The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald

 

The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald : Book Review

Welcome to Hardborough, a small East Anglian town with weird people and weird aspirations and in between all this, a courageous lady who wants to open a bookshop, however the town in which she has resided for almost ten years doesn’t want a bookshop. “The Bookshop” by Penelope Fitzgerald revolves around this not so very straightforward summary of a story.

Here we meet Florence Green, a widow, with no trace of any relative in the narrative, who wants to open a bookshop and that too by converting an old house into a residential house cum bookshop. As she sets out on this novel journey, she is subjected to polite opposition by the known names of the town.

The story seems very simple yet very complicated due to its flawed characters including the female protagonist, Florence Green. The setting of the story is in a town that has no bookshop and perhaps doesn’t want a bookshop. Here the affluent want a center of arts right at the same spot where Florence would ultimately reside and open a bookshop. People all around try end number of tactics, including intimidation, false civil and legal cases, regulatory inspection and ultimately a tweak in the law by the influence of the powerful.

The characters in the story are interesting to read through but surely not the ones whom one would like to meet in actuality. Leaving apart Florence, perhaps almost all the other characters are grey if not evil or a form of antagonist. Among them Mrs. Violet Gamart is the one who will stay with the reader after the book. She is cold, shrewd, calculative and yet human. Her mannerisms and calmness add anxiety to the reader and even to Florence. The character is very well developed, simply and coldly nasty yet classy.

Another character that impresses is that of Milo North. A highly likable guy but very shrewd and calculative who plays an important role towards the finale. The character of Mr Brundish, remains secretive and mystery and perhaps the real culprit at the end.

The town of Hardborough narrated in the story has a life of its own, narrated to be a town away from the city and not a rural or a county. The description of the various characters in the story develops the characters of the town. A town that seems simple yet calculative to its own advantage for any outsider who wants to change or revolutionize something.

The story is a heartbreak with humor and slice of life moments. The climax is a reminder that everything in life is just a continuity from the last point where one left and one needs to keep going irrespective of the outcomes.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that key events in the story take place in the last thirty pages of the story. In these last thirty pages the reader gets to see the real face of the town and its people. The pacing of the story is steady in the first phase and fast in these last thirty pages where in events after events take place.

The finale of the book is sad and heartbreaking. The author narrates with the intention of pressing the fact that good intentions are not enough to do good to the society at large especially when important people come together against some cause or against someone.

The story takes place during the late fifties, so the reader is able to the enjoy the calm life through the words as described. The book is enjoyable due to its humorous prose and the ability of the author to bring in metaphor and humor to serious situations and uneven human personalities.

The book was published in the year 1978 and remains one of the impactful books by the author that has crossed years and decades into the current generation of readers. In 2017, a motion picture adaption by the same name was released.

The language of the book is of course 70’s style and English prose used is literary Britain style. That said, readers from all around will enjoy the prose and sentence styling for majority of the characters. The narrative has taken use of the letter format style for event narration where in two characters converse though letters. Those letters are interesting and at the same time entertaining to read.

“The Bookshop” is a simple yet entertaining with some interesting, entertaining yet shrewd characters. The readers will have a patient read even though the book is not long. The writing is fluid like and stylish with hidden humor and sarcasm.

The book is a classic literary read that one will enjoy. There are some great lines in the book and one of them that stays with reader is - “Gentleness is not kindness. His fluid personality tested and stole into the weak places of others until it found it could settle down to its own advantage.”