Fans of deWitt will appreciate this one. His descriptions of people and places are witty and charming. Parts of the book felt slow to me, especially the time period where he ran away. It felt like a different story with a different Bob.

It's very rare that I rate a book two stars, let alone one. This one, however, had absolutely no purpose, it meandered without a purpose and spent more time in the past, looking at dull moments of Bob's life that culminated in absolutely nothing, than focusing on the present day. I wanted so much to love this book since it sounded in the vein of "A Man Called Ove", but by the halfway mark, I dreaded listening to the audiobook where the narrator had long pauses in his sentences. By the time I was ready to DNF it, I was already 40% of the way through, and decided to stick it out until the bitter end.

I disliked all of the characters. Bob was such a boring protagonist and didn't have any backbone. Connie was a terrible human being for cheating on Bob and pretty flat. Allen was an awful best friend to Bob, but at least he was the most colorful character. There is a ton of talk about sex and relationships which is agonizing to get through and isn't revelatory at all.

I was hoping for more library-related or at least literary references, but that part was sorely lacking, which was a letdown since that was Bob's whole career and the title of this book. I found the first part of the book, where Bob is looking for something to fill is time with, more interesting than the majority of the book which is told in flashback. The author tried to add a little levity and positive message at the end, but at that point, I was just rushing to get through it.

Dull, Pointless, and Melancholic, this was painful to get through.

Thanks to Libro.fm for an ALC of this book and to the publisher for a physical ARC.

2.5* I think the ending of this book was really well done and definitely was a nice feel good but the journey there was just too slow. There were lots of little gems of quotes and moments but not enough consistency through out the book to keep my attention. I like the dual timeline method of story telling attempted but did feel like the execution fell flat because of the pacing. I would try this author again because I felt there was alot of potential and the general plot points were interesting.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for a copy of this novel. This novel is available now!

(3.5 stars rounded up)
This one is a hard book to rate for me. I really enjoyed it, I never felt like I was bored or didn't want to read anymore, but I didn't love it.

The story is divided into 3 different time periods and I really enjoyed reading each section, but felt disappointed when they ended. My favorite by far was the second section when Bob is a young librarianist and meets his wife and best friend. I could have read a whole book about Bob, Connie, and Ethan. The section where Bob runs away at 11 years old just felt out of place, but maybe I'm missing something. I loved June and Ida and the other characters at Hotel Elba, but I just didn't understand why it was part of the book.

Overall I did enjoy it, it's a character driven story with tons of interesting, lovable characters. This may be one of those books that sticks with me for a while and makes me reevaluate my rating in a few weeks.

Thank you NetGalley and Ecco for the advanced copy of The Librarianist.

A gentle read about retiree Bob; his past life as a librarian and the cast of characters he now encounters as a volunteer at a retirement home.

The Librarianist focuses on retired librarian Bob Comet and his story. Bob is somewhat eccentric, a bit of a loner, and spends a lot of his time reflecting on his career and his family. It's a quiet, character driven novel and it really spoke to the introverted book lover in me. Patrick deWitt has become one of my favorite authors - a must read for fans of his and for lovers of books revolving around books.

Thank you to Ecco and NetGalley for this ARC.

A likable and quirky cast of characters in a sweet, sometimes melancholy, reflection on growing old and looking back.

A little bit quirky, a little bit sad, a little bit funny, and a whole lot of captivating, is how I would describe the life story of Bob Comet. This book provided a pleasant escape for me as Bob took me along for the ride of his life. I couldn’t help but feel for him, and the various circumstances that he faced as he grew older, and I think if he were real, we would be friends. I highly recommend this book if you’re looking for something that is light and fun. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance read copy.

