Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

A Novel

By: Robin Sloan

Narrated by: Ari Fliakos

Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

A gleeful and exhilarating tale of global conspiracy, complex code-breaking, high-tech data visualization, young love, rollicking adventure, and the secret to eternal life - mostly set in a hole-in-the-wall San Francisco bookstore.

The Great Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon out of his life as a San Francisco Web-design drone - and serendipity, sheer curiosity, and the ability to climb a ladder like a monkey has landed him a new gig working the night shift at Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. But after just a few days on the job, Clay begins to realize that this store is even more curious than the name suggests. There are only a few customers, but they come in repeatedly and never seem to actually buy anything, instead “checking out” impossibly obscure volumes from strange corners of the store, all according to some elaborate, long-standing arrangement with the gnomic Mr. Penumbra. The store must be a front for something larger, Clay concludes, and soon he’s embarked on a complex analysis of the customers’ behavior and roped his friends into helping to figure out just what’s going on. But once they bring their findings to Mr. Penumbra, it turns out the secrets extend far outside the walls of the bookstore.

With irresistible brio and dazzling intelligence, Robin Sloan has crafted a literary adventure story for the 21st century, evoking both the fairy-tale charm of Haruki Murakami and the enthusiastic novel-of-ideas wizardry of Neal Stephenson or a young Umberto Eco, but with a unique and feisty sensibility that’s rare to the world of literary fiction. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is exactly what it sounds like: an establishment you have to enter and will never want to leave, a modern-day cabinet of wonders ready to give a jolt of energy to every curious listener, no matter the time of day.

©2012 Robin Sloan (P)2012 Macmillan Audio

Awesome Book!!

Very fantastic story with a wonderful narrator! It was everyone's favorite audiobook of our vacation!

decent mystery

Book source ~ Purchased on Audible

Clay Jannon is a graphic designer that gets downsized during a recession. After looking for a job in his field for quite a while, he’s desperate, so he applies at a 24-Hr bookstore that’s got a Help Wanted sign in the window. And he gets the job. But it’s one weird job and he’s determined to figure out what is going on in this strange bookstore run by old man Penumbra.

Overall I enjoyed this strange tale of a 24-hr bookstore with weird clients. There’s a mystery here and Jannon finally gets curious enough to try to figure it out. That’s when things really take off, storywise. The ending, for me, is a bit of a letdown, but I have to say that it’s a great ride for most of the book. The characters are awesome, the writing is decent, and the plot is intriguing. I also really enjoyed the narration.

Outstanding

This is as close to a perfect book, and prefect reading, as I know. Kudos to Robin Sloan and Ari Fliakos. None better, few their equal.

not bad

I liked the narrator. The story was quite interesting until about three fourths through the book, then I lost interest when the story merged with video game characters.

Is there anything that Google cannot decrypt?

When I bought this book I was thinking that it is a business novel, like The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt. I was very interested in what can be done with the promotion of a bookstore. It turned out not.

Still, I enjoyed it, it's well written, but I am not convinced by the details and for me, it's spoiled this book. I don't believe that a book encoded manually cannot be deciphered by humans and especially by a supercomputer. If something is built with the ability to be decoded, it can be decoded. And there are more of less crucial things which are unbelievable. Like after 500 years of perusal by many people, this book still exists in the condition when it can be just used. In stories for children, such things are quite nice and a bit naive, but this book seems to be aimed at an older audience…

Low expectations, delightfully surprised!

I had low expectations for this book. It had been on my "wish list" forever & I finally decided (because it was cheap) to give it a try. I figured if I didn't like it, I would return it and try something else. After all, life is too short to ready crummy books, right?
It was delightful! I was immediately drawn into the characters & the mystery of the 24 hour bookstore. Well written, full of surprises, & and an ending that made sense and closed all the loops!
This book is hard to classify into any specific genre. It is sort of a mystery, sort of techno-fiction (if that's even a real genre) and even has elements of sci-fi and fantasy now and then. But it was so enjoyable, I recommend to anyone who likes to get lost in a story.

Good story, light hearted and a good narrator

I found this book on the list of “feel good” novels. Very glad I read it. Good story mixing the new with the old. Very upbeat and lighthearted, but really draws you in. Narrator did a good job and complements the story and characters well.

Enjoyable

Enjoyable plot that had interesting and engaging twists. The reader was a fun choice for the main character. Had a similar vibe to Ready Player One. Definitely kept me listening to find out what was going to the next!

What a lovely and unexpected tale

The story was not at all what I was expecting, and it was all the better for that. I'm afraid to say anything about the story, because the expectations might ruin it for you. But, no violence, ideas offered, a great imaginative tale that kept me guessing, willingly, til the end. Wish I had a book group to discuss it with. YMMV

ummm...

It sounded like a great promise, but it dissolved into nothing much along the way. Three stars for managing to keep me listening; but there wasn't much reward at the end of it. I guess bets of the kind behind Sloan's novella aren't necessarily the best kick-off for great literature.