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

Enjoyed! Interesting and entertaining!

A lot of fun! Great characters and story/plot about bridging the old and new.
If you enjoy books and/or technology, you will probably enjoy this book. Also a fun mystery and light romance within the story.

Ari Fliakos narration was very very good... Definitely an enhancement to the entire experience. He brought the characters to life. I would enjoy hearing other books read by him.

Highly recommend!

Such a great listen!

great! such a fun listen! the reader was exceptional! looking forward to more! I will share this one.

Good you

Good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good good fun cook cool week alone dude

"The right book exactly, at exactly the right time."

Loved this book! Quirky characters and mysterious quest... Told in an engaging style. The performance of the narrator Ari Fliakos was perfect. Struck just the right note.

Fun, Interesting, and Engaging

The narration made this story for me. I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed it nearly as much if I had chosen to read it. There are many cute and funny lines throughout the story. A lot of the references to cults made me smile, such as, “Scientology for scholarly seniors”. It was fun to join in on the long quest to find such a simple common sense answer.

excellent!

What a delightful story and narrator! I had so much fun listening to this audiobook and it even had some lovely bits of wisdom to chew on wrapped up in a sweet story like the feeling of a delicious treat.

the most unexpectedly delightful story

What made the experience of listening to Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore the most enjoyable?

The entire book was enjoyable, moved swiftly and the narrator, Ari, is perfect for the story.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore?

there are many but the time they went "behind the scenes" at Google

Have you listened to any of Ari Fliakos’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no I haven't heard any of Ari's other performances but I will look up what else he has done and hopefully I will find something else to enjoy by him.

If you could take any character from Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Clay; he seems so without ambition in the beginning but turns out to be so driven and dedicated to Mr. P.

Great story

Really enjoyed this book. It's a quick read. Kept me interested and liked how it wrapped up with all the characters.

A Whimsical Mystery

Loved it! Enjoyable story combining ancient ancient texts with current technology. Keeps you guessing throughout!

Fun and interesting

If you could sum up Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore in three words, what would they be?

Fun, interesting, forward-looking

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

The story is exciting and moves quickly, that said, I found the ending a little over idealistic.

Have you listened to any of Ari Fliakos’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I don't think I've listened to any other performances by this reader, but this one was quite pleasant.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I did not have any extreme emotional responses to the book but I did find many of the ideas it talked about quite interesting, though somewhat technologically inaccurate.