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

Easy read and fun

This has a Great story line and compact. There is a prequel that I will probably read.

High potential, bogged down in love for Silicon Valley tech

Super high potential story, cool bookstore and history tie ins, but I found the repeated references to Google and tech and tech being a savior to be hard to take…

Fun, thought-provoking, mysterious.... and FUN !

Would you consider the audio edition of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore to be better than the print version?

This is a book to be HEARD. Very much at issue in this novel is the relationship between content and method of delivery. The narrator uses his voice to great advantage, just the right nuances -- sometimes he appears to be going over the top, but then you realize that the effect is spot on.

What other book might you compare Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore to and why?

In an odd way, MP24HB reminds me of The Night Circus -- there is the same sense of alternate reality layered onto "real" reality. Mr Penumbr'a is shorter and less serious, the setting is very different, and the "magic" here is in the technology.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Oh, yes. In fact, I almost did.

Any additional comments?

This would make a good book club selection -- a nice length, easy to follow, light-hearted, but offering some interesting discussion points. In the thousands of years of human history, print hasn't been around all that long. Is it really a tragedy that many are turning to digital and audio sources for "reading" material? Is it ultimately an either/or situation? What would you do for immortality? What's a friend? A mentor? For that matter, what is a book?

Not perfect -- the epilogue is superfluous -- but a very nice debut.

Fun read. High tech meets ancient mysteries.

I really enjoyed this book it reminded me of Ready Player One and The Da Vinci Code. If you liked those books then you will be in for a real treat here. I will have keep an eye out for more books by Robin Sloan. I also really liked this narrator I think he did a great job bring the characters to life.

Please re-categorize

This book should be re-categorized as fiction/fantasy. It is not a mystery thriller. I felt like listening to Harry Potter but with computers instead of magic wands and Google instead of Hogswarts. It took 3.5 hours before the story got a bit more interesting. I almost wanted to return it but also kept on hoping that it will deliver the thrill/mystery I was expecting, so I did finish listening though dissapointed. If you are looking for a fantasy story, it should be ok...i felt misled.

Penumbra is a partial shadow and a great book!

Any book that successfully combines mysterious bookstores, cryptography, a secret society, Google, typefaces, meaningful numbers ($2,357 is brilliant!), and a museum of "Knitting Arts and Embroidery Sciences" gets high praise from me. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is definitely that book. Clay Jannon is an out-of-work art school graduate who finds a job on the night shift in Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. Mr. Penumbra (a partial shadow, between regions of complete shadow and complete illumination) is interesting in his own right, but his store full of books from the Waybacklist stored on dusty, multi-storied shelves is where curiosity gets the best of Clay and he begins his adventure. He is aided at every turn by his techie acquaintances, but Sloan uses plenty of humor along with the technology so even those of us over thirty get it.

This is a well-told, fun story, one that made me think a bit and I even learned a few things. I learned that Aldus Manutius was a real Italian printer and publisher who helped develop italic type, and the use of the comma and semicolon. I learned that Griffo Gerritszoon is fictional. I also learned that Robin Sloan is a very clever writer who can tell a good story. My only regret is that I listened to this as an audiobook (Sloan does have a cameo on the audio version) and didn't read the hard cover with the glow-in-the-dark dust jacket!

When Worlds Collide

I had already read the print version before listening to the audiobook. I chose to "re-read" it in audio because I had succumbed to the charms of the book in print and thought that it would make for an entertaining and illuminating listen. I was not wrong.

The book is about the collision of radically different technologies -- the power of the printing press throughout the centuries to immortalize literature and literary figures vs. the power of computers to provide virtually every bit of human knowledge at the touch of a fingertip.

But as in any good work of literature, the characters are what really makes the book come alive. Mr. Penumbra is the "shadowy" owner of a bookstore who strives to bridge "old knowledge" with present-day technology. But he is too flighty -- literally, when he flees and leaves things up to Clay, the first person narrator and protagonist. Mr. Penumbra never rises to the level of a Dumbledore or Gandalf as wizened old wise man.

Still, Clay falls under his spell. But he is even more enamored with Kat Potente, a manic pixie girl, a quirky, meta-geeky combination of beauty and brains. And so the central character finds himself allied to both Penumbra, the embodiment of old tech, and Kat, the manifestation of the new world.

Clay, true to his name, allows himself to be molded by the overachievers surrounding him without ever resenting his role as everyman. But he breezily molds his own story far too often for him to be just a passive narrator -- he is the driver of this car. It may be too facile at times, the speed at which he uncovers solutions to insurmountable problems, but who cares? He is engaging and resourceful -- we want him to succeed -- and the book is so easygoing that we do not want him to get mired down in failure.

The good news in this battle of the titans is that no one loses. If you're a book lover, you'll always have the option of reading a hard copy, even with the proliferation of e-books and audiobooks. You can always choose to take advantage of all worlds, as I do, reading books (e-books in tight spaces) and listening to the best of them on audio -- as in this case, where I got to have my book and listen to it too.

Nothing very nutritious

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

A quick light read perfect for a lazy summer weekend.
The story is interesting enough to keep you reading, although the pay-off is a bit underwhelming.

So much fun!

Absolutely delightful from start to finish, this novel not only captures the wonderful serendipity of brilliant young minds unfettered by the fogies among us but also the sweet open-mindedness of their elderly mentors. Each is affectionately mocked along the way. Perfect narrator, too! I found it great fun. #tagsgiving #sweepstakes #Mindbending

Big Bang Theory on Valium

Have you ever been called a nerd? Or any related term - geek, weirdo, egghead, bookworm, etc.? Better yet, have you ever been honest with yourself and embraced the inner nerd? If you've answered yes, you will enjoy this book. It appeals to those who have an affinity for books, puzzles, and YA fantasy lit. I didn't laugh out loud, but smiled several times throughout the listen. All the characters were likeable in their quirkiness, including the villain. I was slightly disappointed with the ending. Mind you the ending not the solution. The solution was perfect. The ending was a little to neat and tidy for my tastes. Nonetheless, if you fit the description above and have time for a quick read, you may enjoy the trip to this bookstore.

PS - Loved the narrator. Great match for the personality of the main character.