Book review: Summer Hours at the Robbers Library by Sue Halpern

I bought Summer Hours at the Robbers Library because of the cover. I am a simple woman; if any book is about libraries, bookstores, librarians, or old books, I immediately want to buy it. Barnes & Noble had a buy 2, get 1 free deal going on, so what more did I need?

Requisite Amazon summary:

People are drawn to libraries for all kinds of reasons. Most come for the books themselves, of course; some come to borrow companionship. For head librarian Kit, the public library in Riverton, New Hampshire, offers what she craves most: peace. Here, no one expects Kit to talk about the calamitous events that catapulted her out of what she thought was a settled, suburban life. She can simply submerge herself in her beloved books and try to forget her problems.
But that changes when fifteen-year-old, home-schooled Sunny gets arrested for shoplifting a dictionary. The judge throws the book at Sunny—literally—assigning her to do community service at the library for the summer. Bright, curious, and eager to connect with someone other than her off-the-grid hippie parents, Sunny coaxes Kit out of her self-imposed isolation. They’re joined by Rusty, a Wall Street high-flyer suddenly crashed to earth.
In this little library that has become the heart of this small town, Kit, Sunny, and Rusty are drawn to each other, and to a cast of other offbeat regulars. As they come to terms with how their lives have unraveled, they also discover how they might knit them together again and finally reclaim their stories.

I expected this book to be heartwarming, a love letter to public libraries and their ability to transform people and build communities, and it was, but... it was really sad? Kit, the reference librarian, has fled from a tragic betrayal; Sunny's parents are anarchist vegan hippies who lie to and neglect her; and Rusty lost everything in the 2008 stock market crash and is desperately trying to see if this Riverton is the one that holds his grandmother's forgotten bank account. I could have handled the latter two storylines fine, but Kit's was too sad. I especially didn't like how the people who failed Kit didn't get a comeuppance.

The main story, the Riverton Library, is set in 2008 and told fairly straightforward. It is interspersed with Kit's journaling of what happened to her as well as Sunny's memories of her family life. Kit's journal entries are told chronologically, if I'm remembering correctly, and Sunny's memories jump back and forth in time. The book actually opens with the first of Kit's journal entries, although we don't know it yet. That first chapter is a recounting of Kit's sexual exploits, a jarring beginning that does not vibe with the rest of the book. I think the book should have started with Sunny's recounting of her juvie trial, not Kit's college love life. It makes the book seem atonal, since we keep going between the rather peaceful but economically troubled library/town life and the disturbing, painful and angry accounts of Kit's pre-Riverton life. The book ends with all of the primary characters opening up and letting each other in, and finally seeing Riverton as their home.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes books about libraries and doesn't mind sad/disturbing stories.

Score: 3.9 out of 5 stars
Read in: late July
From: Barnes & Noble
Format: paperback
Status: tentatively keeping