Bookends

Today I finished reading Zibby Owens’s novel “Bookends” and I must say it had me hooked from the very first page. Thank you netgalley for letting me read it. Zibby Owens is well known in the publishing world and has her own podcast. Zibby in her memoir talks about books and how they have an impact on her and about grief and motherhood and how she falls in love with a tennis pro turned movie producer. “Bookends,” is definitely worth picking up especially if you enjoy stories and how they impact us.

Pros & Cons

While Zibby was born into wealth and I was obviously not, I can relate to her because we both enjoy books so much and we know the power and the impact stories have on us. I like how raw and honest Zibby is in her book about both her experiences, mistakes her eating disorders and depression etc. She talks about the grief she’s felt especially after losing her best friend on 9/11 I know I was crying along with her. I was a nine year old girl when that happened twenty one years ago. While I never lost a friend that day I was crying because so many lives were lost.  I also enjoyed reading about Zibbys romance with Kyle the tennis player turned movie producer even though I didn’t agree with the affair part of it.

I also thought it was romantic that Kyle converted from Catholicism to Judaism before marrying Zibby. If a man converted to your religion he’s a keeper. I know I would swoon if a man told me “Bianca I would convert to Catholicism for you.” Only flaw I didn’t like was it seemed Zibby kept trying to say “Yes I know I’m privileged,” almost as though she had to apologize for it. I wanted to tell Zibby just because you’re rich doesn’t mean you can’t be unhappy. Time and time again we haven’t realized that just because someone is well off it doesn’t mean they are happy. Despite being born into wealth, Zibby doesn’t put on airs and she had to work for what she wanted.

Overall

This is a wonderful memoir. I think one of the best things about it is it is inspiring. If Zibby can achieve all that she has, I can achieve the same things with my blog and writing and whatever else I decide to do. Thank you Zibby Owens for writing this novel and sending it out into the world.