The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald

 

I was recommended The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald by a friend a few years ago who had read the novel for a book group. Last month, I decided to listen to the unabridged audio version of The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend which was well narrated by to narrators, Fiona Hardingham and Lorelei King. 

Listening time for The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald is 12 hours, 10 minutes.

Although, I enjoyed The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald, it wasn't entirely what I thought it would be! It was a decent novel and well done for a debut novel, but it didn't quite hit the mark for me. I liked the different characters and the small town vibe of life in a mid-western town in Iowa. The writing was captivating enough and the small town drama interesting enough... BUT I felt that some of the small town drama and other plot details, were not to my liking. Some of the drama was simply not that interesting as it felt unrealistic, unnatural, forced... hmm, not sure how to express it. Suffice it to say, I liked this novel, but didn't love it.

Below is the plot summary for The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald from Amazon's website:

A debut novel to charm all listeners, that shows beyond all doubt that it's books, along with love, that make the world go round.

It all began with a correspondence between two quite different women: 28-year-old Sara from Haninge, Sweden, and 65-year-old Amy from the small town of Broken Wheel, Iowa. After years of exchanging books, letters and thoughts on the meaning of literature and life, Sara, mousy, disheveled, who has never been anywhere in her life--has really lived only for her work in a beloved bookshop, which has just closed its doors for the last time--bravely decides to accept her unknown friend's invitation to visit. But when she arrives, she finds her house empty, the funeral guests just heading home. . .

Sara finds herself alone. And what choice do the inhabitants of Broken Wheel have but to take care of their bewildered tourist? And what choice does Sara have, faced with a town where nobody reads and her desire to honour her friend, but to set up the perfect bookshop with all the books she and Amy shared--from Yann Martel's Life of Pi to Iris Murdoch and Jo Nesbo, to Bridget Jones and Doug Coupland's All Families Are Psychotic to Little House on the Prairie? And then watch as the townsfolk are, one by one, transformed in unexpected ways. . .

In the glorious tradition of 84 Charing Cross Road, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café, Will Schwalbe's The End of Your Life Book Club, Jane Austen, and movies such as You've Got Mail and Love Actually, The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is a big-hearted, witty book about books, friendship, love--and always being open to the unexpected.

I am giving The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald a rating of 3 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!!