No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister
ARC from St. Martinβs Press and Netgalley for an honest review
Book Blurb:
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 Aliceβs novel; each one discovers something different that alters their perspective, and presents new pathways forward for their lives.
My Review: 5 stars
No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister swept me away into this luscious and tender literary masterpiece about books and their readers. As readers, we know that no persons read the same book in the same way. We each read with a bounty of collective differences that make us who we are.
In this gem, we see how Aliceβs book, βTheoβ, touches nine people, in a myriad of distinctive ways. Many are singular and specific, while others become interconnected as we get inside the head space of the other characters. This book is unlike any Iβve ever read, but something I often think about. I believe not all books are read at the right time for the reader. Our personal human condition at that moment time is how we will interpret the book.
Iβm not new to Bauermeisterβs work and have read most of what sheβs written. I urge you to check out her older titles. This book is a readerβs manifesto, an ode to the written word and a joy to read.
Quotes I liked:
At some point itβs written down, and thatβs the book readers hold in their hands. But the story isnβt done, because it goes on to live in the readersβ heads, in a way thatβs particular to each of them.”
βWeβre all caretakers of the stories, Alice. Writers are just the lucky one that to know them first.β
βIt was something she would tell her son later, when he was learning to read himself β how your first read of an extraordinary book is something you can only experience once.β
βThere were times when he yearned to spoon his soul into the warmth of her belief that people were essentially good, and things would always turn out okay.β
βHe was a book yentaβ¦β