4.5

A Miss Honey librarian who collects used postcards and photographs of strangers quietly falls in love and looks for the little pleasures in life.

This was softly delightful, like sunshine through a lace curtain.

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One young woman in the Pacific Northwest is fascinated by old photos and vintage items. This little novella gives us a glimpse into the reasons behind her obsession. Her path crosses with a coworker and former soldier, and they have a sweet connection. Brief but beautiful. The scene where everyone at a party has to tell a personal story was particularly memorable. ( )

This novella is about a young woman, Isabel, and one day in her life. During this day at work, she reminisces about her childhood and thinks about her attractive coworker, who is a soldier recently returned from Iraq. She buys a dress for a party and goes to a party at the end of the day.

I think I liked it. Except for the party scene - that I found boring. But then the last line was impactful and wrapped things up nicely.

I think I just don't do well with this length book. Too long to be a short story, too short to be a novel. I guess there's something satisfying in finishing a book in one day. ( )

Officially considered a novel for some reason (too short for that in my book so I will call it a novella instead), the story takes place in a single day - or the main story does anyway.

Isabel lives in Portland, Oregon as a librarian and is responsible for repairing damaged books. She spent her childhood in Alaska, lived through her parents' divorce and ended up with a taste for old things. The story follows her through a day in her life - a special day where a lot of things happen - from a love interest finally responding (just to have to leave), through finding the perfect dress for a party to the party itself. But somewhere in there, in between the mundane actions of everyday life, there are stories - Isabel's and other people's. In a novella that does not contain a lot of story on its own, we get a lot of people telling their stories - most of them sad but all of them human. And in between the stories people tell are also the stories Isabel makes up - based on a postcard, based on an old dress.

I wish the author had made this novella longer - I want to know what happens after this day. As it is, it is a slice in the life of Isabel - we get to know her past and her dreams but we don't know what happens after that. The novel ends with a yearning for a place she had never been - which reads almost like a replacement to a love that may or may not be. But then this is how life works - you do not know what happens next.

The writing is nice enough and in some places shines. The glaciers of the title tie to Isabel's memories and there is probably a deeper connection somewhere in there between the disappearing glaciers and her love for things from the past but it is almost invisible in the text - there if you look for it but too weak to actually manage to make a point. It was a nice enough novella but did not make me want to read more by the author. And I am really not fond of the modern trend for contemporary novels to leave treads dangling at their ends - while some of it may be a powerful way to end a novel, it usually ends up feeling like a cheat and if the author really had no clue how to connect them all properly. ( )

The publisher compared this to Woolf, Duras, and Rhys? I'm sure even their adolescent scribblings were more learned and erudite than Glaciers. This is not to say the book isn't well written: it definitely is, but it feels too uncertain of itself many times, and at many others it felt like reading an MFA student's final project. This is chick lit _targeted to the young, fashionable, hipster librarian. ( )