The protagonist, Bob, is a recently retired senior citizen when the novel opens. He is regimented and particular, living each day so that it is the same as the previous one through his carefully established routine. This routine involves walking his neighborhood and reading. Fastidious and risk-averse, Bob is a polite and quiet person whose life appears to have been ordinary and mundane. The novel stresses that throughout various phases of his life, Bob has had difficulty connecting with other people. It is through books and reading that he finds meaning, and spending time with other people is a task he regards as pointless.

Bob thrives in his role as a librarian because it provides him with proximity to books and limits social interaction. What social interaction he is required to do is done in association with books, thus Bob is comfortable with such exchanges. A major turning point in his life comes about after meeting both Connie and Ethan. Never had Bob imagined that anyone would find him interesting and want to spend time with him. He regards himself as absent of charisma and fairly dull. On the contrary, Connie suggests he has interesting thoughts, and she enjoys his kind and quirky nature.