Bob Comet is a retired librarian passing his solitary days surrounded by books and small comforts in Portland, Oregon. One morning on his daily walk he encounters a confused elderly woman lost in a market and returns her to the senior center that is her home. Hoping to fill the void he’s known since retiring, he begins volunteering at the center. As a community of strange peers gathers around Bob, and following a happenstance brush with a painful complication from his past, the events of his life and the details of his character are revealed. Behind Bob Comet’s façade is the story of an unhappy child’s runaway adventure during the last days of the Second World War, of true love won and stolen away, of the purpose and pride found in the librarian’s vocation, and of the pleasures of a life lived to the side of the masses. Bob’s experiences are imbued with melancholy but also a bright, sustained comedy; he has a talent for locating bizarre and outsize players to welcome onto the stage of his life.

I like books about librarians, but I thought the title was deceiving in that librarians was only a very small part of the book. I also thought the middle section of his running away could have been shortened. What bothered me the most, though, was the abrupt ending. I was just reading along and the book just stopped. I did think that the characters were well written and mostly believable, but if someone wants a book about librarians, I would not recommend. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the book and introducing me to the author that I had not read before. I have no comparison to his other books which have gotten good reviews.

Some magic buried in a slow-paced book with too many unnecessary characters

Bob, a retired librarian, finds a missing senior citizen at a convenience store. When he returns the missing woman, Bob begins to volunteer at the senior center. Then, we flashback to two major time periods in Bob’s life and flash back to the conclusion.

Sadly, this book is a bit painful for me. The book is really slow paced, and, if I was editor, I would have trimmed it significantly.

When Bob is first introduced to the senior center, that section is too long, and there are too many characters.

The section about Bob’s wife and best friend I loved it. I would not have changed anything. I loved the complex backstory of each of the characters. Even though one of the characters hurt Bob, I understood why it happened that way, and I thought that it was such a moving, cool moment.

However, some of that was buried in the next section. Bob runs away and meets a bunch of random characters that I didn’t connect with. This section seemed to drag on and on.

Then, we arrive at the ending, and I loved the way that the author concluded the story. It felt really realistic. However, the ending (as much of the book) was too long. The last few pages weren’t memorable.

Also, this is my own personal preference, but there just weren’t enough literary references. The book is entitled The Librarianist. My assumption is that the target audience is bibliophiles, but it didn’t have enough to make me happy.

Overall, I am actually a bit sad about this book because I felt that it has a bit of magic in it. It really did make me stop and think. However, it was just too slow paced and had too many unnecessary characters.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in return for my honest review. I have seen so much hype about this book I was really looking forward to it - and while I did thoroughly enjoy it, it is not my normal genre and I have never read DeWitt before so my review may be different. First, this will not be my last read from this wonderful author. The characters and the off beat humor throughout this book made for a refreshing read. I especially enjoyed Bob and his time at the Senior Center, but his time as a librarian almost seems disheartening and sad. But really what was most important is that his life was impactful and NOT solitary. My sister is a librarian so maybe my view is a little skewed???? Oh - and I agree with other reviewers- the back story is a little slow - but I could see myself rereading this with my sister and discussing it.

The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt follows the life of Bob Comet, who is a retired librarian. I had high hopes for this book. I was underwhelmed, not unlike the underwhelming protagonist. The best characters in the book appear near the end of the book when there is a reflection of the past. Bob ran away from home in his youth and had an adventure with two thespians. This part of the book was beautifully written with lots of humor.

I want to thank NetGalley for an early copy of the book.

Published by Ecco on July 4, 2023

Sometimes I finish a book and think, “I’m glad I read that.” On multiple occasions while reading The Librarianist, I thought, “I’m glad I’m reading this.” I didn’t need to wait for the end to know I was having a good time.

The Librarianist takes the reader on a journey through Bob Comet’s small and unremarkable life. Except that no life is unremarkable, even one as ordinary and seemingly uneventful as Bob’s. There’s always something that sets us apart from each other. That, I think, is the novel’s point. But the book also reminds us that “part of aging, at least for many of us, was to see how misshapen and imperfect our stories had to be. The passage of time bends us, it folds us up, and eventually, it tucks us right into the ground.” Only as we near the end of our time do we gain the perspective to appreciate the unique strangeness of the life we lived.

