The Giver of Stars: Reese's Book Club: A Novel

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The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
387 pages

What’s it about?
Alice Wright is an Englishwoman who has yet to find a husband- much to the chagrin of her parents. When a handsome American, Bennet Van Cleve, comes to Europe they meet and decide to marry. It is a win-win as Alice is infatuated with Bennett and it also gets her away from her overbearing parents. Unfortunately, when they return to Kentucky nothing is as she imagined. Luckily the new traveling library is looking for women volunteers to deliver books into the countryside. Alice volunteers and finally finds what she has always longed for.

What did it make me think about?
The history was interesting.

Should I read it?
This is a work of historical fiction but it also has all you have come to expect from Jojo Moyes- lots of drama and romance. It took me a while to be interested in the characters, but by the second half the book kept my interest. I know there is some controversy surrounding this book- but I have not read the other book involved so I have no comment on that. Although this story was not one of my favorites, I can see that this book will have mass appeal.

Quote-
​"Riding all winter, a librarian would wrap up so heavily it was to remember what she looked like underneath: two vests, a flannel shirt, a thick sweater and a jacket with maybe a scarf or two over the top- that was the daily uniform up in the mountains, perhaps with a pair of man's thick leather gloves over her own, a hat rammed low as she could get it, and another scarf pulled high over her nose, so that breath might bounce back and warm her skin a little."

If you like this try-
Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford
The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict
The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers
White Houses by Amy Bloom

A book where all loose ends are wrapped up in the final chapter? Amazing. I read this book quickly. The thought of Female librarians on horses sounds so appealing to me and like something I could see myself doing if I could choose another time to have lived.

We had an interesting discussion about The Giver of Stars. It was one that everyone quite enjoyed, but was also left wanting more. We like the overall story, like the characters, especially liked the camaraderie between the ladies, but at the same time felt that the book remained on kind of a surface level and that there was more that could have been done to really create an authentic depiction of the times. Maybe the entire thing was too “fiction”, while trying to be historic? We anticipate a great movie!!

Laney’s pick