The Librarianist

Author Patrick deWitt
Narrator Jim Meskimen
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing
Run Time 10 hours and 2 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Fiction: general and literary, Narrative theme: Death, grief, loss, Narrative theme: Identity / belonging.

Listen to a sample

What to expect

Bloomsbury presents The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt, read by Jim Meskimen.

**AN INTERNATIONAL No. 1 BESTSELLER**

'I absolutely adored it' NINA STIBBE

**Selected as a Washington Post Book of the Summer**

From bestselling and award-winning author Patrick deWitt comes a novel about an ordinary man who thought life’s surprises were behind him – until a chance encounter changed everything

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Bob Comet is a retired librarian passing his solitary days surrounded by books in a mint-colored house in Portland, Oregon. One morning on his daily walk he encounters a confused elderly woman lost in a market and returns her to the senior center that is her home. Hoping to fill the void he’s known since retiring, he begins volunteering at the center. Here, as a community of strange peers gathers around Bob, and following a happenstance brush with a painful complication from his past, the events of his life and the details of his character are revealed.

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.

With his inimitable verve, skewed humor, and compassion for the outcast, Patrick deWitt has written a wide-ranging and ambitious document of the introvert’s condition. The Librarianist celebrates the extraordinary in the so-called ordinary life, and depicts beautifully the turbulence that sometimes exists beneath a surface of serenity.

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Praise for Patrick deWitt
'A triumph from a writer truly in the zone' Maria Semple, author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette
'deWitt remains a true original' Guardian
'One of the most talented young writers around' Sunday Times

Critics Review

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

Nina Stibbe

Tidily crafted and pleasantly life-affirming

Irish Times

A lovely curio of a novel

Spectator

This whimsical novel from former Booker Prize finalist deWitt is a delight

Mail on Sunday

Full of subtle reflections on contemporary life and has a deceptively biting humour

independent.co.uk

Memorable characters and a strain of burlesque comedy swirl through this story spanning the life of a retired librarian … deWitt takes us on a waltzer of a ride, twisting through Bob’s life

Financial Times

deWitt is one of the great literary ventriloquists, producing funny, quirky, richly imagined novels shaped each time by a wildly different narrative voice

Daily Mail

A poignant character study … deWitt’s writing and endearing characters create a memorable world

Los Angeles Times

Light, bright, beguiling, a quirky delight … DeWitt’s great gift lies in his ability to depict the Everyman in extremis – heroism hidden in plain sight

Telegraph

“I found the whole reading experience utterly charming … The dialogue is fresh and characters come alive immediately on the page … There’s simply an energy to deWitt’s books that make them pleasurable to spend time with, and that’s all on display in The Librarianist

Chicago Tribune

One of his best

New European

Wildly imaginative, genre-defying

Washington Post, Books of the Summer 2023

This engrossing fictional portrait of a retired librarian volunteering at an old folks home unspools its main character’s life – betrayals, loss, triumphs – with humor and tenderness

Vanity Fair

That Patrick deWitt has pulled off this deceptively risky style of narrative is proof of his considerable skills as an author

The Lady

A touching, affectionate novel, showing … that engagement in old age is a courageous act to be applauded

Big Issue, Summer books: The hottest fiction to read in 2023

The great chronicler of American weirdos is back with his warmest novel yet … No one writes loopier, funnier dialogue

Slate

A character study of almost defiant gentleness

The Times

Gripping, random, and totally alive … Readers come to deWitt for his brand of slightly off-kilter storytelling blessed with exuberant characterizations, gleeful dialogue, and a proprietary blend of darkness and charm, all strung up in lights here

Booklist

An old man’s routines are interrupted by a woman in pink in this wistful fable … A quietly effective and moving character study

Kirkus (starred review)

deWitt imbues the people he meets with color and quirks, leaving a trail of sparks … This one gradually takes hold until it won’t let go

Publishers Weekly

Praise for French Exit: ‘Made me so happy … Brilliant, addictive, funny and wise

Andrew Sean Greer, author of Less

My favourite book of his yet

Maria Semple, author of Where'd You Go, Bernadette

Pure joy

Mail on Sunday

Buoyantly insane

New Yorker

Dazzling . deWitt writes in a gorgeously relaxed, freeform style, dabbing a clause here, a phrase there. The book is studded with tiny pleasures . Sharp and strange . DeWitt’s particular comic genius is to evoke the darkness behind the dazzle … Whichever style he adopts or genre he inhabits, deWitt remains a true original

Guardian

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