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…

A light, fun, easy listen

Before I read/listen to a book I read lots and lots of reviews. After I finish a book I go back and reread the reviews and think to myself, "Oh! That's what they meant!" It's so difficult to tell if you'll like a particular book when people are being so careful not to give anything away in their reviews. So now it's my turn to try to write something meaningful without giving anything away.

At first I thought the book was set sometime in the near future because of the way the author describes things. But it was just clever wording about our present situation. So, there's a guy, Clay, who is an out of work graphic designer. He's been applying for jobs, but there's not enough to go around, especially in graphic design. He's out walking one day when he comes upon a bookstore with a help wanted sign in the window. He walks in, meets the owner, Mr. Penumbra, and is hired on the spot for the overnight shift. (A 24 hour book store?!?!? What a fantastic idea!)

It seems a little odd to say, but I thought it kind of rushed too quickly into the mystery. I like to be eased into a book. On the plus side, you get sucked into the story right away. There's no looking back.

I don't agree with some of the other reviewers that said it's too techie, and a love letter to Google. I don't live in California, or work for an internet related company, but I search Google 50 times a day. This book demonstrates how dramatically our lives have changed in such a short time. Maybe this is how they felt at the turn of the last century with the rise of the automobile.

As for the end, I thought Mr. Sloan brought this book to a lovely conclusion. It's wrapped up nice a neat, like a Christmas package. No loose ends and no head scratching. This book is light, but not fluffy. It's a good book to kick back and relax with. Don't take all the negative reviews too seriously. This book is not too techie for average people. This is our life now. You'll get it.

Captivating, Entertaining, Fresh, New...

Now this should be a critic's choice! Only this is one smart book that doesn't hold any presumptions. Many thanks to the Oberlin, Kansas reviewer. This is one I may not have given a second glance, had it not been for her review.

On the other hand i think most of us who love books are drawn to any title having to do with mysterious bookstores. And It doesn't get any more mysterious than Mr. Penumbra's bookstore. What is better than a genuine mystery with fascinating characters all revolving around books?

Ari Fliakos is as talented a narrator as I have encountered.

This is fun and fast read!

Ready Player One meets Da Vinci Code

Based on the first hour or two of this book, I thought I had found something akin to the eerie metafiction of Paul Auster's "Oracle Night" with a bit of SF/Fantasy focus.
Instead, this novel proved itself to be a "Ready Player One"/"Da Vinci Code" mash-up filled with techie references and code-breaking, secret societies.

The initial atmosphere is a nice blend of mysterious, youthful, dot com, near-future economic ennui. But as the story unfolds, everything feels trite.
The plot is serviceable, though the characters (as another reviewer noted) seems like poor caricatures of real people: more overly-optimistic archetypes than real, growing people.

I too was annoyed by the take on Google. Basically, Google (and those perky, unstoppable Googlers) can do no wrong, and their campus is some sort of modern day utopia of enlightenment.

What got me most about this book was the ending. I wish that our author had simply finished the book with the completion of the main narrative arc. Instead, we get a cloying, everything-turned-out-perfectly-for-all-the-main-characters-except-the-villian-who-got-his-comeuppance epilogue.

All my complaints aside, this book was, at least, entertaining. If you like books like "Ready Player One" and don't want to be bogged down in anything even vaguely-related to real life concerns or problems, this one is probably for you.

Wonderful and clever

Artfully celebrates human inventions old and new in a story full of lovable characters and a twisty plot. A clever premise that satisfies our curiosity, and uncovers a wide spectrum of human ingenuity. Loved it, and couldn't put it down.

Back to 6th grade.

Not exactly Ready Player One, but a fun little story about cracking the code that results in living forever. A secret society can't do it after 500 years of trying. Can all the resources that Google can bring to bear? Can a lonely clerk in an all night bookshop? Well... maybe. If he can revert back to 6th grade.

Just okay

I kept waiting for this book to pick up or get more interestingly. Sadly it did neither.

Unexpected charming little fantasy/adventure story

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

Fantasy, technology, and mystery

Any additional comments?

Unexpected, charming little fantasy/adventure story set in high-tech San Francisco. It's a curious mix of reality, cutting edge technology, and then fantasy lurking hidden around every corner. It's hard sometimes to tell where reality stops and fantasy starts.

During the recession in San Francisco Clay, an unemployed designer, gets a job at Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore and is soon trying to figure out how it can even stay in business, and what the second, hidden business of the bookshop actually is. Soon the story involves his special effect artist housemate, various Google technology and Google people, his startup-owning best friend from primary school, and lots of references to a beloved fantasy series (the Dragonsong Chronicles) that all manage to tie together into a D&D styled quest to find out the truth and help Mr. Penumbra and solve the mystery of the bookstore for good.

Crossing between reality and fantasy, modern technology and historical mystery, it's hard to describe this book. I felt the ending was a bit abrupt and the "quest" could have ended more impactfully, but it was a sweet and enjoyable light read with some likeable characters and lots of interesting detail.

For the geeky bibliophile

Where does Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is definitely in the top 5 of the most recent audiobooks I've read.

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

The most memorable moment was the scene where Clay was photoscanning the books in the dark NYC library.

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

My first

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

It made me smile quite a bit. I love all of the geek / nerd references.