Reviewed by Lianne on
From the all-things-books vantage point, this book was a delight. You can almost play a little game with all of the titles that the book mentions–which ones you’ve read, which ones you recognise–not to mention some terrific new recommendations to check out (I’ve never been interested in picking up Henry David Thoreau’s Walden until now). And we book readers & lovers can definitely relate with some of Sara and Amy’s sentiments about books and reading and everything about it (love that Sara has a suitcase of books and carries a book with her everywhere and can sit for hours just reading–we all know this). Their penpal friendship, spanning oceans, and their bond over books is such a terrific highlight, and having Amy’s letters interject between chapters is a wonderful way of bringing the character to the fold even though she is no longer present amongst the other characters.
The story itself was interesting enough, especially when focusing on Sara’s journey in discovering Broken Wheel and making her way through it and the quirky collection of inhabitants that live in the small town. However, the subplots concerning some of their romances didn’t quite interest me as much as Sara’s story; so much so that I think if some of their stories had been trimmed or not touched on at all, the overall novel might’ve been tighter :3
Speaking of romances, I’m not sure what to make of Sara and Tom’s odd relationship. It has all of the makings of a romance that I’d enjoy–opposites attract/surprise to find them falling for the other, obvious obstacles along the way, the town trying to play matchmaker and the two aren’t so game, etc–and yet it felt like something was missing. Tom’s quite the foil against Sara’s character: he’s definitely not a reader, he’s very serious and doesn’t seem to relax much, he was actually quite the Mr. Darcy when Sara first met him with a extra shot or two of Mr. Knightley’s grumpiness. I think it has to do with the way the scenes play out; there’s just not enough moments between them to convey a softer edge to Tom’s personality–or more to his personality at all–to convince me that maybe their relationship will work or for me to root for them entirely.
Overall, I enjoyed The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommends. From the perspective of everything books, it was a delightful read that other book lovers will sure to understand and relate to. The rest of the story was all right, namely from Sara’s story, but I didn’t quite connect with the other inhabitants enough to quite as enjoy their respective subplots. The overall story does take a turn for Green Card but otherwise it was still an enjoyable read.
Final rating: 3.5/5
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 23 July, 2015: Finished reading
- 23 July, 2015: Reviewed