Bob begins the novel in 2006 as a librarian in Portland. He’s happy living a life in which he is surrounded by books that substitute for friends. He’s never done well with friends. His only adult friend ran off with his wife. Maybe his life hasn’t been so uneventful after all.

When Patrick DeWitt takes us a few decades into Bob’s past, we learn that Bob’s friend Ethan lived across the street from the library. Ethan was charming and handsome and a bit of a rogue. He met Bob when he ducked into the library to avoid someone lurking in his apartment who wanted to do him harm.

Bob also met Connie in the library when the head librarian banished her father from the premises. Connie was direct where Bob was shy. Connie was funny where Bob was reserved. Connie and Ethan met on the bus when they were both coming to see Bob. Bob loved them both but, for obvious reasons, regretted that his life brought them together.

So now Bob has the library and not much else. One day, Bob encounters a woman who is staring into space and helps her back to the senior center from which she has wandered. This leads Bob to a stint as a senior volunteer, although what Bob has to offer is unclear. The residents don’t seem interested in his lectures on Russian literature. Still, he becomes a fixture; his silent presence adds something of value. The volunteer work eventually connects Bob with his past in a surprising way.

When DeWitt takes another detour into Bob’s backstory, we learn that Bob’s past was more adventurous than his present might suggest. In 1945, Bob ran away from home. He latched onto two women while hiding in their train compartment. Ida and June were traveling thespians who performed for ever smaller crowds. Their dancing dogs were likely the highlight of their shows. They decided that Bob could be their drummer until something better came along.

Ida and June are quirky and given to witty observations, the kind of characters who are perfect for an offbeat comedy. If only people spoke in the formalities and circularities of Ida and June (neither pays much attention to what the other says about anything, except to disagree), the world would be a more entertaining place.

Bob ended up in a town that is the epicenter of a riot, but people in the town don’t take much of anything seriously, including the rioters. The townspeople all tend to be philosophical, including a sheriff who responds to the observation “everyone goes his own way in this world” with “you’ve got yourself a morbid point of view.” Few perspectives that Bob encounters are morbid; people generally seem happy to be part of the town’s life, even when that life doesn’t make much sense.

Most of the novel’s characters are happy enough, although sometimes in a melancholy way. Bob and Connie have thought about each other over the years, but life moves on. That too is the point of the story. We wonder about the things that did and did not happen in our lives, but the life we lived is the one we need to appreciate.

Every bit of this gentle story is delightful and surprising. Most of the novel maintains a tone of low-key amusement, but every now and then the subdued humor gives way to belly laughter. DeWitt reminds us that thriller heroes and dramatic moments don’t dominate the real world, even if they dominate fiction. Viewed properly, the small moments are just as satisfying.

RECOMMENDED

Patrick deWitt's the Librarianist is a delightful journey through one man's year as a retiree, with detours through his brief marriage as a much younger man and even earlier, as a youthful runaway.

Bob Comet is a thinker, an introvert, nothing showy or outrageous at all. We see what makes him tick, and how his love of reading imbues his outlook on life. He's been let down, terribly, by people in his life, only to find friendship and closure with the inhabitants of a local senior residential center.

What happens after you've been betrayed? How do you go on living? Are you able to adapt or not. Bob is charming in his own way.

The Librarianist
Publish Date: July 4, 2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I love character driven stories and quirky characters. Bob Comet did not disappoint. He was unique, and I enjoyed his perspectives and situations. I would have rated this five stars, however, the sub-story with June and Ida dragged a bit and I’m still not sure how it drove the overall story forward. It could’ve been left out or maybe even the beginning of a separate book. It just didn’t fit. But other than that, it was a fun read, and I’m glad I got to spend some time in Bob’s world.

At seventy-one years of age Bob Comet has settled into a contented retirement after a long career as a librarian. He had no friends, per se, and communicated with the world mainly by reading about it. On a walk one day he enters a 7-Eleven to get a cup of coffee to warm his hands and encounters a friendly but distracted woman in a pink tracksuit. As she exits the store he decides to follow her and ultimately escorts the woman, Chip, back to the Gambell-Reed Senior Center. As Bob enters the Center he is unknowingly opening a door that will change his future and allow him to reconcile his past in unexpected ways.

