The storied life..

 A J Fikry - how do I even pronounce it? fikri? fikai? And what type of a name is it?

Currently reading "The storied life of A. J. Fikry". And liking it too. May be it is a cliche of a widower feeling so depressed in life that he wants to destroy his business and himself. And finding a little girl to take care of and thus reigniting the kindle of life.

One day Fikry hears some one crying when he comes back from his running. He searches all around and finds a a little child sitting in between racks of books. But who leaves a child in a book store - in this day and age when book stores are as outdated as clocks, calendars and movie theaters.

And who leaves the door unlocked in this day and age? So a hapless mother, out of her wits' end sees an unlocked door and leaves her child inside. But the note attached says "I want my daughter to be brought up in a place surrounded by books". 

But Fikry - a rational man does what anyone in that situation would do. He takes the child to the police station and explains the situation to police chief. After filing a complaint, he brings the girl back to his home, thinking that he can take care of her for a few days until her mother is found with the help of google - Maya likes the word google. Of course she is a kid of new age. 

Thus starts a new chapter in Fikry's life - Maya chapter. 

When police find a dead body in the river - of Maya's mother - and the father is not in picture, nor any other kin of her, Fikry has to adopt this little girl.

And he has the help of the town's mothers - they feel sad for the little one and are certain that 'weird' Fikry without a woman in his home will find it difficult to bring up a child on his own. They come often to the bookstore with plenty of tips and sometimes nitty gritty items. And they bring their own children to play with Maya. 

By the way it turns out that this book by Gabrielle Zevin has been made into a movie, featuring Kunal Nayyar. 

 P.S.

I did not like the ending. It felt like sitting in a class where teacher who realized his lateness and hurriedly completed the syllabus. And also, look at the author - such a young girl - how can she know anything about life? (As we older people would like to say ;) )