REVIEW: No Two Persons, by Erica Bauermeister

No Two Persons

 Alice has always wanted to be a writer. Her talent is innate, but   her stories remain safe and detached, until a devastating event   breaks her heart open, and she creates a stunning debut novel.   Her words, in turn, find their way to readers, from a teenager   hiding her homelessness, to a free diver pushing himself beyond   endurance, an artist furious at the world around her, a bookseller   in search of love, a widower rent by grief. Each one is drawn into   Alice’s novel; each one discovers something different that alters   their perspective, and presents new pathways forward for their   lives.

 Together, their stories reveal how books can affect us in the most   beautiful and unexpected of ways—and how we are all more       closely connected to one another than we might think

One book. One Author. Nine Readers. Ten reactions, ten responses, ten connections. Ten different ways the book spoke directly to them. It's a truly innovative and creative storytelling. 
Bauermeister put into ten stories that which all readers know--we may read the same book, but we won't read the same story in it. That's the one of the most amazing thing about books, right?You and I will never respond to a book in the same way. 

I enjoyed the different voices, each was unique and came from such different places. No character came across as flat, all were carefully crafted and multi-faceted. Each person was markedly changed by one book, written by a person who just needed to get the story out of her head and heart and on paper. I don't know that I've ever considered so carefully how a book speaks to its author before.

The most important voice, in my mind, is that of the book itself. Theo (the book in the stories) is honestly the main character, interacting with its author and each reader, ultimately connecting some the people who connected with it.

This is book club/literary club material. I highly recommend it, and am honestly heading over to pre-order a hardback copy for my shelf so I can revisit it again and again.

What do you think??

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this ebook galley from St. Martin's Press through the netGalley publisher/reader connection program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.