I enjoyed the first two sections of the book (and the coda), but found the third section with Bob Comet as an 11-year-old runaway interminable. I am not sure what the point was other than Bob needs a community, which he did not have for most of his adult life. There was a very funny line about library school in the second section.

Thank you to Ecco Press and Net Galley for this free ARC

If you love you stories to go full circle, then this is the book for you. I totally pictured Steve Martin being Bob the whole time while I was reading it.

The Librarianist follows Bob's daily life as a retired Librarian in Oregon. Bob begins volunteering at a retirement home after returning a resident to the home after a morning walk. The story jumps back to Bob's childhood, friendships, and marriage.

I ended up listening to this as an audiobook after struggling to read my ebook copy. This book is slow-paced. While a lot is happening in this book, not much is going on at all. While I enjoyed the stories about Bob's life I felt that the overall story was quite jumbled and random.

The section following Bob's friendship and marriage was the strongest part of the book. I loved learning about Connie and Ethan. I found the section about Bob running away strangely placed and wondered why it was included as a full act.

Overall I enjoyed this book, but it was just average. 3/5 stars.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Ecco Press for gifting me a digital ARC of the new book by Patrick deWitt - 4 stars!

This is the story of Bob Comet. Now in his 70s and retired from his job at the library, he begins volunteering at a home for seniors. The book goes back in time and covers Bob's life from childhood when he ran away from home, to meeting his friend Ethan, and getting married to Connie. The book eventually comes back full circle.

This was just a quiet, character study of one man's life and the wonder in the ordinary. It's sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant, sometimes charming. There were some parts that dragged a bit in the middle, as we meet characters in Bob's past, but those times shaped Bob and who he would become. For a book named The Librarianist, I would have liked to have more book references, but I enjoyed the story and Bob's journey.

This was such a charming novel, about an older gentleman who (I may be wrong, but my guess is this was the metaphor deWitt was going for) collects a library of interesting characters throughout his life. I fell in love with Bob Comet, and this was really a joy to read. I will say that one section, set at a hotel Bob briefly stayed at as a child, felt quite out of place, I'm imagining the idea just entered deWitt's mind and he ran with it without pre=plotting. And there was one huge coincidence that just felt too coincidental, but maybe that was purposeful, as the book feels very Dickensian to me (which I don't typically enjoy, but here it was just such a sweet read that I didn't care.) deWitt just seems like such a kind author, who loves his characters, and so he helps us love them too.

I absolutely loved deWitt’s The Sisters Brothers and I greatly enjoyed the first half of this book as well. It’s quirky and heartfelt without being sentimental. But then The Librarianist takes a turn and loses its verve. The electricity falters somehow.

View post at the link below.

I picked up this book for the title, as I work in a public library. I liked this book but didn't love it. It confused me sometimes the way it jumped around from present to past, especially the storyline of Bob running away and meeting the 2 ladies. I did love the chapters with the interesting characters at the living facility. Thanks for providing a copy to me.

Patrick deWitt blew me away with his debut, The Sisters brothers and I keep hoping each of his subsequent books will get back to that same level of outstanding. Unfortunately I also keep being disappointed and sadly The librarianist also just didn't do it for me and as a librarian I wanted to love it SO MUCH!

I found the story really all over the place and hard to follow. I had to re-read several parts after drifting off while listening to the audiobook. The librarian parts were definitely the highlight for me but overall it won't be a memorable read for me this year. :( Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book had a strong start and end, but the middle mostly lost my attention.

Bob Comet is a librarian with an immense love for literature, but since retiring, he has had a bit of a void in his life. One day he comes upon a confused, elderly woman lost in a market and returns her to the senior center where she lives. To fill his free time, he begins volunteering there and quickly gets to know the other residents. But a complication arises, triggering a flood of emotions that sends him down memory lane.

It was at this point I started to lose some interest in the story. Bob was a pretty simple man and his life, while a bit dramatic at times, wasn’t exactly riveting enough to go into detail about. The chapters with his wife and best friend were pretty good, but when it segued to his childhood, it felt out of place and unrealistic. It didn’t seem to flow with the same cadence as the rest of the story. Then when the story returns to the present, I loved the story again and was shocked by what was revealed at that point.

Overall, I liked the idea of the story, but wasn’t drawn in enough by the majority of it.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco Press for providing a copy of this book to review.*

While I was sucked in for the first quarter of the book, things started to slow down and unravel for me halfway through. That being said, deWitt knows how to write a great character. A great rec for folks who loved A Man Called Ove.

Thank you, Harper Collins and NetGalley, for the advanced copy!

