Forever Fikry

Ah, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry.  A book for book lovers and lovers of love.  Gabrielle Zevin knew what she was doing when she penned this modern classic.  Because no one who builds his life around books could ever be truly hopeless.  If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then you can hop on over to the book review I wrote nearly five years ago.  Or, you can hang here and go with the flow of my musings.  No wrong answers!

When I heard that The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry was coming out as a movie, I was beyond excited.  But also a little wary.  Because the thing about watching screen adaptations of beloved books is that they sometimes come up short.  It's a gamble, agreeing to let yourself see someone else's interpretation of something that struck such a cord with you.  Then again, I have very little self control.  So you know I was streaming in seconds.  

Fikry is played by Kunal Nayyar, and his love interest, Amelia, is played by Lucy Hale.  Now, I'm going to pause here.  Because anyone who knows this book knows that Zevin describes Fikry's and Amelia's physical appearances as nothing to write home about.  Their plainness is, in fact, in stark contrast with the stunning beauty of Fikry's late wife.  So having two lookers play these lead roles rings just a little untrue.  Not that I minded much, because I love Nayyar and Hale, and both are wonderful in the movie.  

That said, everything else about the movie is just like the book.  The quaint island town, Fikry's initially self-destructive life, the mystery (for yes, there is one), the love letter to books, and the bittersweet charm of tragedy and hope and then tragedy again shaping the lives of these ordinary yet extraordinary people.  It's even funny.  I could go on and on, but you've (probably) read enough of my book and movie reviews to know that poignance is what makes my heart beat.  Which means, of course, lots of tears at the end, but the kind that made me happy I saw it.

Because even though I said tragedy, hope, then tragedy again, I forgot to add that last and all-important hope.  As The Washington Post says on the cover, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry is "marvelously optimistic."  Not in saying that things will always go well or even stay well.  But in saying that they can be good, even beautiful, for awhile, showing us life's preciousness.

And that's why in both book and movie form, I'm now and forever team Fikry.