NO TWO PERSONS by Erica Bauermeister

 

My thoughts

I started this book not having a clue what to expect. I read the synopsis but still it didn't let me know what I was going to find between the covers of this book. This one touched me in a way only certain books can. It was phenomenally great. It was the best book I have read to date and that is saying a lot. I've read some very good books and honestly have to say this one hit the number one spot. It's truly that good. 

You meet several people in this book. Each with their own story. Each with deep problems to overcome. Each touching a book called "THEO." How this book helped each was done to perfection in my opinion. I just don't see how anyone can read this book and not fall in love with all the characters. Each and every one of them. Each story touched me in a way that no book has that I can remember. I actually wept in a few places. Cried with each but some were just soul touchingly sad. This book definitely left it's mark on me. It's so easy to follow and keep up. 

First you meet The Writer, Alice. Alice writes the book Theo. What all Alice goes through and then came out the other side as a best selling author was truly inspired. Even though she still had a lot going on in her life she wrote a book that touched everyone that read it. She was young and had lost her brother. Her brother was her best friend. He had problems that he just couldn't seem to get over. I think he had a lot of anxiety and emotional things going on. Mainly because of their parents. The father mostly. Alice made all of these stories possible. Her book made them all possible.

You meet The Assistant next. Lara is a new mother and working from home. She works for a publishing firm and her job is to find the next best seller. She does exactly that. She has a lot going on in her life too. Her job does eventually take her places and the book she found for her boss helps her in ways that she didn't see coming. 

The Actor was a very touching story of a young man who had it all. The fame and love of all his many fans until he didn't. But he found an outlet that gave him voice to so much. I felt for Rowan.

The Artist, Miranda. She had problems with connecting with her mother. They had one of those relationships that needed lots of space and understanding. Her mother sent her a copy of Theo and she used it in a way I would never have thought of. 

Then we have The Diver. Tyler was one of my favorite characters. He was a bit strange but so very likable. He knew what he wanted. Theo helped in also. In the deepest darkest point of his life the book helped.

The Teenager was also a favorite of mine. My heart broke for Nola so many times. She was working hard to just graduate after the most horrible loss a teen can experience. One of her teachers had them read Theo and ultimately helped Nola also. As did the handyman. Nola was a scared young girl and surviving was all she wanted. She didn't have a lot of faith in mankind.

The Bookseller, Kit. Kit came from a strong family who didn't just sit down to dinner. They talked. Not about their day but about deep things that let you know more about them. He ended up having to make a big life change and reading Theo helped him with that. I liked Kit. 

The Caretaker. Oh my did I love William. I suppose that is because of the age thing. Maybe because of the loss he suffered and how he decided to move on. His daughter gave him a copy of Theo that her and her mother had read together. It was her mother's copy and there were notes in the margins. Sentences underlined. Things that made William remember all the many many good times they had together. He was so lost without his wife but Theo helped him also.

The Coordinator, Juliet. She was another good character. She coordinated the sets for movies. Not the sets but the people playing the parts. She taught them how to make people believe it was real. The kiss. The touch. Whatever the scene she could work with the actors and make it perfect. She had a beautiful home and family. Her daughter and husband were her life. She finally realized just how much after reading Theo. Actually she listened to an audio of Theo and it opened her eyes to what was most important to her. I loved that.

Then we have The Agent. The one who started this whole thing. Madeline Armstrong was the agent who could make or break an author. Theo was recommended to her as a best seller and it became one of her favorites. Madeline had to fight her way to the top in a male dominated world of publishers/agents. Madeline to me was great. She was perfect for this role. She was a fighter. In her part of this book you hear a bit about a few of the other people in the story. How they affected her or touched her or what she thought about them. Her story brought big tears to my eyes also. 

Then the book is summed up with Alice's epilogue. After Madeline. Alice is young in age but seems old at heart. I'm glad she found a certain bookseller to possibly make her happy. And him too. Without Alice none of this book would be possible. That's a fact.

I loved this book. I loved each character. Their stories touch you in a way you won't forget soon. Each intersects with the book and in some with each other. I loved how they made reference to other characters they had met or loved or helped in some way. How each read Theo and saw something of theirselves in it. This is a happy book that has lots of sad parts.

Thank you #NetGalley, #EricaBauermiester, #StMartinsPress, for this wonderful ARC. This is my own true thoughts and feelings about this book. It is masterful. 

Five huge stars and I can't begin to recommend it enough. You have to read this if you don't read anything else. It's honestly that good. At least it was to me. Have tissues handy though.

Synopsis

One book. Nine readers. Ten changed lives. New York Times bestselling author Erica Bauermeister’s No Two Persons is “a gloriously original celebration of fiction, and the ways it deepens our lives.”*

That was the beauty of books, wasn’t it? They took you places you didn’t know you needed to go…

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.

“With its beautiful parts that add up to a brilliant whole, No Two Persons made my reader’s heart sing.”—*Nina de Gramont, New York Times bestselling author of The Christie Affair