A quiet novel, fittingly, given the title, but still filled with the full, well-lived life of Bob Comet. Bob is a lifelong librarian, now retired in his 70's, trying to fill his days as he approaches the end of them. Throughout the pages of this book, we relive the defining moments of life for Bob through lengthy flashbacks as we delve into what makes up a life. The moments are often small and this is not a story filled with dramatic swings, but just the slow metronomic ups and downs of normalcy.

The most winning part of this book, and any deWitt book, is the dialogue. Often hilarious, his characters are filled with a dry sense of humor to go along with compassion, empathy, and humanity.

A perfect novel! Now, I may be biased as I am a librarian - but I think this would be a delight to any reader. I loved The French Exit, so was tremendously excited for this. Luckily it lived up to the hype! I'm on the hunt for the rest of deWitt's back catalog now.

I have never read anything by Patrick deWitt, so this was a wonderful surprise!! Beautiful prose and an in-depth character study of the main character, Bob. This book was about an ordinary man’s life, but I thought many moments were profound, and I loved the quirky, fun, side characters. 10/10 would recommend!!

I had a difficult time initially engaging with this book - the protagonist, Bob, just struck me as so flat. I actually put the book down after a few pages, but after reading reviews of some other works by this author, decided to give it another try. I’m glad I did, as I gradually became invested in Bob and his life story. So Bob (!) is a loner, born to be a librarian and it’s a wonder that he meets a partner who wants to marry him, strange as he is. He also ironically attracts a best friend who is a dubious player and that friendship has an unfortunate arc. The plot is not fast moving or action-packed and the dialogue is not in any way scintillating but I thought the writing actually got better as the story progressed, infused with growing tenderness, depth and humor towards Bob and his orbiting companions. By the end of the story, I was just a little bit in love with weird Bob, which I’m hoping was the author’s intent for his readers and not some aberration on my part. This is a sweet story, perhaps not especially profound or provocative, but it left me feeling good and hopeful and gave me some things to think about regarding the human condition.

This book was not what I was expecting at all, and in a very “meh” way.

One day while Bob is out on a walk, he finds and elderly woman wandering and seemingly confused. When he helps her return to an elder care facility, he decides to volunteer in the hopes of bringing some joy to the residents and guests.

This novel started out pretty strong with an interesting premise and quirky characters. I absolutely adored some of the banter between Bob and the residents. The first twist was so great, I was excited for the rest.

The rest was not great (to say the least). I did not find myself connected to any of the characters and I feel like the author lost the plot a bit. The ending felt like he ran out of time and had to quickly make a “moral of the story” out of it, and it just didn’t work.

2/5 stars for the banter and quirky characters, but the plot needs a lot of work in my opinion!

Thank you NetGalley and Putnam for sending me an ARC of The Librarianist in exchange for a honest review!

wow, is this a fantastic nonlinear work of literary fiction. bob comet is a man who has spent most of his life as a librarian. in his older days, he volunteers at a retirement home with geriatric patients that are delightfully strange. everything changes when he realizes that one of the patients is his long lost ex wife.

you get to know bob in the most intimate way in this vonnegutesque novel. the characters are odd and quirky in the best way. it is masterfully written and so much fun to read. you will be constantly turning the pages to learn more about this man and his unconventional life.

thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

I am a Patrick Dewitt fan and I really enjoyed The Librarianist. For a start the title made me smile and of course the cover caught my attention.
The Librarianist is full of wry humor with likable and interesting characters and a lovely lilting storyline with flashbacks and insights into the world and life of Bob Comet.
I will be recommending this to anyone who asks and anyone who doesn’t!

"deWitt has another askew masterpiece on his hands... [He has] delivered another intriguing, compelling, and thought-provoking winner that will appeal to anyone who wants to be captivated by a smart, entertaining read." This is from a review for an earlier novel, Undermajordomo Minor and applies equally to The Librarianist. (Insert shout out here to the crazy good Sisters Brothers.) With each book, deWitt creates plots that are askew. The reader will laugh out loud while rooting for solitary Bob Comet as he succeeds as a 'librarianist' and fails in his personal life. Or does he? I'm off to read French Exit.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt.

I had no idea what to expect cracking the spine of this one, but it ended up being such a charming experience.

Bob Comet (I always give kudos for great names) is in his later years, and has become an unlikely volunteer for a home for the elderly. And after discovering a shocking truth about one of the residents there, it launches him into a nostalgic rabbit hole, going as far as his childhood. But how does it all tie into his present day, and what does the future hold for our quiet, unassuming Bob Comet?

If you read this book for anything, read it for it's wit and charming, endearing dialogue. Each quirky interaction had me in stitches. The book hops a bit, and I wasn't always sure where the author was going with some of it, but that didn't make it any less enjoyable. And while I can see how the ending would maybe bother some, I really loved it.

Retired librarian Bob Comet has lived alone for many years after his wife left early in their marriage. He lives a life that revolves around routines. He loves books and his role as a librarian. Now that he is retired, he finds himself at loose ends. While out walking one day, he finds a lost woman and returns her to the local senior center. He starts volunteering at the center and begins to feel part of their community. The storyline flashes back to include his marriage and an account of the time he ran away from home as a child. I particularly enjoyed the segments about the senior center and Bob’s relationship with his wife. I was less enthused about the rather lengthy flashback to his childhood, but this part contains some very humorous scenes. Patrick deWitt is one of my favorite authors. He writes with empathy and wit. I will read anything he writes. I highly recommend this book to fans of character-driven narratives.