A brilliant character study of the melancholy, 71-year-old Bob Comet. The storyline bounces back and forth between present day and past, formative scenes that change the trajectory of his life. Littered with a myriad of quirky characters throughout his life, deWitt slowly develops the story but keeps you turning pages and keeps you guessing. Follows the adage that once you know a person's story, you can understand a lot more about why they are the way they are.

This was such a good and enjoyable read. I love Bob Comet and how he is trying to find life after retirement. He decides to help at a Senior Facility and sometimes they are not the easiest to deal with. He quickly forms many friendships but discovers some undercover secrets along the way. Eventually he winds up living in the facility. A good story that will stay on your mind for a while.

Not my usual kind of read, but I thought I would give it a try because I can never resist books about books - and a novel titled The Librarianist sounded right up my street.

The story started off very interesting, and I found myself intrigued and drawn to the main character, an elderly former librarian who decided on a whim to volunteer at a senior citizen's center after helping one of their residents find her way home after she wandered away. From there, however, the story meanders and flashes back to the past, detailing his past. These sections were interesting enough at first, but I found some of the sections to be too drawn out, especially when the main character runs away from home as a child and finds his way to a hotel. I would have much more preferred the story focus on his 20s when he met his best friend and wife, who later left him for each other.

The direction of the novel never recovered after that, nor did my interest. Ultimately, The Librarianist was an okay read, but it did not blow me away.

Somewhat slowly evolving story in which a retired librarian volunteers at an old-age home and his life story is gradually revealed. Interesting characterizations and interactions.

An uplifting, enjoyable, and charming read, with just the right amount of humor. The cast of characters is well-conceived.

I received this book as an ARC from Netgalley for an honest review.

I liked 2/3 acts in this book and I really wanted to love the third, but after giving me the epic of Connie, Bob, and Ethan I did not want anything else. Which is unfortunate. I think I might ha e liked this book more if it was chronological but I found that I just didn't care about new characters introduced when Bob was a child. I wanted to, it was interesting! But I was just a little bored ans I wanted to know the end.

An easy stroll of a book. I imagine it would. Be a nice audiobook to amble too.

In this latest book by Patrick deWitt, we get less of his acerbic wit but all the characters he is so skilled at writing. I loved Brother Sisters and French Exit, but not all of his books worked for me. When they don't make the mark, the pacing is usually uneven, and that was the case here, as well.

This seems like a softer tale of Bob Comet, an older man who ends up helping out at an old age home when he sees a woman in a near catatonic state in the local convenience store and ends up helping her back to the center. As a retired librarian, he assumes he will bring his love of literature to them, but they aren't interested. Instead, they like his company.

As they find out about Bob, the reader is taken on a trip through his memories, meeting his only love, who would be his wife and his one and only friend. The writing is a bit more sentimental and sweet here, though still filled with sly humor and wild setups. Some of the detours into these reminiscences went far too long for my taste, and the big reveal was nonsensical. I am happy to suspend disbelief for a tale well told, but it stretched my ability to go along with the story.

A novel about a retired librarianist named Bob Comet. The story starts when he inadvertently gets a gig volunteering at a local seniors' home. But we also learn about his past and what led him to become the man is. It feels a bit like Dewitt wanted the challenge of writing a character study of a good, solid, unexciting man , one who stays good in spite of not always being treated well by others. While I really enjoyed some aspects of Bob's history, other parts did not work as well for me. Still, Dewitt's mastery is evident. And it's easy to go where he takes you. His fiction reminds me of Wes Anderson's movies: there's a slight slant to everything he's depicting; it feels close to real but just it's just a bit too quirky and stylized. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

What does it feel like to be confronted with your past?

Bob Comet lives a comfortable life in the Pacific Northwest, enjoying his retirement from the library by surrounding himself with books in the cozy home he inherited from his mother. One day while out on a walk he comes across a disoriented woman about his age, & based on the ID she’s got on a lanyard he brings her back to the senior center that she wandered off from. Bob starts to connect with the other people at the center & forms bonds with a few of the more eccentric characters in residence. But a shocking discovery about the identity of one of the residents sends us on a walk down memory lane: to the time he ran away as a boy, to the beginning of his career, & to his first & only love…

The author does a brilliant job of infusing comedy with a side of bittersweet into the everyday life of Bob, a man (& once a boy) with a knack for finding interesting & uncommon people. The order in which Bob’s story is revealed is perfect. I loved reading about how much Bob enjoyed his career as a librarian, & how he made the most of the simple things in life. I felt like the ending was a bit abrupt, but also probably fitting.

Thank you to NetGalley & Ecco Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Librarianist is an enjoyable quiet book. Bob Comet is an introverted retired librarian who is content in his solitude. We learn about the life he has lived, largely uneventfully, and how he comes to volunteer at a local nursing home and the eccentric characters he meets there.