No Two Persons by Erica Bauemiester is a beautifully layered story that captures the hearts and minds of nine readers. and how it changed their lives for the better. It is a story our main character, Alice Wein writes a book entitled "Theo." The main premise of No Two Persons is how a novel can influence the reader. Once I started reading I was immediately hooked and did not want the book to end. I felt invested in the characters and wanted it to last as long as possible. I highly recommend No Two Person for your next read.

Thank you NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read No Two Persons. I was immediately sucked in at the beginning. I loved Alice and her book, "Theo". I really wanted more of Alice though. Some of the other POV's I just did not relate to or find very interesting. I really liked Erica's idea of this book and feel it will work for many people but it just didn't work for me. It just got a little "overdone" for me.

It has been a long time in which I have read a book like this and had to highlight moultiple passages throughout. I loved every second of this book and the beautiful way the author discusses the meanings that each reader gets from a book. It was absolutely fantastic. Definitely a favorite of the year.

No Two Persons is a wonderfully imaginative story about a group of people who don’t know each other who are going through a rough patch and read the same book. Each sees a different meaning in the story which changes their life forever.

The story begins with the author, Alice and her life. She had love and loss and had been told she could be a great writer. She begins with writer’s block and then gets this incredible idea, and then she can’t stop writing. With the help of her college professor, she completes the story, and it becomes published.

The book, whose title is Theo, is about a boy who loves to swim. He has had a difficult life. His journey seems to be everyone’s life journey in one way or another.

But some of its readers find so much more meaning in the narrative.

The readers are:

Lara who is an assistant at a publishing company who has just had a baby. She is working from home, exhausted and seems to be in the throws of post partum. She is tired of her life and scared for her future. Then she receives a manuscript to read.

Rowan, a movie superstar whose stardom is dimming because of a health issue. He knows he needs to find something, or he will just disappear. Then, his agent gives him a book to read.

Miranda lives a solitary life in the wilderness. She is an artist. She finds a dog and begins to explore. Her mother whom she barely tolerates sends her a care package. In it is a book. Her mother is constantly asking if she has read the story. Finally, Miranda reluctantly picks up the book.

Tyler is a young boy who loves the water even before he knows how to swim which caused his parents embarrassment and anxiety. He understands he is different but doesn’t understand why. When a tragedy occurs, he is given a book to read.

Nola is in high school and wants to go to college. But she has been keeping secrets from the administration because she knows if they find out about her tragic life they will send her on a different path. The book, Theo is on her to be read for class.

Kit is a bookseller in Maine. He loves his life. He loves books, and his lifestyle. He meets an ambitious woman and falls in love, and they marry. They are very different personalities. But one day he picks up a book from an author who has come into the bookstore he works at.

William is an elderly man who has just lost the love of his life, his wife Abigail. He is having a hard time living without her. He decides he needs a change of scenery, so he applies for a job as a caretaker of a town. During a blizzard he notices in a box a book his wife and daughter had been reading together before Abigail’s death.

Juliet spends most of her time on movie sets making sure love scenes are appropriately shot. She travels a great deal and is married. But her marriage is beginning to not fulfill her. On a plane on the way home she opens an e-book a friend had sent her awhile back. She begins to listen to the book.

Madeline is the number one book agent. She has made so many careers she has lost count, including Alice’s. Her work and her books are her life. And she is proud of what she has accomplished.

This inspiring cast of characters will begin new journeys all because of a simple story. In No Two Persons you will fall in love with each person and feel great pleasure as they begin to see their life change. Amazing!

Thank you #NetGalley #St.Martin’sPress #NoTwoPersons #EricaBauermeister for the advanced copy.

I loved this book about books and readers and everyone whose life intersects with them. While, in a way, it felt like a series of short stories, there were connections between the various characters that brought even more meaning to the book as a whole. I loved the way each person found insight from one book and how it applied to their own life, and how they connected to one another. I thought the structure was fascinating, and was immersed from the first sentence through to the very end. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the advance digital copy!

Insanely and happily pogo-sticking through pages!

Wow! Wow! Wow! A fantastic book! I’m still reeling! This gem is threatening to edge out my favorite book of the year (or at least it’s a tie), and it’s for sure going on my all-time favorites shelf.

