The Librarianist

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Weird and hilariously deadpan in just the way you’d expect from the author of The Sisters Brothers and French Exit, this was the pop of fun my summer needed. When Bob is first introduced to the senior center, that section is too long, and there are too many characters. 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. You know someone, and then you don’t know them, and in their absence you wonder what their life was made up of.” When and how Bob meets Connie (and her freaky Priest-hating father) and Ethan - really the only two people with who he ever forms a close bond – and how the dynamics of that off-the-wall set of relationships develop;

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. And the following, spoken by the proprietor of the rundown hotel, would seem to be the life advice that young Bob most took to heart:We are told many a time that Bob loves books, that he's always preferred books rather than interacting with people. I never felt the passion unless it wasn't a true passion just a way of hiding from society? If you want a summary of the book, there are a million places to read that over and over again. Therefore, I will not put it in my "review." I just want to spew my thoughts as they come... As readers we are introduced to his ex-wife, Connie, and his best friend, Ethan, a fast-talking playboy who ends up stealing Connie away from him. We also see him in his job at the library, and meet the character of Miss Ogilvie, Bob’s first boss. Some of the excitement that takes place in this section remains peripheral to Bob and to the plot. There is such a thing as charisma, which is the ability to inveigle the devotion of others to benefit your personal cause; the inverse of charisma is horribleness, which is the phenomenon of fouling the mood of a room by simply being. Bob was neither one of these, and neither was he set at a midpoint between the extremes. He was to the side, out of the race completely."

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. For me, Bob's relationships with Connie and Ethan were the most interesting portions of the book. I also liked reading about his volunteer work (at age 71) with the residents of an assisted living center. Unfortunately, there is a long chapter about when Bob ran away from home as a kid that bogged the story down. 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.”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. If you expect to encounter a lot of library and book talk given the title and the main character's job and reading habits, you'll be disappointed. I certainly was.