The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections
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With its countless revelations about the dusty realms of rare books, a likable librarian sleuth who has just the right balance of compassion and wit, and a library setting that is teeming with secrets, The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections is a rare treat for readers. I loved this book!--Matthew Sullivan, author of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore Anxious People meets the delights of bookish fiction in a stunning debut following a librarian whose quiet life is turned upside down when a priceless manuscript goes missing. Soon she has to ask: what holds more secrets in the library--the ancient books shelved in the stacks, or the people who preserve them? Liesl Weiss long ago learned to be content working behind the scenes in the distinguished rare books department of a large university, managing details and working behind the scenes to make the head of the department look good. But when her boss has a stroke and she's left to run things, she discovers that the library's most prized manuscript is missing. Liesl tries to sound the alarm and inform the police about the missing priceless book, but is told repeatedly to keep quiet, to keep the doors open and the donors happy. But then a librarian unexpectedly stops showing up to work. Liesl must investigate both disappearances, unspooling her colleagues' pasts like the threads of a rare book binding as it becomes clear that someone in the department must be responsible for the theft. What Liesl discovers about the dusty manuscripts she has worked among for so long--and about the people who care for and revere them--shakes the very foundation on which she has built her life. The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections is a sparkling book-club read about a woman struggling to step out from behind the shadows of powerful and unreliable men, and reveals the dark edge of obsession running through the most devoted bookworms.
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I read someone else's review that said they really wanted to like this book, but couldn't. I feel the same way. Fifty percent in I really wanted to stop. It's boring in long stretches and the main character is not likable at all. She criticizes her adult daughter for talking with her mouth full while she herself is basically a high functioning drunk. She hates the students at the university...but she's chosen to live and work in a university town. She's so self centered she doesn't bother to contact the wife of her colleague of 40 years who's had a stroke, or the husband of another one who has disappeared, or really worry that said colleague hasn't shown up for work until a week later. And has surprisingly little guilt that she blew the woman off when she looked like she was having a nervous breakdown.
It's like all the bad stereotypes of academics were put unironically into this book. All the men are bumbling idiots. All the women are portrayed as knowing everything from the beginning with no flaws. The “villain” is made so though his crime seems more a security problem than a true crime, but he's a man so he's vilified. Men can't have affairs but it's fine for the women. Ugh. I just wanted this book to end. I think the author might have done alright if she had forgotten about writing a mystery and done what she seemed to want to be writing about, which is late middle aged relationships. And if she had left the one dimensional characters and “down with the patriarchy and rich people!” stuff at the door.
I am glad things worked out for the protagonist in the end, but that was an awful lot of mean-spirited judginess and thinly veiled misogyny to wade through. It definitely reads more mystery than thriller because while the majority of characters appear unlikeable at first, their rough edges eventually get sanded off, or at least explained/downplayed.
As always: secrets = bad. Coveting is a particularly ugly thread running through this work as well.
I like that the library collection itself becomes a character you root for and are pleased is in good hands by the end as well.
Strange to think with all this drama on the page that the book itself has managed to have such a bland title and boring cover. 🤷🏼♂️
⚠️ Suicide; discussions of mental health, depression, alcohol consumption