This book has a book within it called Theo, which comes into the hands of 9 people from all sorts of worlds—there’s a writer and agent, and there’s also a deep-sea diver, a homeless teenager, an intimacy coordinator (!), an actor who gets a pigment disease. This reads like a collection of short stories, with the book Theo at the center. Each character is so well-drawn, so rich—these are fabulous character studies! Theo comes at pivotal points in their lives (or creates a pivotal point), and I was completely invested in each character. Occasionally the characters’ lives cross, and I just loved that. And throughout the book, you get little snippets of the plot and gist of Theo, and you understand just why the book affects each of these people. I couldn’t wait to pick this little puppy up each day.

It’s an incredibly clever idea, and I bow to the creativity of the author. I’m bouncing high on my pogo stick through the pages of Theo, this little book within a book, and as I land on each page, I puncture it with my stick and change all the periods to exclamation points. And you know how much I love my exclamation points!!! So now I, too, am affected by Theo! Sigh, I will try to move on from my gush, which keeps seeping out of me without control.

Oh did this book get me thinking! It sent me down memory lane. I remember the pivotal moment when my best friend’s mother shoved a paperback into my 15-year-old hands, and I discovered that reading did not mean Moby Dick. The big sizzle sizzle when I realized there was a whole secret world of readers, sticking their heads into books and coming up for air, not just with their mind, but also with their heart and soul all enriched and dizzy and happy. It made me think of funny book moments, like when I spotted a small spider walking over my sheets when I had just finished Nutshell. Eek! (I got up out of bed so fast!!! I have repressed the rest of the story, lol! Did I find it and slaughter it? I don’t remember!)

And it made me think of how no two people read the same book. How I’ve shoved a cherished book into the hands of a best friend who then reads the book (or horrors, abandons it!) and thinks I’m nuts. I just love thinking about how some books grab us, some don’t, and it’s just all so personal. Of course, it depends on our mood, the time when we read it—so many factors affect our reaction to a book.

And we see a book from the writer’s point of view, an agent’s, a bookseller. We get little glimpses into writers’ thoughts on their craft. Stuff I just gobbled up.

I did a ton of highlighting. Here’s a sampling of what grabbed me. I have an advance copy of the book, so I don’t want to show a lot, in case the quotes change by publication date. It’s killing me not to add 10 pages of quotes!

“It was basic marketing—give readers what they don’t get or can’t have in regular life. A safe brush with evil. A flaming romance. Certainty.”

“But you could learn so much more, keeping your gaze down. Just as well for Alice, who had never liked meeting people’s eyes. It always felt like looking into a jam-packed closet—or opening the door to your own.”

“When she had to go out in the real world, she watched for what people didn’t know they were telling you.”

“Loved the chemical change that could happen when a story started to lift off a page, or a writer turned a small detail into an insight that shimmered.”

“Your first read of an extraordinary book is something you can only experience once.”

“…in high school they always said if you wanted to get the girl, you should read the book she was carrying around.”

“If you think you deserve to be eaten, how do you leave the ocean?”

I have one small beef, and I can’t for the life of me think of why the author would throw this comment into the book: she said this one guy was thinking of his smelly old-lady babysitters. It seems like a random comment, not something that will help us understand him. Having been an old-lady babysitter, needless to say, this did not sit well with me. Just as I was trying to recuperate from that ageist comment, she mentions it AGAIN a few pages later!! What???? Once was bad enough!

Despite that whine, I can’t dare give this book anything but 5 stars. I’m going to shove this book into all the hands I can find, but I have to be cool and realize to some, this won’t be their nirvana. It sure was mine.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.

Publication date: May 2, 2023

I have read a lot of this authors book and have enjoyed all of them.
This book was such an interesting read and I was captivated by the story.
In this book we hear the story of Alice, who has always wanted to be writer and with encouragement from a professor and a tragedy that takes place in her family, Alice is finally able to put her thoughts into a novel, “Theo”.
When the book is finally published, we find our selves looking into the lives of 9 more people who came across this book, in different ways, and when they really needed it.
I liked how in some of the stories some of the characters we integrated into other peoples stories.
A wonderful story that will stay with me.
I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's press for a copy of this book.

