places, all doubts will suddenly become clear.
The plot is just right. When I first opened this book, A.J. Fickley gave me the impression of being cold, unfriendly and rude, which made people lose interest in continuing reading. Suddenly, the author designed an inverted image. The seemingly heartless A.J. Fickley is a two-faced man. He is obviously saddened by the death of sales representative Harvey Rhodes, but insists that they are not friends at all.
After introducing the difficult time after the death of my wife Nicole, I immediately arranged the plot that the rare book Timur was stolen, and then Maya appeared. After taking Maya back, it took only one chapter to briefly introduce her daily life, which made A.J. Fickley fall in love with Amelia and they lived together.
From love to marriage, it took a chapter, which immediately led to a car accident between Ismail and Daniel, Ismail was injured and Daniel died. After two boring chapters, Lan Buys confessed to Ismail and discovered Ismail's secret. However, he did not go to A.J. Fickley as the reader wished, but hid this modest secret humanely.
After this little climax passed, the whole story ushered in the biggest climax, and the protagonist A.J. Feckley suffered from an incurable disease. In a short chapter, the hero died in love.
The ending of the last chapter is also very subtle. Taking advantage of the heroine Amelia's status as a book sales representative in the first chapter, she left the evaluation of the bookstore on the island to her successor during the handover work. The new sales representative set foot on the only bookstore on the island with the same smug mood as she did at the beginning.
It just echoes the first chapter, forming a perfect cycle, and perhaps opening another wonderful story.
As for language, there is no flowery rhetoric and hysteria. Everything is light, but not so light as to make people feel boring. I laughed so high that I couldn't help laughing several times.
For example, when A.J. Fickley was at a loss to hold Maya in front of Sheriff Lan Bis, who said unprofessionally to A.J. Fickley, "Oh, I look like you."
And when Lan Bias introduced his cousin to A.J. Fickley, the description of his cousin was very vivid and interesting.
That cousin has blond hair, black hair roots and excessively trimmed eyebrows. Heart-shaped face, does she sound like Michael? Jackson is so keen. She was wearing a low-necked blouse and a pleated bra, supporting an inconspicuous small platform, and the necklace she was wearing with her name on it.
When A.J. Fickley dated Rosie, a female firefighter:
That night in after making love's bed (like wrestling), Rosie rolled over and said to him, "I'm not sure if I want to see you again."
When A.J. Fickley wanted to invite the author of the book "Late Flowers Bloom" to the bookstore to hold a signing ceremony, the public relations staff of the publishing house said this:
"Let me talk to his editor and see if he can take part in the activity. I've never seen him, but I'm looking at his picture now. He is very quiet ... mature. "
A.J. Fickley replied, "If he is not mature enough to go out, I want to arrange the activity at the end of August ..."
These advantages of the book mentioned above are all places I appreciate very much.
The so-called cure is just a coincidence, beautiful but unrealistic.
Although I love this book beyond words, I still have doubts about the sentence "a healing novel that touched millions of readers around the world" mentioned in the introduction. Why do you say that?
At the lowest point of his life, A.J. Fickley received a tailor-made gift from God, Maya. In the process of loving Maya, he gained more and greater love. He took Maya as a link, established close ties with several important people in his life, and finally got out of the predicament of life.
But this kind of thing is just a coincidence arranged by the author. In real life, more people who are in trouble in life may not be so lucky to receive such gifts.
It's not that A.J. Fickley didn't do anything, but met Maya, and his life took a turn for the better. He gained a lot of love and luck. He also gave. In fact, he wouldn't have achieved such a complete life if his kindness and soft heart were not hidden under his selfish and indifferent appearance.
It was only at that time that A.J. Fickley was actually ready to give up his plan. If it weren't for Maya, he would probably become countless drunks living in a daze, either drinking himself to death, or dying of illness, or dying alone.
In real life, people who really encounter difficulties in life will have a great chance to become one of countless unknown people if they break the jar like A.J. Fickley, instead of using this tragic day to precipitate themselves, accumulate strength and give fate a beautiful counterattack.
Therefore, what I can't agree with most is such a contradiction. In the name of healing, I forgot to tell people not to wait blindly for the redemption of fate. Countless hard days and nights cannot be supported by gifts falling from the sky.
Only those who have never really given up on themselves, those who have never given in to fate, can work quietly at the bottom of life and finally surprise all those who watch when the opportunity comes.
No happy life can always be achieved without pains, and the happiness achieved without pains is usually based on the unilateral burden of others. Everyone's road to life will only get wider and wider through their own struggle.
Just like the sentence I put on the screen of my mobile phone:
Struggle is getting harder and easier every year; If you don't struggle, it will be easier and harder every day.
Only by sowing a seed today can a big tree be harvested in the future. You should see that even a lucky man like A.J. Fickley can't change his life, let alone ordinary people like you and me, if he is not kind-hearted.
(No-drop out)