Customer Reviews

The Dewey Decimal System of Love

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Yes, I'm a librarian, but I don't downgrade much for stereotypes and I'm totally willing to suspend disbelief, so the reaon I rated this only three stars is that the premise was not very plausible and the story was goofy.

Allison Sheffield, local librarian, has "long auburn hair and perfect skin" and "looks half her age of forty". Really? have you ever known ANYONE who was 40 but looked 20? Ten years younger I could believe, but twenty? And that was the problem with this book for me -- it is certainly not terrible, but it always goes just a bit too far in what it asks the reader to believe. Let's see, Ally's been celibate for 15 years, but suddenly she is in love with a married symphony conductor whom she's never met, and now she does any number of unusual things in order to get him. Ouch.

Characters were well developed, the ending was well done and it is a quick read, so this is not terrible, but I'd recommend you borrow it from your local library rather than purchase it.

if you're interested in a librarian protagonist, check out Larry Beinhart's The Librarian instead, a political thriller.

This has to be one of the worst books ever written. As a librarian myself, I was hoping to read a light romance about someone I could relate to. Even though Ms. Carr claims she admires and respects librarians, I really don't think she does. She portrays all the female librarians very stereotypically. Aren't we bored of this? I know I am. Every female librarian is portrayed as virginal, wearing high neck blouses and long skirts, hair in a bun and thick glasses. The conversations the main character and the other librarian have with the "womanizing" boss are bordering on sexual harassment. Example: the other librarian confesses her love for her boss in a letter and he writes back that he thinks she may be a lesbian! And then she suddenly agrees with him!

To add insult to injury, there's an interview with the author and discussion questions at the end of the book, as if this drivel is high class literature and should be used in book discussions.

Stay far far away from this book.

I've avoided "chick lit" -- the genre that has sprouted "Bridget Jones' Diary," "Le Divorce" and all those other books targeted at young women trying to find love in a bustling, confusing world -- for all the right reasons: I'm not a chick.

But a recent stroll through Barnes & Noble turned up this book, which had what has to be one of the worst titles ever.

So, in spite of that and the fact that its cover review blurbs were all done by women whose names I've never heard before, I sat with it and gave it a read. And I was quite surprized.

Told in the first person, this book has a wonderful, conversational style. And the dialog between characters is some of the best I've ever read; it's very natural, clever where it ought to be but within the realm of reason.

Ally, the protagonist, is a 40-year-old reference librarian in Philadelphia who winds up falling in love from afar with the new conductor of the philharmonic.

The book -- which you can easily read in a day -- follows her as she attempts to win over the conductor, in spite of her frumpy appearance and decidedly poor previous experiences with men.

I felt the ending of this book was a bit rushed and there are a couple of plot contrivances involved that are both frustrating and, in my estimation, unnecessary. I'm also not sure this story, while fun and funny, is worth the $12.95 cover price. (Yes, I know that most trade paperbacks fall in this range. So what?)

I'm also offended that the book includes a banal interview with the author and suggested book club discussion questions. This isn't high literature and it isn't being read in high school English classes, so both are unnecessary.

That's what's held me back from calling this a masterpiece. But overall, this book is a great read.

I was kind of surprised how much others seemed to have HATED this book. I admit, it's not a "serious" or deep novel, but I did find it charming and laughed out loud on at least 10 seprate occasions. Sure, there are some gaps in the plot (but it's not a really plot driven book) like what ever was the conductor's wife doing anyway?) but the scenes were just, well, funny and charming in their own way. Yes there are stereotypes, but they make us laugh at ourselves and our own habits, not at librarians in general. I think it's silly for librarians to be up in arms when the character is so likable. She's the first to admit how silly some of her habits and emotional disabilities are. It comes down to this -- if you want a light book of fiction that will make you laugh and has a happy ending, this is a terrific and downright fun book. If you're looking for the next Ulysses, well this isn't it. I bet none of the librarian critics caught the sly reference to Yeats' poem the Lake Isle of Innisfree -- come to think of it, maybe they didn't get lots of subtle wit and humor.

Ally is not a librarian! She has the system on her wall and may be head of reference, but does she ever work? And how in the world does she have only six emails. Anyway, the character is shallow, undeveloped, and drives a convertible, drinks martinis, but wears up to the neck "librarian" blouses and no sex for 14 years. Unbelievable. Waste your time if you have a VERY boring and LONELY rainy day inside, otherwise, I would recommend a better written Romance Novel or fun read. I would rather read about my life as a librarian. Much more interesting.

This was a light, enjoyable book about a librarian who hasn't had sex in 15 years. Flitting around her periphery are Gordon, her handsome, womanizing boss, and Aleksi, the intriguing music conductor. The librarian gets sucked into a web of intrigue involving the music conductor's sudden interest in her library's collections and the conductor's wife study of poisons, supposedly for a novel she's writing.

The writing was a little weak and the pacing dragged a bit, but there was something charming and endearing about it, kooky as it was. I think most bibliophiles and library lovers would like it.

Josephine Carr's The Dewey Decimal System of Love is an entertaining and quick read as the book is just impossible to put down. The reader just cant wait to find out what happens next.

Very well written in the first person, our single and celibate heroine, a research librarian, falls in love, or is it lust, with a symphony conducter. To further complicate the matter, she believes she has stumbled onto a plot by the conductor's wife to murder him.

The plot is well written, the dialogue crisp and convincing, and the characters well developed. I loved this book and look forward to the sequel (please).

If you are looking for serious literature, you may be disappointed, but for a lively, quick read, a fun read, a humorous read, this book is the real deal.

This book centers around a 40-year-old, convertible driving, martini drinking, depressingly celibate librarian, her coworkers, and the object of her fantasy, a composer.

This book is quite hilarious, and has quite a few (mildly) sexual themes and elements. Carr uses humor and irony in generous doses to the reader's delight, and definitely twists the "Miss Marian" librarian stereotype three ways to Sunday!

As entertaining as this read was, with its fantastic characters and hilarious- if sometimes unreal- plotline, I knocked two stars off my typically generous rating system for one reason- the ending.

Carr uses more then 200 pages to introduce us to characters we grow to love, and takes us through loop after loop of new insights and developments in the plot. Then, when we finally learn the conclusion, she cuts it off. The bad guy gets their due, and for Carr, that's that.

She literally leaves us hanging. We do not learn what happens in many aspects to the main character- her love life, her family relationships, the justice that the villain deserves? Carr catches the bad guy, and then ends her story. Done. Absolutely no conclusion for her audience.

It was as if she took a year to craft a wonderful story...and two days for her ending so she could meet a deadline.

I devoured this book in one sitting, enjoying it every minute up until the last two pages. If you can handle severe disappointment with an all-too-short ending, read on. If you can't handle that when you love the characters, then pick up a different book.

JK

This "novel" has convinced me that I, too, can be published.

C'mon. I can't be expected to judge this book fairly.

Give me a break. The book is set in a library. The main character (as well as most of the other characters in the book)is a librarian. The author, for heaven's sake, dedicates the book to her mother, "the paragon of a passionate librarian"; in the acknowledgements, the author encourages her readers to "continue to honor the extraordinary literary heritage found in our free library system and the librarians who help us discover its enduring wealth".

If you are a librarian, you can't help but love this book. File this book under 020 for Libraries, 306.7 for Romance.