This is a book about a writer named Alice who after suffering her own tragedy writes a book called Theo it’s subsequent chapters we learn about how the book in one way or another affected or changed the readers life from the narrator to the new mom who picked it for consideration with the publisher and on and on it has a touching book of short stories and then one way or another just like the plot the book will affect you I totally love this book and think this was a great subject and a great execution by the author. not only is the name brilliant but so is the book I loved it and think it is a total five star read and it’s a book I will definitely be reading again in the future I have never read a book by this author but I would definitely be interested in doing just that. I received this book from NetGalley and a publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

This is a unique and lovely book about books and readers. The story opens with Alice, an aspiring writer, and her path to writing her first novel. The book then follows the journey of that novel through nine different characters as it affects them in different ways. There are some connections between the stories and characters, and Bauermeister writes all her characters with depth and complexity. It was very easy to imagine their lives proceeding on in the background whenever I was immersed in the next character's chapter. This was an immersive and thoughtful book, one that I expect most book lovers will enjoy. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a digital review copy.

Thank you To St, Martins and Netgalley for letting me read and write a review of No Two Persons. I love books about books and this one did not disappoint. One book gets read by ten different people. Each person has there own perspective on what happens in the story. Honestly it could be a bit confusing but the chapter titles helped.
This book was fast paced and I got attached to the characters. This was my first book by this author but I will add her to my tbr list.

“No Two Persons” by Erica Bauermeister ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Literary Fiction. Locations: Maine, New York, Washington, Florida, California, USA. British Columbia, Canada. Time: 2010-2019.

I’m 75, and I’ve been reading since I was 4 years old. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read!

One book. Nine readers. Ten changed lives. Alice is a keen observer and talented writer of safe stories. When her brother dies, breaking her heart, she tears herself free from safe stories and creates a stunning novel titled “Theo”. Readers discovering her book include a bone-tired literary assistant, a secretive actor, a furious artist, a competitive free-diver, a homeless student, a wondering bookseller, a grieving widower, an intimacy coordinator, an agent. Each reads something different that alters their perspective.

Author Bauermeister’s novel-within-a-novel format is powerful and moving. The main character really is the novel “Theo”. It connects the chapters and characters together. The traumas that shape us, the power of stories to guide and maybe even heal us, it’s all there in the novel and the stories.

Bauermeister’s words are full of metaphors that will delight readers: “He was not an easy child. His idea of a nap was a semicolon at best, never a full stop; a paragraph break.” and “A death sentence. Or worse, a dangling participle of an existence.”

She talks about reading between the lines: “He had grown up interpreting the movements of his father the way fishermen read the sea, always looking for what lay beneath”.

She speaks to the hearts of writers: “The sense that he could find, in the nooks and crannies of his thoughts, or soul, whatever he needed to make the characters come to life.” and “Doesn’t he know”, she thought, “the reader needs time to absorb the big reveal-a chapter break. A paragraph of description”.

If you love reading, and you believe in the power of words, you will love and believe in this book. It’s a love letter to writers and readers. That’s why it’s 5 stars from me. Thank you St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley, and Erica Bauermeister for this early copy. Publishes 5/2/2023.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

It's only April, but I already know this will be one of my favorite reads this year. A true love letter to reading and readers, this book of what feels like interconnected short stories enabled me to fully engross myself in the power of words and explore how the same story can have vastly different impacts on different people. I really love stories with multiple POVs, and the fact that this is also not a very long read kept me turning pages and itching to come back even amidst other tasks.

My favorite thing about this read was the sheer depth and emotion that each character's story packs. I'm not the type of person to cry while reading something, but several sections left me feeling hollow, with an aching desire to reach into the pages and give each character a massive hug. I cannot recommend this enough to anyone who loves reading and wants something that is short, but will pack a punch. I know the tagline for this book says "ten changed lives", but now that I've finished reading, I think I'd change it to eleven.

This novel-in-vignettes follows a single book through the stories of ten people who interact with it, from the author who writes it to the agent who discovers it, to readers (many of them accidental) whose lives are changed by the story. I initially thought it would be a slow and heavy read due to the disconnected format and the difficult subject matter (many of the focal characters experience significant trauma). But the lyrical prose pulled me along, and I found myself quickly drawn into each of the vignettes. Several of them are haunting, a few are inspiring, and all are interesting. Although this is clearly a book-lover's book, it is masterfully written and memorable.

