3.5 out of 5 stars
How would you describe a book about an old retired librarian that decides to start volunteering at an assisted living place? Or perhaps this is a book about love obtained and then lost by a quiet boy who loves books. Or even more it could be a book about a quiet 11-year-old that runs away from home one night and lives in a seaside hotel with a couple aging thespians and their trained dogs. This book tries to be a couple of things and does not full stick the landing for any of them.
First it tries to be a slice-of-life story about this retired librarian that goes on long walks in his neighborhood. One day he happens into the 7-11 to get a coffee and meets Chip. Well he doesn’t meet Chip so much as guide Chip back to her assisted living home based on the information on a lanyard around her neck. This leads him to decide to start volunteering at the home, perhaps reading to the seniors. When that doesn’t work out he just comes and hangs out with them. Then Chip runs away again and he finds out something that sends him back to reflecting on his life and why he became a librarian and how he met his only friend and wife around the same time.
The second part of this book is a coming-of-age story, A quiet boy that just wants to become a librarian because he likes to read. He has some Holden Caulfield-esque moments prior to actually becoming a librarian. Then he meets a mysterious girl in a cloak with an eccentric father. Soon after he meets a devilishly handsome man who sleeps around and finds himself threatened by husbands and boyfriends on the regular. The girl becomes his wife, the handsome man his best friend. Then soon after getting married his wife runs away with his best friend and they never speak again.
Third part is a story of our intrepid hero, Bob Comet is his name by the way which is a great name that is sort of wasted in this book, running away from home after a sleepover at a kids house he barely knows. He hops on a train and is “adopted”
by 2 aging thespians with circus dogs. These women bring them with him to a hotel on the Oregon coast called the Hotel Elba run by a one-armed man and his niece. He is gone for 4 days but is eventually returned home unharmed and without much fanfare.
AT the end of the book I was left wanting more. There could have been a whole book just about him volunteering and the personal connection he has to Chip. Or even a whole book about him growing up and becoming a librarian and meeting his wife and best friend. That third section could also be it’s own book about a pre-teen runaway meeting some eccentric characters at a seaside hotel.
Is it a bad book? No, it is actually well written and moves along at a good pace to keep you wanting more. That is the problem though, I wanted more from it and I didn’t get it. I will say that Bob Comet is not a crotchety old man and is nice and amenable to those around him. He genuinely wants to volunteer at the assisted living home. He is sad when the residents don’t want to listen to him read books, the thing he loves above all other things. The author does a good job of not trying to sound pretentious by naming books Bob is reading and very little is said about the actual act of reading other then some references to Poe and Dostoevsky, in a non-pretentious way. Bob likes books but he does not want to hold that over people or make them feel lesser for not having read as much as he. As a quiet librarian he wants to share books with people and hopes that they like them as much as him.
It is a quaint book and it was well written. It will not win any awards and some may think it a dud but it has heart and it builds wonderful word pictures to imagine. I could see Connie in her dark cloak sitting on the bus. I could see the devilishly handsome Ethan smiling his wife-stealing smile. Bob himself felt real as well. I think that is the thing it holds most dear as you read it, this is just one man’s ordinary life. He has done some odd things but nothing so extraordinary that they require re-telling.
So while I enjoyed the tale of Bob Comet and his ordinary life and maybe you will as well.
The Fresh Persepctive 