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

entertaining, but not quite satisfying

i had heard the short story on which this is based on a podcast a few years ago and loved it. The book is pretty good, but the ending was sort of anticlimactic...didn't match what i had expected from the short story...but still pretty good short read. Good narration.

It passed the time while traveling

A bit of mystery to try to figure out, thought provoking, but also confusing. There was enough mystery and suspense to keep me interested until the end. I just didn't understand all of it. When the book ended, I kept wondering,..well, what was the point of this? Or, why were they all doing that? Or, what was so important and urgent about all of the work being done? What was the point of recording the details of the consumers? Did I miss a lot of explanation somewhere? If I had been reading this on paper, I would have wondered if the publisher forgot to print a few chapters. It was not boring and it kept me entertained during long hours while creeping along on icy,treacherous roads. I may do a re-listen later to try to get more out of it. I'd recommend it.

fun listen, but not as good as the hype

i would recommend this book, although as a fun read, nothing more (and there's nothing wrong with a fun read!). the narration was so-so. i was left with the feeling that the author did not do as much as he or she could have with such a clever idea.

Books as backdrop for a Google paean

I was worried that “24-Hour Bookstore” would be surreal and highbrow. It isn’t. It’s a straight-up modern mystery built on a clever premise. The characters are fun but not very deep. And Google is quite well placed product-wise.

loved it!

Fresh and very entertaining story!
loved that it highlight people and relationships in a fresh and subtle way. Felt like the quirky character were my friends!

Huh?

I guess I'm just not tech savvy. Although I frequently got lost in the plot, this was a good listen..

How I love this book!

Charming. Quirky. Mysterious. Sweet. A love letter to books and friends. I have enjoyed it even more the second time.

Not terrible!

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Semi-fantastic, sci-fi, magical realism, this novel was well-paced & the characters were believable. Enjoyed the silicon valley references & insights, particularly. The plot was
intriguing & attention-getting, with great care paid to details on every level. Some of
it was a little too far-fetched & not being a teenage male, the dragon-slayer motifs
were lost on me. However, it was quite enjoyable & obviously a labor of love.

What does Ari Fliakos bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Excellent characterizations & distinct voices made it easy to listen to.

Highly enjoyable nerdly book about friendship

This book is a mash-up of so many things, it shouldn’t work, but it does. Role-playing games, epic fantasy lit, codebreaking, Dan Brown thrillers and tons of other references abound. The author somehow mixes all this with an appealing protagonist, a cast of characters worthy of any epic fantasy (or dungeon crawl) and comes out with a highly enjoyable novel.

[I listened to this as an audio book read by Ari Fliakos, who channels Wil Wheaton while doing justice to the humor and nerdliness of the story without going overboard. Would recommend listening at 1.25 speed.]

"What do you seek in these shelves?"

I didn't know what to make of this book at first. But as I got into the meat, I found a very entertaining story about books. Yes, that's right. A book about books. As one who has loved books for as long as I can remember, I could appreciate what Clay Jannon and Ajax Penumbra were going through.

The plot is a simple one. Clay Jannon, with the ink still wet on his graphic design degree, works for only a short time before becoming a statistic in the recent recession. He goes through the normal progression of job hunting: find something in my field; find something I have the skills for; find something I wouldn't mind doing; find something that isn't illegal; start re-defining "illegal." Almost by chance. as he is walking the streets of San Francisco, he comes across Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore with a help wanted sign in the window. He steps inside to inquire and steps out with a job on the midnight shift. He thought Mr. Penumbra to be a little strange, but a job was a job.

After working in the store for a few weeks, he wondered how it stayed in business. Hardly any customers bought anything and there was a group who came in regularly and would exchange books, similar to a library. Clay found out that these regulars were members of a literary "cult" called the Unbroken Spine, and it was for them that the store truly existed. Partly out of concern for his own job security and partly out of his growing fondness for Mr. Penumbra, Clay immerses himself into the enigma know as the Unbroken Spine. Clay enlists the help of his motley crew of friends and acquaintances, each having their own special talents, to find answers to the secrets the group had sought for centuries.

To tell more of the plot may spoil the story. But coming through loud and clear was the love of books. Old books, new books, and electronic books. There are people on both sides of the e-book revolution stating their cases. In the end, it will be we the readers to make the final determination as to the future of printing. Clay recalls the book he most loved as a child, The Dragonsong Chronicles, and the influence it had own his growth and development. It helped him forge lasting friendships and brought hours of joy to his life.

I own and e-reader and it serves its purpose. I can take hundreds of books with me when I travel in the space of a small paperback. But there is something about holding that book in your hands, smelling the paper and glue, and looking at the type printed on the page. That can never be reproduced electronically. And as Robin Sloan has discovered, books give their authors a little taste of immortality.