What is the important of the bookshop, The Literary Apothecary, in the novel, The Little Paris Bookshop?

Jean Perdu described his waterborne bookshop, The Literary Apothecary, as an arrested adventure. Although he had kept the floating bookstore in running condition for the 21 years following Manon’s death, he was never able to leave the dock. For fear of facing the past, Jean remained a creature of habit, forever anchored in Paris. In living vicariously through literature rather than experiencing an adventure of his own, Jean’s life as owner of the shop was an arrested adventure.