Portland author and screenwriter Patrick deWitt writes about Bob Comet, a fictional retired librarian, in “The Librarianist.”

For his latest novel, “The Librarianist,” Portland author and screenwriter Patrick deWitt fabricates the unassuming life of retired librarian Bob Comet. Bob is a bachelor, an introvert, and a committed bookworm, yet there have been episodes in his life when he manages somehow to pull eccentric personalities and absurd events into his orbit.

Chapter one of “The Librarianist” reveals the latest example of that knack.

Bob is on his daily walk when he stops into a 7-Eleven to buy a cup of coffee. He notices that the cashier is distracted by an elderly lady in a pink sweatsuit who appears to be transfixed by the selection of energy drinks in the refrigerated section.

He asks if everything’s alright, and the cashier whispers that the customer has been standing frozen in that position for the last 45 minutes.

This week’s book

“The Librarianist” by Patrick deWitt

Ecco — 352 pp — $30

When Bob offers to intervene, he discovers that the woman, who apparently is not verbal, is wearing a laminated name card that identifies her as Chip, a resident at a local assisted living center.

To the cashier’s relief, Bob persuades Chip to leave the store and he escorts her, at a plodding rate, back to her residence.

But this simple act of kindness sets into motion a series of events. What began with the ease of a fable – our uncomplicated hero solving a minor problem – soon develops into a carefully meted out succession of Bob’s in-the-moment observations and past recollections of situations, relationships, and consequences that take up the rest of the novel.

At times the narrative may seem scattershot, but have patience, reader — the author knows what he’s doing. This story moves between Portland and the Oregon Coast, and across decades.

The author uses stylized dialogue reminiscent of the snappy patter of the black-and-white movie era, and embellishes “misshapen and imperfect” lives with quirky detail and occasional moments of grace.

Through Bob’s eyes, we consider the characters in the assisted living center — not just Chip, who appears only briefly, but other residents, and the center’s staff director, who “seemed sly to the world’s foolishness, something like a cat’s attitude of critical doubtfulness, but she also beheld a cat’s disposition of: surprise me.”

Bob ruminates, too, on his deceased mother, his best friend from long ago (also deceased), and the sweetheart who became — for only a short while, and also long ago — his wife.

We also meet Bob’s past mentors, a cast that included odd-duck librarians, a lesbian thespian duo, a sheriff, and a has-been hotelier who advised Bob “to accept whatever happiness passes your way, and in whatever form.”

Given odd happenstance, and late-in-life revelations, that’s just what Bob does – in his own time, and in his own fashion.

This story contains a share of dread and heartbreak of the amount to be expected in just about anyone’s life. It’s nothing epic – except to the person who experiences it. This book’s offbeat and generous treatment of Bob Comet’s ordinary life is what makes “The Librarianist” so special.