“The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry” by Gabrielle Zevin: Novel’s Gratuitous Implications of Multiple Personality

Margaret Atwood’s Book-Reading Scenario

Judging by Gabrielle Zevin’s portrayal of a book-reading held at Fikry’s bookstore, she may agree with novelist Margaret Atwood’s insight, discussed here in past posts, that all novelists have two personalities—one for dealing with the public, the other for doing the writing—and that people who attend book-readings never see the personality that actually wrote the book. The man who comes to do the reading turns out to be an imposter, while the woman who actually wrote the book attends the event incognito.

Gollum, Protagonist’s Favorite Character 

When Fikry marries Amelia, the publisher’s representative to his bookstore, a joke is made that the girl who is ring-bearer at the wedding serves a very important function. This prompts mention that Fikry’s favorite character from Lord of the Rings is “Gollum” (1, p. 156), a two-name character who, readers may know, is often interpreted as having multiple personality.

Comment: Judging by the above, it would seem that the author had intended to raise the issue of multiple personality. But I have finished this novel and found nothing to confirm that the author had any such intention. 

Why, then, are the above in this novel? They may reflect the author’s own psychology, what I call “multiple personality trait.”

1. Gabrielle Zevin. The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry. Chapel Hill, N.C., Algonquin/Workman/Hachette, 2014.