The cover of this novel uses a large piece of red oil paint to outline the prospect of red doors and windows, and even the bookshelf with three or two books in the corner of the door is that retro red.
There is a small wooden tablet "A Novel" hanging on the door, which is clearly visible. Through the doors and windows and the open door corner, the light is dim and unknown, like a deep old man for many years, quiet but not down and out, deep and warm.
Author Jia is an American writer and screenwriter. /kloc-at the age of 0/4, he gradually embarked on the road of writing as a "music critic". Island Bookstore, his eighth novel, won the title of 20 14 book selection by American independent booksellers.
This book is divided into two parts. The first part is based on the appearance of Maya Warm A J and A J holding hands with Amelia. The second part focuses on solving the mystery of Mayan life.
At the beginning of the novel: A J, a 39-year-old widow bookstore owner, has no children or daughters, lives alone, and the bookstore business is depressed. After finishing the work in the bookstore during the day, I drown my sorrows in wine and seek the gentleness of my dream dead wife.
Amelia, the new book sales representative of Knightley Press, took over her predecessor Harvey and contacted A J in business. However, due to the poor living conditions of A J, Amelia didn't know much about A J's reading preference, and the two sides broke up.
One day, A J was drunk as before and took out the valuable collection Timur. After waking up, "Timur" disappeared and did not report it.
A J felt that the only valuable treasure had been stolen, and the thief had nothing to miss, so he started his morning run without locking the front door.
A J only thinks that nothing can be taken away by others, but never thinks about what others will leave behind. One day, A J returned to the store after a long run and accidentally found a two-year-old and one-month-old girl in the children's library area.
There is a small note pinned to the Emo doll next to the little girl, which says the little girl's situation and the fact that she was abandoned.
After A J called the police, she got along well with this little girl named Maya while waiting for the shelter to work on weekends. Maya is talkative, a lovely little girl, friendly to people and demanding of love. She is smart and loves reading, although she can only read picture books now.
Although A J knew nothing about taking care of children, with the help of his wife, sister Ismay, police chief and good friend Lan Buys, A J's attitude towards life changed from clumsily changing diapers at first to feeding and bathing.
When Maya said "love you" to Ah J, Ah J said, "Little girl, you shouldn't throw away your love so easily. We get along very well and happily, at least it is an unforgettable 72 hours for me, but some people are doomed not to stay in your life forever. "
"I'm worried about you. If you love everyone, you will feel hurt most of the time. It seems to me that you have known me for a long time compared with your short life. Your view of time is actually distorted, Maya. But I am old, and soon you will forget that you once knew me. "
The next afternoon, the body of Maya mother Mary Wallace was found on the coast. She committed suicide. She is a complete stranger to Alice Island. When the welfare workers came to pick up Maya, A J felt that taking care of Maya was the responsibility entrusted by Maya's mother.
After A J decided to adopt Maya, curious islanders, especially mothers, often visited Maya in bookstores and told A J how to take care of her. The bachelor Lan Bias often takes care of Maya on the grounds of reading, and gradually falls in love with reading from the list of books recommended by A J, but most of them are crime novels.
Ismail miscarried for the fifth time at a non-baptismal party in Maya, but her husband Daniel, as a writer, was not with her.
During Maya's chicken pox, A J accidentally read the first book "Late Flowers" recommended by Amelia, which was rejected and liked, even though it had been four years. In the process of reading and discussing books, A J and Amelia gradually discovered the importance of empathy and sharing passion.
During Amelia's sprained foot, A J visited her under the guise of showing Maya gardening animals. Maya didn't like it, but she went all out to make A J and Amelia open their hearts. In order to make Amelia happy, A J carefully arranged an author exchange meeting of "Late Blooming". Although the scene was an own goal, Amelia understood A J's sincerity and finally entered the marriage hall.
