A Novel BookKeith

Read from Tuesday, January 25th to Thursday, January 27th.

A Novel Bookstore, by Laurence Cosse. I read this large book a lot quicker than I expected. I flew through the 400 pages in just two days. It was an easy read, nothing too difficult and with short chapters and lots of dialogue. When I first heard about this book, I was very intrigued, and I bought it right away. It is a story, originally published in France, of two booksellers who open a store that only sells good, quality literature, and not the latest trendy book.

Ivan and Francesca are both very passionate about literature, novels in particular. With Francesca's inheritance, they team up to open The Good Novel, in Paris. In this bookstore, they only sell novels that have been selected by a committee of authors as their favorites. The committee members are kept secret, so they cannot be pressured in their selections. It is an instant success. However, with success breeds resentment and anger. Authors who have not been selected are upset, as are publishers who make money off the trash, and critics whose choices are usurped by the book store. There begins a negative campaign against Van and Francesca. Newspapers publish vitriolic articles, there are angry web postings, and eventually there are violent attacks on some of the authors in the secret committee, whose identities have been stolen and revealed.

Nobody is killed yet, but Van and Francesca hire a detective to find out who is behind these attacks and defamations. Meanwhile, there are subplots of Van falling in love with a college girl named Anis, and Francesca confesses her unrequited love of Van. Unfortunately, he is obsessed over Anis, so that love cannot happen. Francesca becomes melancholy and distracted from the bookstore, and sales start to slow down. They are having difficulty surviving, and three new bookstores open in the area as competition. Finally, Francesca is hit by a bus and dies. Van buys the rights to the Good Novel, and after starting a collective, moves the store to a better location. Him and Anis move in together, and she is revealed to be the secret narrator of the book.

This book was very paradoxical. It made me think a lot. It talks about all the fine French literature,and the importance of great novels. However, I did not think the book itself was very well written. It had moments of greatness, but overall was pretty cliched and predictable. On the cover, a review said it was 'a hymn to fine literature,' and I think that is a good way to put it. It is a love song about fine literature, but it does not pretend to be fine literature either. It is a mystery novel about the publishing and book selling businesses.

However, the subject matter is fascinating. I have always wanted to do something like this, open a store that only sold books I liked. It is like Cosse was writing directly to me, although I am sure that many out there would say the same. The vast majority of books mentioned were French, and I unfortunately have never heard of them. I wish there were more shout-outs to books I have read, so I could feel like I would belong in the Good Novel clientele. They did mention Bolano's Savage Detectives (which I loved) and Pamuk's Snow (which I own but have yet to read).

Some things were left unfinished or unresolved. The detective, Heffner, came up with a solid theory on the failed author behind most of the attacks, but they lacked enough evidence to prosecute. Heffner said he would keep looking, but then the novel ended. Also,the relationship between Anis and Van was confusing and a bit creepy. Anis was a college girl, and Van was over 40 when they met. She played hard to get, but Van was very persistent, and called her all the time. It was not a feel-good romance, it mostly creeped me out.

All in all, it was a good, interesting read. I wish there was a Good Novel bookstore near me, or if I had the funds to open one myself. I would be a frequent customer, I can be sure of that. I would be interested to learn more about some of that French literature as well. Three and a half out of five stars.