Book Review: The Door-to-Door Bookstore by Carsten Henn

My Rating :3.75⭐️

“It has been said that books find their own readers—but sometimes they need someone to show them the way.”

The Door-to-Door Bookstore by Carsten Henn revolves around seventy-two-year-old bookseller Carl Kollhoff once a full-time employee at City Gate Bookshop but now whose responsibilities are limited to a special book delivery service after hours - individually packaged customized selections delivered to his customers at their doorstep. Carl, having never married and without any close family, is essentially a loner whose world revolves around books and the bookshop. He considers his customers, who are mostly loners like himself, to be his friends and has developed a special rapport with most of them.

“Carl understood people who collected books like others collected stamps: people who loved to let their gaze wander along book spines, who gathered books around themselves like a community of close friends. Inside books lived the characters to whom they felt a connection, with destinies unfolding in which they shared, or wished they could.”

Carl meets nine-year-old Schascha one evening on his delivery route. Despite his objections, she insists on accompanying him on his rounds and befriending his customers and he is surprised at how strong-willed and perceptive she is. Schascha also devises her own plan to help Carl and his customers, each of whom is dealing with their own personal struggles and unhappiness behind closed doors. However, Carl has a strained relationship with the current manager of the store, Sabine, the daughter of the owner whom Carl considered a friend and he is aware that his tenure at the bookshop is nearing its end. But he is unwilling to let anything sever the personal connections he has forged within his circle of book lovers. What follows is a beautiful story about bookshops, friendship, community and the transformative power of books.

“'Do you know, people are increasingly neglecting to read. And yet between those covers, you’ll find people, their stories. Within each book lies a heart that begins to beat when someone reads it, because it makes a connection with the reader.'”

The premise of this novel is wonderful and would appeal to book lovers and bibliophiles and those who enjoy books about books. There is much about this book that is praiseworthy including the wonderful cast of characters (including a cat with an interesting name!), the literary references and the fluid narrative with some beautifully-written passages. I truly enjoyed getting to know the characters and their backstories and loved how the author depicts the friendship between Carl, Schascha and their community of readers. The author also touches upon themes of loneliness, abuse, trauma and the importance of empathy and kindness. I loved the first half of the novel. What prevents me from giving this book a higher rating is the somewhat rushed ending and a few unresolved subplots.  I do not want to give too much away but as the narrative progresses, there are elements in the story that feel contrived and unconvincing and a few threads of the narrative either remained unexplored or ended abruptly.  But overall, this is a charming, feel–good read that is full of heart! 

"Even when an extraordinary book ends at precisely the right point, with precisely the right words, and anything further would only destroy that perfection, it still leaves us wanting more pages. That is the schizophrenia of reading."