Bob is a retired librarian who finds himself at a senior center one day and volunteers to read to the residents. The story is about retired/volunteer Bob, Bob in the days of his marriage, and Bob's brief escapade as a runaway at age 11. My favorite part of the story was one of the elderly residents, Jill. This was okay overall, but I would have liked more about Bob's adventures with the other seniors more than the rest of his life. 3 stars.

I really enjoyed this book, which I knew that I would because of the author’s previous work. Bob’s life was so simple. I found that I still enjoyed hearing about his life despite him being older in age and just being simple. It was a slower read for me, but I would recommend to others.

I am always seduced by deWitt's quirky characters and dialogue, but I found this book to be a bit of a slog at times. The story is split into three different time periods, told in descending order, then looping back around to the beginning: Bob Comet's current life as a 71-year old retired librarianist, his marriage to Connie and best friendship with Ethan, and his attempt at running away from home as an 11-year old.

The first part reads like a Fredrik Backman book populated with characters from Richard Russo's Fool trilogy. It's was a little maudlin for my taste and ends with a cliffhanger that you have to get through the rest of the book to resolve, since we're going in reverse-chronological order.

The second part was interesting, even if you basically know how it ends. The dialogue between Bob, Connie, and Ethan crackles with wit and humor, even though few human beings are as clever as deWitt's characters. It's entertaining enough.

The story started to slow down in the third section, where we go back to Bob's childhood. I'm not exactly sure the purpose of this section, which could have been shorter by half. It seemed to go on too long, and I read it basically just to get through it and get to the chronological beginning of our story again. "Thespains" June and Ida are introduced in this section, and though their banter is fun and deWitt-ian, I was not invested in them at all. I think I would have enjoyed this book more as a whole if this section was a flashback in the Connie/Ethan section, or excised completely.

deWitt's colorful characters and witty dialogue will always be entertaining to me, but as a whole this book was a little slow.

Three and a half stars

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Bob is one of the most loveable characters ever! This book ambles along his sweet life and it was fun to be pulled along for the ride. Quirky and memorable.

I absolutely loved this one. I'm a fan of his prior work and this stands among his finest. Will definitely recommend to many.

It’s rare to read a book where each character, major and minor, is so well written and brings so much to the story. Bob’s story is quiet but there’s so much life to him and his world. A wonderful read.

The Librarianist by Patrick DeWitt has a planned release date of July 4, 2023.

This is the story of Bob Comet, a retired librarian, who finds himself volunteering at a senior center. While there, he encounters a person from his past and the reader is brought into the tale of their history and shared acquaintances.

In the middle of the story, the reader is transported back to Bob’s childhood and his experience of running away from home. Eventually, the writer makes his way back to the present and brings some conclusion to the tale.

I found this to be a very character-driven novel made up of eccentric persons. I enjoyed Bob, but honestly, was somewhat lost through the middle 1/3 of the book. I think this could be a good fit for fans of Elizabeth Strout’s work, which is also very character driven.

Thanks for Netgalley and Ecco Press for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

Retired, and long divorced, Bob is alone and lonely, although he wouldn’t describe it as such. After a chance encounter with an older woman who doesn’t seem to speak and unaware of where she lives, Bob sees the badge attached to her shirt, and returns her to the senior facility where she lives. Speaking with some of the people there, he decides to volunteer there, spending time with the residents. I really enjoyed the reading time spent getting to know more of Bob’s life.

This was my first time reading the author and it definitely won’t be the last. I adored this lovely novel, savoring each page, and I look forward to reading more of Mr. deWitt’s work.

Bob Comet is a retired librarian in his seventies who spends most of his days reading and taking long walks around his neighborhood in Portland, Oregon. He has led a quiet and fairly solitary life since his wife left him for his best friend some forty-five years prior, preferring the company of books and his work at the local public library to engaging with people. That changes one evening when by chance he encounters a confused woman in a convenience store and helps her find the way back to the senior center where she resides. Following this event, Bob begins volunteering at the center, where he gradually becomes friends with some of the residents and starts to reconnect with the world. This work also leads to a surprising revelation that will help bring closure to questions that have haunted him for most of his life.

In The Librarianist, author Patrick deWitt tells this gentle, unassuming story of a gentle, unassuming man. It is a tale conveyed with considerable affection for Bob and the myriad characters he interacts with in his life, including his mother, his ex-wife and ex-best friend, the director and residents of the senior center, and two eccentric actresses he meets as a young boy. It is also a story told in a joyful and humorous manner, which matters a lot because many of the details of Bob’s existence—from his early childhood to his retirement years—are manifestly sad and even a little depressing. The entire book, however, does not feel sad, which is a credit to the author’s ability to create a protagonist that is so easy to care about and root for.

A less successful stylistic choice was the way in which the novel was structured: chapters are grouped into four parts, starting with Bob’s retirement years, then moving back to his boyhood and the courtship of his wife, then to a lengthy and singular interlude involving a time when he runs away from home and becomes involved with the actresses, and finally back to his time in the senior center. While each of these sections were engaging on their own, there was little connection between them and the part relating Bob’s time as a runaway seemed particularly removed from the rest of the story. Nevertheless, The Librarianist is a charming character study whose merits far outweigh its flaws. I enjoyed getting to know Bob and his tale is certainly one that I can recommend.

This is a wonderful, charming man who on the surface seems very simple and boring but as his life story unfolds you realize there is much more to his story. Loaded with truly interesting and quirky characters Bob Comet’s life is both melancholy and fascinating in a quiet way. Another great read from Patrick deWitt whose stories always are thought provoking in a quiet way.