Book Review: The Giver Of Stars By Jojo Moyes

I have read  quite a number of the author’s work and I have so far enjoyed all that I have read especially the very popular ‘Me Before You’ which I reviewed sometime last year. You can read my review HERE.

‘Giver Of Stars‘ is a novel based on a true story rooted in America’s past. Alice Wright has always felt a bit out of place in her home in England and she is over the moon when the handsome American, Bennett Van Cleve asks for her hand in marriage. They immediately get married and travel across the ocean to America where Alice hopes to start a new beautiful life. Unfortunately, things don’t happen as Alice expects. First, she finds herself in rural Kentucky living with her imposing and forever intrusive father-in-law, but acquires some freedom when a mobile library opens in their small town and she volunteers to join the workforce of women headed by the headstrong and independent Margery O’Hare. However, not everyone is happy about the library and the knowledge it brings to the otherwise ignorant inhabitants of this quiet town and it’s environs. This is a story about courage, loyalty, justice, passion, ignorance, abuse, discrimination and racism.

This was a very different Jojo Moyes book for me and although I am a deep lover of historical fiction, I found it really hard to get into the story. Perhaps it is because I have never quite found American historical fiction much to my taste but I think that if a story is well written no matter the history lesson it wants to teach, it would be really enjoyable. I found it a bit too long with some characters and events that didn’t add anything substantial to the story so I ended up browsing through some parts of the book.  Having said that, I loved the theme and my favorite character was Margery O’Hare for her tenacity and strong-will even in the face of adversity. I also enjoyed reading the parts towards the end with the court proceedings and how the all the librarians eventually achieved their dreams.

For me, this was an okish read and below my expectations from the author thus my rating but I will definitely read more books by this author although I may want to stick to contemporary fiction/romance. However, if you love historical fiction especially one showcasing American history, then you may like this book.

P.s. I was happy to read a paperback book after a long time of only reading e-books and listening to audio books and I must say, I missed the feel of it. Now that we can now visit our favorite bookstores (although still with some caution) I plan to go back to reading hard copies of books more.

Enjoy your weekend!

Rating: 3 Stars

Published: October 8th 2019 by Pamela Dorman Books

Pages: 400

Genre: Historical Fiction

Purchase @ www.amazon.com/thegiverofstars

The Author:

Jojo Moyes is a British novelist. Moyes studied at Royal Holloway, University of London. She won a bursary financed by The Independent newspaper to study journalism at City University and subsequently worked for The Independent for 10 years. In 2001 she became a full time novelist. Moyes’ novel Foreign Fruit won the Romantic Novelists’ Association (RNA) Romantic Novel of the Year in 2004. She is married to journalist Charles Arthur and has three children.

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