The Librarianist is filled with the most colorful and quirky cast of characters. It is easy to fall in love with Bob and all of the people he meets. I loved the characters deWitt created—they were real people but also unique and flawed. I ended up feeling a great deal of affection for Bob (as most of the book’s characters did) and the people that deWitt put in his path and surrounded him with.

This book is full of humor. There were times when I laughed out loud and admittedly times when I knew something was meant to be funny that wasn’t hitting me as strongly as I think it was intended. I often wondered if this book would be more enjoyable on audio with the right narrator (and maybe even a laugh track).

The Librarianist feels like two separate stories in one—Bob’s post retirement life bookending a four-day adventure Bob takes as a runaway at age eleven. Of course these follow the same character so they are very interconnected and these four days were some of the most important in Bob’s young life. They still feel very separate and at times I wondered if the runaway tale was imagined or part of a book Bob read since he lived so much in books. Maybe it was? It did feel a little long and I’m not sure I felt it added significant value to the other parts of the book. But I did enjoy it on its own.

I really loved this book's focus on a character in the post-retirement phase of life and the transition from living independently to group living. It doesn’t seem like a focus I see often in novels. I also loved that it wasn’t angsty and I felt Bob found peace with his life without having to fight something or experience major epiphanies. It was a quiet transition befitting of our main character.

One of the disappointments for me was in the setting. Because the blurb mentions it takes place in Portland, Oregon in the first sentence I thought the city/setting would figure more prominently in this book. I love reading books set in places that I have a connection and familiarity with. This book really could have been set anywhere and you really didn’t get a sense that this was in Portland.

All in all I really enjoyed this book.

Thank you Ecco Books and Netgalley for providing me with an electronic copy of this book.

Not sure what to say, other than I did not find the storyline to be particularly gripping nor any of the characters to be of much interest. If it’s hadn’t been a relatively quick read, I probably would have dnf’d it fairly quickly. Each moment throughout the book I was left wondering what the point was of its inclusion. The way the novel is broken up adds to this sense of a lack of cohesion. To the book’s credit, there were some funny quips and scenes, and some characters briefly added sparkle to the story. Overall, though, I can’t say I enjoyed the experience, and don’t think this book achieved what the author was hoping to achieve.

With The Libriarianist, Patrick deWitt has once again presented his unique take on the world via prose that is so beautiful, witty and wise. Beginning with the ironic name of his central character. Bill Comet, a lifelong introvert and resident of Portland Oregon, who has the good fortune of landing his job at the library early on and "...felt uncomplicated love for such things as paper, and pencils, and pencils writing on paper, and erasers and scissors and staples, paper clips the scent of books, and the words on the pages of books." Anyone would be glad to have discovered their life's cubbyhole, but Bill doesn't recognize that fact immediately. This story of his life is told in segments, each is in its own way, a gem. In his mind, "It was clear he suffered both from poor luck and authentic stupidity." To the reader, though, he is anything but unlucky, far from stupid. We meet him near the end of his life when the aging process is in full swing and learn of the events in his life that shaped his character. Such accurate observations so beautifully presented. I could list at least a dozen more, but each reader should find their own favorites on their own. Highly recommended.

I loved this book so much, and it is not just because Bob was a librarian (or librarianist). The details selected to tell Bob’s story are so well crafted, the reader begins to care deeply for this unique individual. The author has a clear understanding that sometimes less is more, and he doesn’t feel the need to pile on events and explanations like too much lace on a wedding gown.
The sections of the book take place in different years. They are out of order, but each fills in important aspects of Bob’s life and character. The era dating from 1945 was rather tiresome, but it was followed by the positively best ending. I felt I had been along on a life long path of growing self-awareness with Bob, and, although it was not yet complete, the journey was deeply satisfying. I can confidently give the whole story 5 stars.

This was a slow but beautiful read. I love to read stories of ordinary lives, and this is one of them. Beautifully written. I will remember this one.