Customer Reviews

Case of the Missing Books

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Israel Armstrong, the protagonist of Ian Sansom's fish-out-of-water story, is the sort of character Hugh Grant might play, all bumbling and hapless, if Hugh Grant were Jewish and had a paunch. Israel has left his home and girlfriend behind in London to take up a job as a librarian in "the middle of the middle of nowhere," in Tumdrum, County Antrim, in Northern Ireland. Once arrived, however, he finds the library shuttered and his job description much altered: rather than manning a civilized circulation desk, Israel is to run a mobile library, spreading literature around, quite literally, out of the back of a broken-down bus. Provided, that is, that he can find the town's books, all 15,000 of which have gone missing.

During his quest for the missing books, Israel is thrown into a series of bizarre circumstances (like being compelled to sleep in a chicken coop), and innumerable bad things happen to him (like he's punched in the face), and he is forced to interact with an endless stream of quirky locals (who tend to be more sophisticated than he at first suspects). Think Hugh Grant in Northern Exposure, maybe.

The book is meant to be charming. We're told on the back of the paperback that it "combines the off-beat soulfulness of Nick Hornby with the quirky cheerfulness of Alexander McCall Smith." And, really, the book should be charming: how could the plight of a bumbling English librarian stranded among eccentric Irishmen fail to charm? And yet, it just didn't work for me. The locals are odd, but they're not interesting. The author seems to strain to make Israel's interactions with them as frustrating as possible. The dialogue, meant to be cute and filled with funny misunderstandings, is very often just annoying:

"'Aye, save your breath,' said another woman. 'We've heard it all before. Sure, you're all the same.'

"'I can assure you, madam, that--'

"'Who you calling madam?'

"'Erm.'

"'Are yous the new librarian?'

"'Who?'

"'Yous?'

"'Me?' Israel looked over his shoulder: were there more of him?

"'Yous!'

"'Well,' said Israel, 'yes. Mes. Me, I mean, yes it is. I am. Although actually I'm what's called an Outreach Support Officer these days.'"

There's an awful lot of dialogue like that, filled with halting speech and almost willful misapprehension. It might work on screen, but not on the page.

I wanted to like this book. I wanted quirky and charming and Alexander McCall Smith-iness. But mostly I was just bored.

-- Debra Hamel

The first in a proposed series about Israel Armstrong, rumpled and befuddled bookmobile librarian in a small town in Northern Ireland, The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom (2006), introduces not only Israel, who travels from London to start a new job as town librarian at the Tumdrum and District Library, but also a whole cast of local eccentrics. The story is a classic "fish out of water" tale. The plot: an overeducated cityslicker arrives in a rural backwater where wiley locals contrive to pull the wool over his eyes about how 15,000 library books have disappeared. The Case of the Missing Books is a charming satire in this tradition. The book reminded me of Bill Forsyth's 1983 movie, Local Hero, or more recently, Waking Ned Devine or Saving Grace, all movies based in the U.K. where the townsfolk's mistrust of authority binds them together, results in heart-warming hijinks, features endearingly nutty locals and ends happily.
The Case of the Missing Books, a mobile library mystery is the funniest book I've read in a while and I would recommend it to anyone who for example, has finished all the #1 Ladies Detective Agency books by Alexander McCall Smith, and is looking for a gently humorous, character driven, "cozy" kind of mystery.

Wow. This is the worst book I have read in a LONG time. I kept wanting to quit, but I was convinced that somehow it would get better. I think we're supposed to sympathize with the protagonist, but he continues to make the same mistakes over and over again when he clearly should know better. Really, if I figure out within the first 20 pages that any normal person would do the opposite of what he's doing, then he should have figured it out after the first 100 or so. I couldn't muster any sympathy for him at all. I just wanted to scream at him.

I can't wait to get this one off of my bookshelf. What a complete waste of $10 and several hours of my time, neither of which I'll ever get back.

There's just a chance this book will make you laugh out loud. There is no real plot. There is no complicated mystery. That's not what this story is about. What is compelling is watching Londoner Israel Armstrong try to make sense out of his untenable situation and learning along the way that the locals in Northern Ireland are worthy of his respect. What's fun is recognizing the current cultural references that are sprinkled throughout. It's absurdist humor. If that appeals to you, you will find this a pleasant diversion.

Israel Armstrong is a Jewish vegetarian from London who takes a job in rural Northern Ireland as librarian of a mobile library. It is a laugh-a-minute as Israel goes from one disaster to another but even this can't keep him from his job. The one thing that does keep him from doing his job is the fact that all 15,000 library books are missing. Israel must find the books. He blunders around the countryside looking for them, wrecking havoc and making enemies as he goes.

The locals in the book are all charmingly eccentric. There's his boss Linda Wei a large Chinese lady who loves to eat and will not take no for an answer. Next we meet Ted who runs Ted's Cabs and initially seems like an idiot but turns out to be a very intelligent, well read, lovable guy. The character of George is played by a beautiful woman who runs a farm and the list goes on and on. It is truly a delightful set of characters that Sansom brings to life and one can only hope they all return in the next book.

The storyline is fast paced and very amusing. There are many twists and turns as Israel stumbles his way about Ireland. Israel is irreverent and silly and you will be amazed by the things he does and says. If you are looking for a refreshing, light-hearted, comical read then this is the book for you.

The main character is highly annoying- a squishy bookdweller who has no concept of how to interact with other human beings. Despite this- I found I couldn't put the book down. The plot is compelling, the setting and characters are amusing and interesting. The resolution is a bit anticlimactic, but leaves room for the series to continue. The author wets your whistle for the next book with a teaser at the end of this novel. I enjoyed the book, and really hope that the protagonist develops along with the series.

