20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
I wanted to like it..., October 27, 2007
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
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Librarian Loves Library Mystery, January 15, 2007
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.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
I want my 8 hours back, May 20, 2008
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.
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