The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald
| The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald | |
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| Category: General Fiction | |
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Reviewer: Zoe Page
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| Summary: A book about books is the best kind of book! A charming and unusual read about the power of words | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 384 | Date: September 2016 |
| Publisher: Vintage | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-0099593676 | |
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The USA is an odd place at times, and not just during election season. There are all sorts of nooks and crannies, places that time forgot, places that ‘’people’’ forgot. Broken Wheel, Iowa is one such place. You’d have no reason to go unless you knew someone there. And Sara does, her pen-pal Amy. Invited by Amy to come for a visit, and with time on her hands due to a recent redundancy, Sara packs her bags (and her books) and buys a plane ticket from her native Sweden to the US of A.
On arrival, though, there’s a slight hiccup, and Amy isn’t able to meet her. Now in the smallest town there is, knowing no one (and yet everyone knowing her, as the only visitor the town has seen this decade), Sara is somewhat stuck. Should she admit defeat and head home, as her parents are requesting? Or should she stay and do what she planned all along, have an adventure for a few months and return a new person with a new outlook?
Sara decides to do the latter, seeking solace in books when the human alternative is a disappointment. Quickly integrating herself into the fabric of Broken Wheel, she starts working on a project for the townsfolk, to get them as ingratiated with the literary world as she is (and Amy would be too, if she was around). It’s not easy, but Sara is such a bookworm she sees no alternative, unless she’s literally going to spend the summer in a foreign country sitting on the porch reading the same books over and over.
This is such a fun book for any reader who loves books - as opposed to those readers who merely tolerate them… It is about so many things – small town life, foreigners abroad, love and loss, romance and heartbreak. Beautifully written (and translated) it evokes wonderful images of Sara’s time in Broken Wheel, both the town and its inhabitants (who she may, or then again may not, prefer to people). Through Amy’s old letters we get to meet her too, but although her absence threw a spanner in the works for Sara’s visit at first, it turns out almost to be a blessing for the opportunities it affords her.
You’ll need to read the book to see if the rather odd town wins Sara over, if there’s a Hollywood ending or more of an Austen or Bronte one, and the final tally on the books versus life scoreboard, but it’s a lovely read and you’ll easily discover all this and much more along the way.
I’d like to thank the publishers for sending us a copy to review.
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You can read more book reviews or buy The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald at Amazon.com.
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