Thank you to NetGalley for providing me an audio ARC of this title in exchange for an honest review.
This book was a classic literary fiction novel. Telling the story of a recently retired librarian reflecting on his after beginning to volunteer at a senior care facility.
While the story was unique and interesting I couldn’t help but think something was missing. The plot twists not shocking and I found the book overall very predictable.
The story itself was very reflective of a life he no longer lives, but I found the story to be jumping back and forth a bit in a way that did not make much sense.
Overall I thought this book was fine.

"The Librarianist" follows a retired librarian, Bob Comet, who is struggling a bit with retirement. While he settles into new routines, he finds new outlets for his love of literature and desire to help.

As a young librarian, I really wanted to like this book. Bob Comet is a somewhat loveable character, if a bit dull. I wanted to love him and his ponderings and his newfound hobbies and adventures in retirement. However, he doesn't seem to be having many adventures. At least, what could be adventures (particularly with the senior center), managed to be a bit dull.

This book isn't for me. I tend to prefer medium-to-fast-paced novels, and this one is quite slow. Comet spends a lot of time weaving back and forth between memories. One moment we're in the present, the next we're learning about the library he worked at and what all the characters he ever came into contact with thought about it and the employees there. Something was mentioned, and then in the next chapter, we go back to it and learn way more about it than is entirely necessary. I wanted the plot to keep moving, but Comet wanted to wander in memories and places from long ago.

I unfortunately had to DNF this book. I needed the plot to move a bit more quickly, and for the long-winded ponderings to be a bit more concise. The character is described as introverted, but I think he read more as dull. I needed more drama, even if it was personal drama. Comet didn't seem terribly bothered by much.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio for providing me with an ARC audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

I've been using this word menagerie lately, but this is a true example of what an menagerie of characters looks like. Each part follows Bob's coming of age and a new cast of characters. Wildly witty and satirical at times, this yes an interesting novel, but it wasn't what I expected. I was bored at times, but ultimately the idea that librarians are the keepers of everyone's story comes through in this novel.

Audiobook.

Patrick DeWitt makes us discover and savour the life of Bob Comet through a rich vocabulary that makes us miss the language of years ago.

Bob is presented to us as a retired man who gets involved in a senior’s home as a volunteer. As he is a retired librarian, he hopes to bring something exciting to the residents living there. Of course, humans are not so easy to please even with the reading of a book, as Bob learns. From there, the author then brings us back to the childhood and married life of Bob where we discover an introvert, insecure person that falls deeply for the ones he loves.

The narrator was excellent in delivering the emotions and angsts of Bob and made me laugh in unexpected ways but you wonder what is the point of certain chapters in the fact that is not related to the main story and can be quite long to go through.

The language was however dreamy to listen to and I would recommend this book to any book lover.

Bob is a retired librarian. When he meets a lost, elderly woman at a convenience store, he walks her to her group home. He quickly finds an interest in the home and the people who live there. He begins visiting as a volunteer. By spending time with the people there, he finds himself. Quiet and interesting story. Great for book groups.

Bob Comet is a staid and steadfast retired librarian who lives alone with bittersweet memories of his ex-wife, ex-bestfriend, and free-living mother, all of whom betrayed or neglected him to varying degrees. On a routine errand, he stumbles into an adventure that leads him into a relationship with a cast of characters - in-house patients in a nursing home and their caregivers - who shake up his life and draw out buried memories. More comfortable with books and the quiet solitude of the library than with people, Bob affects a meditative sense of wonder and introspection. This story and the reading of the audiobook version convey empathy, ennui, irony, humor, and a sense of wistful yearning. Recommended for fans of A Man called Ove.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to this audiobook. The narrator did a fantastic job of making the characters and the story come to life. The story held my attention and entertained me the entire time. The beginning of the book was very good and when the big plot point was revealed I had very high expectations for what would happen next. Instead, the author took a long backwards journey through the life of the main character. Most of these stories had a direct outcome on the story. But the last one, and the longest one, which happened when Bob was a young teenager seemed to have no purpose to the story at all. I kept waiting for it to tie in at the end, and it just didn't. Also, the resolution to the "big plot point" was pretty unsatisfying. I just wanted more for Bob.

I enjoyed this interesting look at one man's life through the present and flashbacks that lead up to the present. Bob intrigued me as did the lives of the other characters at the senior center. So many stories to be found in a place like that. Bob's life didn't turn out the way he thought it would, but the way it was supposed to be and I always like when a novel comes full circle. The ending was particularly sweet.

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narration. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Audio for the gifted audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Audio for the audiobook.

This is another classic DeWitt with wit and charm. The narrator for the audiobook brought the characters to life. I loved Ida and June!

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.

I don't understand what all the favorable reviews are about. I found the main character boring and sad and the story tedious to listen to on audiobook. I tried to give it enough time to pull me in, but even with the supporting characters, the novel was not enjoyable to me.

