Book Review: The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections by Eva Jurczyk

Thank you, NetGalley, for allowing me to read an ARC copy of this book for an honest review.

I was not prepared for this story. I thought it would be a typical women’s fiction story based in a library. I love that it was not that type of story. The other surprise, at least to me, was that the main character was not your typical “young woman looking for purpose .” Liesel Weiss is middle-aged and knows her purpose. Or at least she thought she did.

While I love that Liesel was not your typical character, I was not a fan. I did not like her decisions, especially when it came to her family. I felt she mistreated her husband and was more smothering her daughter than a parent. I think you are meant not to like her. Because I wasn’t a fan of Liesel’s, I found that I didn’t care about her or any changes she may have gone through.

I feel the same for the rest of the characters featured. They all felt very one-note. I pushed through the story because I would hope that something would spark and make me like it, but sadly I didn’t care very much about the result of the main problem in the story. I so wanted to cheer for the team. I wanted them to come together to find a solution. Still, all they achieved was being a bunch of self-centered career people who could care less if their team succeeded or failed.

The setting was fun. I have not read many books where the location is Canada. I found it interesting to read about a place I have yet to visit as an adult (I went to Toronto once when I was 7, and I barely remember it). However, any setting in a library makes me smile. The story gave insight into how university libraries are run and the specialness of curating rare books. I related to the scenes at the bookseller conventions, as I have a museum background, and I’ve been to a few shows in NYC where there were rare book vendors. They are unique places.

Overall, while I’m not a fan of this book, I think the writing was decent. The plot has potential. I may not have liked it, but that’s the great thing about books; just because you don’t like a book doesn’t mean the next reader will feel the same.