Call Numbers
The Not So Quiet Life of Librarians
Author: Syntell Smith
Narrator: P. G. Hammock
Length: 13 hours 17 minutes
Publisher: Syntell Smith Publishing
Released: Mar. 22, 2021
Genre: Fiction
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Synopsis
Life is a book...and every person is a chapter.
Everything's looking up for Robin Walker. It's 1994 in New York City, and he's been transferred downtown to the 58th Street Branch Library. Ready to move up the ladder, Robin is excited about the opportunities that await him.
But success, personal or professional, is as elusive as a first-edition rare book. Robin struggles with his strange new work environment as this motley crew of employees generates more drama than a runaway best seller. He doesn't know who to believe - or who to let in. And as potential romance mingles with devious machinations, there's no telling where Robin's story will go. All he knows is that he must see it through to the very last page.
Call Numbers is a captivating and multilayered adult drama. Through realistic dialogue and situations, author Syntell Smith has crafted a modern-day classic about the trials and tribulations of adulthood. Because a library is usually the last place you'd expect high drama, but for these characters...it's long overdue.
Willow's Review
5 Stars
This audiobook was provided by its author, Syntell Smith, in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Thanks, Syntell!
Call Numbers: The Not So Quiet Life of Librarians by Syntel Smith is more than a novel; it's a unique listening experience that will take readers back to a simpler time during the mid-1990s.
In 1994, protagonist Robin Walker was transferred downtown to the 58th Street Branch Library New York City for a well-deserved change of pace and hopes for a promotion. Robin is a likable character of great depth and holds an impressive love for books within his heart that has endured much in his life. His determination to succeed despite the obstacles in his way is one of the most positive aspects of this book that highlights the need for perseverance in adulthood.
Shortly after Robin began his new employment venture, he met the other librarians that were quite brash, bombastic, unorthodox, and often unprofessionally uncouth. The banalest transactions within the library turned into a dispute or raging fights between the librarians regarding the loan limits, patron fines, and overall management of the library were tackled with surprising levels of rage that surely disrupt the image of the taciturn librarian.
Syntel examined the lives of the librarians and chronicled their life stories that highlighted both traumas from their adulthood and childhood years and how those issues eventuated to the professionals they became in 1994. Moreover, this aspect of the novel gave perspective into the human experience and how traumas shape the psychological tendencies of humans.
Call Numbers was narrated by P.G Hammock, who vividly enhanced the storyline with his dramatic vocal enhancements that added believability and life to many of the heated scenes of arguments between the librarians. Hammock's overall tone captured the storyline with a steady tonality that provides a solid backdrop for the calamities, hilarities, and nuances within the pages of this novel.
Syntel can vividly describe the characters, scenes, and cityscapes without allowing those details to detract from the rest of the multi-layered adult drama that will surely keep readers interested to the last page. Thankfully, Syntel has written a sequel titled Book Endings—A Call Numbers novel: Loss, Pain, and Revelations.
Willow Moon Greymoor follows her lifelong passion for literature and writing. Working as a professional book reviewer is truly part of her soul’s calling. For over 14 years, Willow has been reviewing books, writing, beta reading, and offering professional advice to authors around the world.