The Bookstore is
the debut novel from Deborah Meyler. In it, 23-year-old Esme Garland, an
Englishwoman who is doing her PhD in Art History at Columbia University, finds
herself unexpectedly pregnant. When she tries to talk to her boyfriend, the handsome
old-money Mitchell van Leuvin, he breaks up with her before she has a chance to tell him about the pregnancy. Alone
and largely friendless, she take a job in the quirky used bookstore The Owl.
This is a really smart novel. It is written in the
first person, and despite Esme’s very old-fashioned name (she has been
called after her great-grandmother), her voice is modern, young and
interesting. She tells her story through a framework of modern artists and
literary references which are very evocative of colours, feelings and time. Meyler’s
writing style reminded me a little bit of Lily Brett without the tragedy – an articulate
and knowledgable woman wandering around the streets of a much-loved New York, with
lightning quick thoughts and ideas darting everywhere inside a fertile
intelligence and imagination but with very little showing on the outside. As a
postgraduate student writing a thesis myself, I loved how Esme talked about her
PhD – the way that studying was an omnipresent task and the library a constant
destination but also how other non-research parts of life become drawn into the
PhD process – visiting galleries, attending lectures on topics not your own.
The mindset of writing a thesis and being a graduate student is perfectly
captured in this book.
That said, I did feel the novel lost its way in its final
section. Because the premise of the book is so slight, not a lot really happens
– and certainly nothing unexpected. The charm of the book is Esme’s voice and
the loving characterisations of New York and the people she spends time with. I
just didn’t buy that someone who had such intelligence and perception would be
involved for such a long time with a rotter like Mitchell. She’s just too smart
to miss the clues to his character that are provided along the way!
Those quibbles aside, this is a charming novel that I would
not hesitate to recommend. I will definitely keep an eye out for future work
from this very promising novelist. 3.5 stars.
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