The Librarianist

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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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