Publishers know if you use the word library or bookstore in a book title, there is a good chance librarians will pick up the book. “The Librarianist” intrigued me with a new word for my career. I both listened to and read this book simultaneously, and I found the narrator was clear and enjoyable. The trope of someone looking back and telling their life story in a first person is common. In this case, I found the recollections capturing my attention, and totally forgetting there was an older person at the beginning and the end of the book. When the author jumped back to the present day in the final chapters, I was jerked out of the story of a runaway and tossed back to a senior center. The lost and found relationships in the present day were an interesting story line. I missed the correlation between these two tales and did not think they paired well together.

𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨!

There’s so much in this story and I don’t know where to start. I love quirky characters, I love dual timelines, I love historical fiction, I love funny stories and books about books! Do I need to say more?

Thank you Ecco Books for this gifted copy.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁 by Patrick deWitt releases tomorrow July 4, 2023.

https://www.instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx/

I really enjoyed this quiet story about a quiet man who lived a quiet life - at least it seems so on the surface. I just reread the publisher's synopsis in preparation for writing my review - and everything in the synopsis is what made me want to read it, and left me thinking "What is there left for me to add?". This is the story of a man who loves books so much he decides at a young age that he wants to be a librarian so that he can spend his days surrounded by books. We meet him when he's 70 and has retired from his long and successful career as a librarian. What follows is a combination of his current life and some interesting turns it takes after a random encounter, mingled with flashbacks to his life as a child and a young man. And as an introvert (and book lover) myself, perhaps what I loved most about this book is expressed in this line from the synopsis "Patrick deWitt has written a wide-ranging and ambitious document of the introvert’s condition..." That might well be why I related so well to Bob Comet, retired librarian and observer of life. And the narration of the audiobook by Jim Meskimen was perfect for Bob's "voice". This was the first book I've read by Patrick deWitt, and I definitely look forward to diving in to more of his work.
Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Audio for providing a copy for an unbiased review.

This was definitely a different kind of story. I ended up really liking how the plot progressed and I definitely appreciated the narration.

Audiobook- The Librarianist, I thought was going to be the perfect book. The was a bit of a miss for me. It was a great passage of time book. Where we followed Bob Comets' life. For a quiet man he certainly leads an interesting life. After working for nearly 20 years in libraries I could see Bob in so many coworkers. I was just thinking we were going to get a bit more of a librarian's life in the library. Not just his life.

Thank you NetGalley for another great audiobook.

After seeing this compared to A Man Called Ove and Remarkably Bright Creatures, I HAD to get my hands on this!

THE LIBRARIANIST had some cute, quirky moments that I loved and some parts that really dragged on. I loved the interactions between Bob and the members at the senior center -- I wish that there was MORE of this throughout the story. I loved hearing about Bob's experience as a librarian -- again, I wish there was MORE of this. There's something just so heartwarming when books talk about the joy of reading/being around books. What I didn't particularly connect with was the middle of the book, where the reader learns more about Bob's background. I felt like the plot dragged on, introduced more characters, details that didn't seem totally relevant tothe book as a whole -- which caused me not to be super invested towards the end.

Thank you Ecco Books and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately I did not finish this one at 11% in. I just wasn't drawn in and found myself daydreaming while listening. I did enjoy the premise and found the narrator to be good, I just think it wasn't the right time for me to read this one. I might pick it up again at some point, but probably not in audio form.

This book is so interesting. I loved it. It is actually an answer that I am not sure if the author made on purpose but it is wonderful. If you have ever read "The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out a Window and Disappeared" you know that the story starts with him climbing out the window and running away just minutes before the birthday party being held for him at the retirement home. We follow his adventures after he leave and get a lot of flashbacks from his life. The Librarianist is a story of a man similar in nature and temperament to the 100 year old man. But it tells up what happened before he got to the retirement home. This is a story about a man who looks bland and uninteresting on the outside but who has had many adventures in his life and never shied away from going on them. Bob is the rest of us, those of us ho live our lives and do amazing things but don't feel the need to broadcast it over Twitter or Tik Tok. I highly recommend this book to anyone who isn't seen but is still a remarkable human being.

I really loved the first 2/3 of this book. As a librarian myself, I enjoyed hearing about Bob's love of books, his early influences, and his entry into the world of librarianship. I even enjoyed the foray into the past and learning how Bob met Connie and Ethan, and how their unlikely triangle coexisted, because at least this section of the book still had connections to the present day action. However, the final third of the book was confusing and unnecessary. Though this section of the novel featured some of my favorite characters, it was completely unrelated to anything else that happened in the book. It could be argued that it provides backstory into the person that Bob became, but I don't really think it does. I almost felt like the things that 11-year-old Bob did were at odds with the things that 71-year-old Bob does, or even what 24-year-old Bob did. Without that section, it is true that the book would have been very short, but it might also have been more complete.