The Librarianist

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Bob had long given up on the notion of knowing anyone, or of being known. He communicated with the world partly by walking through it, but mainly by reading about it." I don’t know!” the cashier said. He was happy the woman was gone but also happy that something interesting had happened. I absolutely adored it. I loved Bob - his position over to the side of charisma and horribleness, out of the game, his notions and his demeanour ... This beautiful book took me far away from all my concerns. It's so wonderful, soothing and heartbreaking In contrast to them all is Bob, a “steady, hand-on-the-tiller type”, a man possessed of a “natural enjoyment of modest accomplishment”, a man firmly set at a midpoint between extremes. The Librarianist, among other things, is an exploration of how a man might end up so determinedly mild and middling: “Bob had not been ­particularly good or bad in his life. Like many, like most, he rode the center line, going out of his way to perform damage against the un­deserving but never arcing toward helping the deserving, either.” DeWitt’s great gift lies in his ability to depict the Everyman in extremis – heroism hidden in plain sight. There is, for example, the ­inappropriately flirtatious Brighty; there’s Maria, “sly to the world’s foolishness”; and there’s Jill, ­struggling to cope with pain: “She spoke of a wish to measure it, a ­volume or weight she might assign it, to share with doctors, with strangers, bus drivers.”

We all want to, and we are every one of us disappointed, and we shall die not knowing it,” June sighed. “I do wish it had announced itself. I feel rather nude, frankly. I hope we haven’t named any old scandals, or created any new ones.” Behind Bob Comet's straight man facade 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 the pleasures of a life lived to the side of the masses. Comet's experiences are imbued with melancholy but also a bright, sustained comedy; he has a talent for locating bizarre and outsized players to welcome onto the stage of his life. What makes a good story, the elements within or the teller? I lean more towards the teller. A good teller is able to bring the simplest story to life, is able to turn it around and examine its elements going deep and deeper if he wants, showing what makes up the whole, the nuances, the consequences. The Librarianist is about Bob, a seventy-one-year-old retired librarian. He's a placid, forgettable man, a loner, who supposedly prefers living life via novels Ultimately, this is an original, well-written novel. It left me with a sad feeling for Bob, who had missed out on so much in his life.An angry, powerful book seething with love and outrage for a community too often stereotyped or ignored. A for the most part enjoyable read, somewhat different story than I'd expected, but enjoyable nonetheless. Overall, ‘The Librarianist’ presents us with a rather interesting character in Bob Comet. He embodies an unspoken sadness that infuses the majority of the novel.

Now as you may or may not have gathered – when I wrote this review I had two resources to hand: an electronic ARC of the book itself and an online Thesaurus where I had looked up synonyms of “quirky” – as this is a book which does not wear its quirkiness lightly. It is written also with a wry sense of humour which perhaps did not quite land for me (but humour in books rarely does). Behind Bob Comet’s straight-man 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 outsized players to welcome onto the stage of his life. Now, deWitt has published an exceedingly gentle novel about the hushed life of a retired librarian in Portland, Ore. Readers waiting for another book as irrepressible and strange as “The Sisters Brothers” will have to keep waiting. Which is not to say that “The Librarianist” is without charm, only that it presumes a reservoir of goodwill and patience. From the best-selling author of Atonement and Saturday comes the epic and intimate story of one man's life across generations and historical upheavals. From the Suez Crisis to the Cuban Missile Crisis, the fall of the Berlin Wall to the current pandemic, Roland Baines sometimes rides with the tide of history, but more often struggles against it. This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed byHaving written a Western (The Sisters Brothers, 2011, made into a not very good film starring Joaquin Phoenix), a mother-son mystery (French Exit, 2018, made into an excellent film starring Michelle Pfeiffer, for which deWitt also wrote the screenplay), a work of gothic fantasy (Undermajordomo Minor, 2015), and a second-person narrative about a bunch of Hollywood barflies (Ablutions, 2009), the new book is all about a journey of discovery for a retired librarian named Bob. A third section of the novel takes us even further into the past when Bob is 11, which gives us even more insight into the forming of his character. As a reader, I wasn’t sure this section was really necessary to the overall story arc. Many thanks to Ecco and NetGalley for the digital review copy of this novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. This novel is due to be released on July 4, 2023. I’ll admit another disappointment - not enough book talk. For a novel about a book lover, someone who devoted their life to books and was a voracious reader, there aren’t any actual titles mentioned (besides Crime and Punishment, twice). We’re just told he reads a lot. So don’t go expecting a book about books. This is about a solitary man who doesn't realize his life is impactful. Behind Bob Comet's straight-man 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.

Bob Comet, a retired librarian ... brings to mind John Williams' Stoner and Thoreau's chestnut about 'lives of quiet desperation,' but it is telling that deWitt chooses to capture him at times when his life takes a turn. A quietly effective and moving character study. It’s things I can’t even talk about in polite conversation. And the cops won’t come unless there’s a weapon involved. You know how many ways there are to freak out without a weapon? Literally one million ways.” Bob is 71 years of age “and not unhappy”. He goes for long walks. He has no friends. He has no family. He has spent his life as a reader. “He communicated with the world partly by walking through it, but mainly by reading about it. Bob had read novels exclusively and dedicatedly from childhood and through to the present.” Bob’s life is at a bit of a dead end. Well, then, let us accept that we shan’t be alone, as was our hope. In brighter news, however, it does appear the boy is mute, perhaps deaf into the bargain, and so we can easily pretend to be alone if not actually live out the reality of aloneness.”

All his life he had believed the real world was the world of books; it was here that mankind’s finest inclinations were represented.” Connie, who had been Bob’s wife, had sometimes asked him why he read quite so much as he did. She believed Bob was reading beyond the accepted level of personal pleasure and wondered if it wasn’t symptomatic of a spiritual or emotional deformity. Bob thought her true question was, Why do you read rather than live? Okay, but if she starts freaking out, can you try to get her through the doors?” The cashier made a corralling gesture, arms out. “Once she’s in the parking lot she’s out of my domain.” The Canadian author of this novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2011 for his second novel “The Sisters Brothers” (which also won two Canadian literary prizes and some other nominations) - an offbeat, eccentric-character-populated Western-based novel which to me read more like a Coen brothers film script.