It took me 3 nights to get me to read 20% of the book. I had to read the first 10 pages twice because it wouldn’t sink it. Finally, after 20% in the book, I decided to DNF it. I can’t continue any longer. Some books aren’t for everyone.


Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for providing me an ARC.

I usually enjoy Baumeister's books a lot. This one was just okay. I liked the concept but the execution was a bit disjointed. Characters were interesting and relatable, but story elements just didn't gel well for me
I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Such a beautiful story!! The description of the story is great and it’s amazing to me that this book includes storylines from 10 characters and I can remember them all at the end with details on each still running through my mind. It’s an amazing story of how one book can affect each person differently, such strong character development. You will fall in love with this book!! Definitely read this book!!

Thanks to Netgalley and St Martins Press for my electronic advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest opinion!!

I’m having a hard time reviewing this one. I’ve read so many rave reviews about this book, and I want to like it, but I just can’t get into it. I’m having trouble connecting the characters, and I will admit that I haven’t finished the book. It may be that I’m not in the right frame of mind at the moment, but I will try to go back to it at a later date. I will say, the writing is fantastic. The author has a beautiful way of describing people and their emotions and experiences.

'Books spoke to specific people for specific reasons, and it had everything to do with where they were in their lives.'

This is a novel about reading a book. As the author says, after a book is written and published, it goes on to live in the readers' heads. Here we follow one such book titled 'Theo,' written by a young woman named Alice Wein, who lives in Maine. She has spent five years writing her story with the help of her professor and then struggles to get it published. The short stories that follow depict nine other people the book touches in some way over the next several years. There's the assistant at a literary agency who reads the manuscript and passes it on to her boss; the actor whose movie career is fading but moves on to doing audio books; the artist who uses pages of the book in her best creation; an injured diver who finds healing for his broken spirit; the homeless girl whose classroom teacher assigns the book; the bookseller who keeps putting off reading it until he meets the author; a ghost-town caretaker whose late wife loved the book just before she passed; the movie movement-coordinator who connects with the audio voice while listening to the story; and finally the literary agent, the Queen Maker of Literature, who originally 'discovered' the book. Several of the characters in these separate vignettes tie together in interesting ways. And, of course, we slowly learn the plot of 'Theo' through these different readers. Enthralling and very different!

Many thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an arc of this new novel via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

Alice has always wanted to be a writer. Her talent is cultivated, but her stories remain safe and detached, until a devastating event breaks her heart open, and she creates a stunning debut novel. Once her novel, ‘Theo’, is released to readers, she knows it will no longer just be ‘hers’ but also a part of every reader who chooses to read it. One book. Nine readers. Ten changed lives. Each chapter reads almost as a short story as you are introduced to a new character and learn how Alice’s book impacts their life. As the story spans years, connections between the seemingly disparate plotlines are revealed in a powerful reminder that we are all connected in more ways than we recognize or often remember.

Wow. No Two Persons is an incredible book! Every sentence was crafted to deliver an emotional impact. I was drawn in from the opening scene, moved to hopeful tears by its conclusion, and mournful when it was over. I know for a fact I will be purchasing my own copy, gifting several copies, and rereading this impactful story. Each of Bauermeister’s uniquely crafted characters had some facet I could connect with and even see myself reflected back to me from their experiences. From an insecure debut author, a free spirited yet angry artist, former actor turned audiobook narrator, world champion free diver, teenage girl experiencing homelessness, new mother juggling her full-time editor position, a book seller searching for love, to a new widower yoked with grief; I saw myself. Erica Bauermeister brilliantly reminded me not only of the power of a book, but the power of connecting and empathizing with a diverse variety of characters.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. I will be posting a review reel on Instagram closer to release date.

“Picking up a book was a decision: I’m going to go away. The exciting possibility: I may not come back the same.”

Truer words have not been spoken. This book is one of my favorites of the year. Possibly THE favorite. I started it late at night and wished I could have kept my eyes open just a little bit longer. I woke up the next day a little afraid that it wouldn't be as good as I remembered but it was better. The premise, the characters, the amount of thoughtful quotes I underlined, this book will stick with me and be something I think about for some time to come. This book is the reason I read books and you HAVE to read it. I cannot recommend this one enough

5 plus stars

Thank you @stmartinspress and @netgalley for the early copy

Make sure you get your copy out May 2nd!