There is a time-honored technique in English novels, since the 18th century at least, to take a hero and do horrible things to him, making him ridiculous and miserable until the happy ending. In clever hands, like Henry Fielding's, this can lead to a brilliant and hilarious novel. In less clever hands, like the weaker novels of Tobias Smollett, one simply becomes disgusted with chamberpots being turned over people's heads. Unfortunately, Sansom's novel is much in the chamberpot mode. The hapless hero is essentially tortured for the first half of the novel, and this ceases to be humorous at about page 10. The character has to leave home and his girlfriend for a new job, he becomes seasick, the job doesn't exist, no one picks him up, he is knocked out, he has to sleep in a chicken coop, he loses all his money and credit cards, everyone is horrible to him in a way that is implied to be folksy, he can't understand the language, he can't eat the food, he can't drive properly, he has no map and can't get one, and on and on and on. If you find such events to be hilarious, then you will greatly enjoy this book.

What disturbed me above and beyond the lack of humor was the sloppiness of the plotting. The character's actions simply make no sense, which ruins any hope of a true mystery. The protagonist refuses to go to the police to report the missing books for totally inadequate reasons, such as his chief suspect telling him not to. Huh? The character stupidly lets his debit and credit cards melt (don't ask), and we are told that he has no money. But then he finds some in his jacket. But then he spends it (unwisely) and again has no money. But he never gets his cards replaced for some days. But he is buying lunch and drinking in the pub nonetheless. Then the cards and his money aren't mentioned at all. In a number of respects, the novel is inconsistent, leaving strings hanging, and making characters behave inexplicably.

I didn't look through the book for such errors--the novel was simply unbelievable most of the time, in order to create the plot points the author wanted. Perhaps if it had been witty and fun, this wouldn't have bothered me. But it wasn't.

In short, it was a big disappointment. Perhaps the later books in the series are better, but I don't plan to try them.

Israel Armstrong left London and his girlfriend Gloria for the Rathkletair Borough librarian position in Tumdrum, Northern Ireland. However, when he arrives at the small town, the Jewish vegetarian is stunned to find a sign on the door of the locked facility that announces the library is permanently closed. Deputy Head of Entertainment, Leisure, and Community Services Linda Wei imperiously explains to the mortified Israel that he remains under contract to them though he has no building to tender; instead he will serve as the Outreach Support Officer of the modern Mobile Learning Centre; in other words a distraught Israel will drive a bookmobile.

Israel adapts to his new circumstance trying to improve the decrepit van while living on a nearby farm where he is attracted to the farmer's daughter George who sets him up in a locale where the chicken crap is the best smell. However, he soon has other problems when he catalogues the inventory only to find 15,000 books missing. He begins a quest based on the sleuths he has read to recover the lost tomes, but soon learns other libraries with buildings have purloined them even as he finds a second female to dally with reporter Veronica.

THE CASE OF THE MISSING BOOKS is an amusing amateur sleuth tale starring a fish out of water struggling to adjust to his new environs as the hero finds everyone treats him like the dope in the "Rope-a-dope". The story line is fast-paced focusing on the escapades of the displaced London Jew whose senses are overwhelmed by excrement that he either steps in, falls in, or simply smells in. Ian Samson provides an amusing tale starring a seemingly out of place bibliophile whose lofty goal of bringing literature to a horde of eccentrics seems more difficult than building the Chunnel.

Harriet Klausner

There are many books I don't mind giving away or swapping when I'm done reading them. "The Case of the Missing Books" is one I'd like to keep in my collection, however, and it surprised me when I finished it that I felt this way.

When I began the book, I was amused, interested, and didn't mind the storyline, yet I wasn't completely enthralled or won over. Some of the humor in the beginning felt a little too much - and kind of slapstick. At first I thought, "Oh no! Poor Israel!" and then I started thinking, "OK, this is a little much." I almost stopped reading it, but in spite of myself, I continued and as the story progressed, and I couldn't even tell you exactly where in the book it was, but I got hooked, and the clumsy misfortunes of Israel began to be balanced with one good thing happening here... another two good things happening there... and the whole story seemed to improve, too - by the end, I understood more why the book began as it did - Israel, a "Highly Sensitive Person," undergoes a slow, but sure, transformation. Characters (including Israel, to a point) I didn't particularly like in the beginning change, evolve, and become empathetic and likable.

As for the mystery - it does begin laughably, but remember - Israel isn't a detective and doesn't claim to be one. He's pushed into this, and so I think it makes sense that some of his hypotheses are silly or funny. And one of his mistakes brings about something quite good, as a matter of fact. I love how the mystery is resolved - but that could be because I quite value books and having access to them (and I'm also one of those people who has a bookcase in every room of my home!) ... someone who doesn't mind having a good book to read but who's not really upset if he/she does NOT have a book, either, may be neutral about the whole missing books mystery idea.

As a voracious reader, the premise of this book immediately caught my attention: who, I wondered, would steal 15,000 books from an obscure library in Ireland? And could there be a more unlikely protagonist than the town's new librarian, Israel Armstrong, to try to track them down? Israel - a tubby, bespectacled Jewish vegetarian - is almost Chaplin-esque in the succession of quirky setbacks and even quirkier helpmates he encounters in his new surroundings. Unfortunately, there are so many of them that the book has a repetitive feel that also makes the core conflict slow to get off the ground. While there were several laugh out loud moments and clever turns of phrase, I think Sansom's editors at HarperCollins could have done a tighter job of editing what could have been a much more cohesive storyline.
Christina Hamlett
Author of "Could It Be a Movie"