Different

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I am not sure how to review this book without giving spoilers and I am also not sure how I feel about it.

The main character is Aaron Stein, Jewish by birth, maybe (not clear if his mother is or isn't), who missed going to college, because his college fund was wiped out by the crisis of another family member. As the story begins, he is living with his father, Ira, in an apartment over the family business, a bookstore in a small Washington town. Ira was once half way through a PhD program, when he dropped out, took a cross country road trip collecting used books from various locations along the way, and after meeting the woman who would become his wife and mother of his children opened the book store. But after a few family calamities, Ira is a shadow of his former self. For financial reasons, the store was put in Aaron's name, but it is failing, and they are over their heads in debt, when he is offered a way out- selling the property to the town maven. Although he knows it will hurt his father, he doesn't know what else to do. All he thinks about is the demise of the dinosaurs and extinction. But suddenly some people in the small town, come to help them out, and Aaron doesn't know how to tell his father what he did or stop all their new friends from freely giving their time and friendship.

Aaron is not the normal hero of a book. He is bitter about his life and is not the most friendly person, but he loves his father. The people who suddenly come to their rescue are quite quirky and provide some amusing banter. I, however, dislike when an author for no reason makes a character Jewish, when there is nothing Jewish about them. What is the point? Make them authentic, or leave it out. And the allure of a Jewish character is what compelled me to use by Bookish points to purchase this book. I book I received is an ARC and this is my unbiased and voluntary review.