In the lower part, the marriage between Ismail and Daniel broke down, and Lan Buys joined hands as the main line, which led to the mystery of Mayan life. Ismail was stimulated at J's wedding. When he committed suicide by jumping into the sea, Rambis stopped him and refused his pursuit. On the way to drive Daniel home, Ismail had a car accident and his leg was badly injured. Daniel disappeared into Ismail's world forever.
Maya wrote the short story A Day at the Beach with her memory of her mother Amelia and won the prize. Lan Buys turned to his friend J for help and gradually got together with Ismail. Through in-depth communication step by step, I discovered the secret of Timur and Maya: Maya is Daniel's illegitimate daughter and a book fan named Marianne. Timur was the hush money to send Marianne away, but Maya was difficult to sell because of its unknown source. She destroyed the cover with crayons and damaged its value, so she dared not return it.
A J fainted in the morning run and was diagnosed with a rare brain tumor. Knowing the situation, Lan Bais persuaded Ismail to return Timur through letters. J. used the money from the auction of Timur for surgery, but failed to save his life. In the process of losing speech function step by step, A J tried to express the meaning of "love", but failed to express it.
"Maya, we will be the people we love. It is love that makes us. We are not what we collect, get or read. As long as we live, we are love, the things we love and the people we love. " This is the last thing J said to Maya.
Amelia wanted to raise Maya's high school expenses, but she didn't know the experience of running a bookstore, so she sold the bookstore. Ismay and Lan Bias didn't want the "Island Bookstore" to disappear, so they changed their retirement plans and continued to operate and expand the "Island Bookstore" to make it survive for a long time under the impact of e-books.
At the end of the novel, Amelia leaves Knightley Publishing House, and Jacob, the new sales representative, starts his sales journey as happily as Amelia.
In a trance, time seems to have returned to the past, or the island bookstore. How many years of ups and downs, it seems that everything is still there, still living the same life as before.
The weight of this novel goes far beyond the "love" we talk about, in which life revelations about reading, parenting, mate selection and so on abound.
About reading: In A J's Diary for Maya, there are the following fields: "Reading a novel needs to be read at a life stage suitable for it. Remember, Maya: What we have at the age of twenty may not be produced at the age of forty. And vice versa, books are like this, and so is life. "
About parenting: First, although Ismail is a school teacher, Maya likes to get along with someone who is biased by J and Lan in comparison, because they don't treat Maya as a child and don't talk to her like a child. In this way, as a clever boy, I also know how not to embarrass my father, know his mind, give encouragement and comfort, and even tell white lies.
Secondly, although A J lacks the experience of being a father, he has enough patience to take care of Maya's daily life, and he can also take care of Maya when she spends her adolescence and needs independent space.
About mate selection: Nicole and Ismay have completely different criteria for mate selection. "Ismay chose to go to college because she likes the photos in the brochure; Marry a man because he is particularly handsome in a tuxedo; She went to teach because she saw a movie about a person who can inspire people. " Handsome Daniel is an unfaithful love rat, while his ugly A J is a loyal person who always treats love.
Amelia also provides a reference for mate selection criteria. She gave up "American Hero" and chose a bookstore owner with a heart and soul, and verified her correct choice after marriage. "Starting with face value, being loyal to character and falling into talent" is far more important than "appearance" and "figure" about "soul" and "thought".
The author's brushwork is not ups and downs, everything is dull and he doesn't feel brilliant. Even Nicole and Daniel's car accident and the death of the protagonist A J are not slow. Ordinary, kind and loving can save loneliness in life, warm you and me, and rewrite the story of an isolated island.
"Because we are afraid from the bottom of our hearts that we are not worthy of being loved, we are lonely, but it is because of loneliness that we think we are not worthy of being loved.
One day, you don't know when, you will drive on the road. One day, you never know when you will meet him or her.
You will be loved, because for the first time in your life, you are really not alone. You will choose not to be lonely. "
When I close the book, I am more attached to the warmth of this world.