finished reading

I'm not the biggest fan of re-reading books.  I originally read this book about six or so months ago and remembered that the linked stories share some characters, which works nicely here as a plot device.  Some of the stories I liked more than others.  But that's natural--just as some characters I like more than others.  I think my book group will have a LOT to discuss.

Here's my original reaction to the book plus the publisher's note:

This is a book about a book.  I love the premise that no two people experience a book the same way.  We follow a different character in each chapter--and they are linked by the shared experience of reading the book, Theo, written in the first section.  No two characters experience Theo the same way although it profoundly affects each.  Any of the vignettes could have been an entire book that I would have enjoyed.  I was fascinated by the collection of people: a publishing assistant, an actor, an artist, a free diver, a bookstore employee, an abandoned town caretaker, a homeless teenager, a coordinator, and a publishing agent.

The story of Theo is never revealed nor do we learn why the book has such a profound effect on each reader.

I loved it.

From the publisher:

One book. Nine readers. Ten changed lives. New York Times bestselling author Erica Bauermeister’s No Two Persons is “a gloriously original celebration of fiction, and the ways it deepens our lives.”

That was the beauty of books, wasn’t it? They took you places you didn’t know you needed to go…

Alice has always wanted to be a writer. Her talent is innate, but her stories remain safe and detached, until a devastating event breaks her heart open, and she creates a stunning debut novel. Her words, in turn, find their way to readers, from a teenager hiding her homelessness, to a free diver pushing himself beyond endurance, an artist furious at the world around her, a bookseller in search of love, a widower rent by grief. Each one is drawn into Alice’s novel; each one discovers something different that alters their perspective, and presents new pathways forward for their lives.

Together, their stories reveal how books can affect us in the most beautiful and unexpected of ways—and how we are all more closely connected to one another than we might think.

#52bookclub prompt 7: at least four different POV.