Healing with “The Island Bookstore”

“The Island Bookstore” is a novel by American writer Gabrielle Zevin, translated into Vietnamese by AQ, published by Women's Publishing House in collaboration with Nha Nam Company in 2025. It is a work that attracts readers. This is a book for those who love books and always hope for a bright future despite facing many difficulties in reality.

With more than 500 pages, the novel “The Island Bookstore” revolves around the main character, a man named Fikry - the owner of the only Island bookstore on Alice Island. While living peacefully, suddenly one day, Fikry's wife passed away in a tragic accident, causing Fikry to fall into extreme loneliness. Not only that, in his bookstore, the most valuable book worth as much as his entire fortune was also lost, causing him even more pain. But then, at this time, a child of unknown origin was suddenly abandoned by someone in Fikry's bookstore. During the process of caring for and contacting to hand over the child to social organizations, Fikry gradually felt close to and loved the child, and finally kept the child. It was from here that Fikry's life turned to a new page.

Although the plot does not have many dramatic details, but with a close writing style about ordinary people in life, through which to deeply analyze the psychological developments of the characters, "The Bookstore on the Island" has created emotions for readers when approaching. A person is suffering deeply because of losing his wife, losing his property, living in a cramped life, seemingly unable to be moved by any joy, but then the baby appears with its smallness and innocence, becoming the key factor to heal the wound in the unfortunate man Fikry so that he can look towards the future. With her gentle writing style, through "The Bookstore on the Island", writer Gabrielle Zevin sent an optimistic message, that: "Even in the dark night, there is still light at the end of the tunnel, and that in life there will always be some pieces of kindness waiting for us, so the most important thing is to be patient and open your heart to wait".

In the book, in addition to the two main characters mentioned above, there are many other characters such as: Sadie Green (Fikry's childhood friend); Amelia (a book marketing employee of Knightley Publishing, who is assigned to regularly go to the Island bookstore to introduce new books); police chief Lambiase (who was initially rigid but when he saw the lost baby, he softened in everything); Ismay (Fikry's sister-in-law) and many other people on the island... Each of these characters has a different personality and job, but gradually they understand Fikry's situation, all of them sympathize with his "single father raising a child" situation and create connections with humane actions.

The interesting thing about “The Island Bookstore” is the powerful impact of books. The books in the island bookstore, in addition to providing knowledge, have become a connecting thread for people to understand each other, become closer to each other, and overcome the attachments and sadness in life. Healing is the theme of “The Island Bookstore” and this will certainly help readers have a bright view of life no matter what the circumstances are.

BAO THAO

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/van-hoa/202506/chua-lanh-voi-hieu-sach-tren-dao-dc167c5/