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Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
Apr. 14th, 2024 09:32 amI heard about Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan somewhere and thought it sounded interesting. But the reviews put me off adding it to my wish list. Then, it magically appeared at my local station's book exchange, so I thought I might as well pick it up, since it was free. It took me a while to get around to reading it, but this week, it caught my eye - and I read it in two days!
It's quite appropriate that it magically appeared for me at the station, since it's about a mysterious book shop, where members of a secret society are trying to solve a gigantic puzzle that may or may not lead to revealing the key to immortality. So, the book mysteriously coming into my life is a bit spooky...
Anyway - it turned out not to be what I thought it was going to be. I thought it was about a magic bookshop and reading - but it was mostly about programming, data visualisation, the Singularity and working at Google... I likely wouldn't have picked it up at all, had I known this - but I actually really enjoyed it overall!
The one-star reviews I read suggested poor writing, unengaging characters and tired tropes - and I can kind of see how some readers would have this experience with the book. But I was intrigued enough by the premise to keep reading past the less-than-compelling start. And, by the time I realised that the themes and topics weren't what I was expecting (and went into techie territory I have no interest in), I was invested enough in the characters and the overall story to want to see it through.
I did have an issue with Clay, the first-person protagonist, when he first encountered Kat and went on and on about how cute she was. But then, I thought - he's a 20-something straight man, so it's believeable that he would focus a lot on his attraction to her, even if it was a bit annoying. (And then a really cute girl walked into the cafe I was sitting in and my brain went on exactly the same journey - so apparently, that reaction is not restricted to 20-something straight men...) Also, he's as much attracted to her 'life spark' as anything else, and the fact that she's better than him at programming is a turn-on rather than a turn-off, so I have to give him credit for that.
In terms of the female characters, there ended up being more than I originally thought there would be - though the book doesn't actually pass the Bechdel Test, since none of them ever speak to each other, and none of them are particularly well-rounded. But then, none of the male characters are particularly well-rounded either - except perhaps Mr Penumbra, who was definitely my favourite.
I enjoyed Clay's visit to the Google campus in Mountain View, as I myself was a visitor there around the same time and it was rendered very accurately and gave me some lovely nostalgic feelings.
It's very light, there isn't much depth to the characters, there are quite a few plot cop-outs, and I can imagine a lot of people would be very annoyed about the 'big reveal' at the end. But I had fun reading this book and I actually really liked where it ended up.
So, a thumbs-up from me!
It's quite appropriate that it magically appeared for me at the station, since it's about a mysterious book shop, where members of a secret society are trying to solve a gigantic puzzle that may or may not lead to revealing the key to immortality. So, the book mysteriously coming into my life is a bit spooky...
Anyway - it turned out not to be what I thought it was going to be. I thought it was about a magic bookshop and reading - but it was mostly about programming, data visualisation, the Singularity and working at Google... I likely wouldn't have picked it up at all, had I known this - but I actually really enjoyed it overall!
The one-star reviews I read suggested poor writing, unengaging characters and tired tropes - and I can kind of see how some readers would have this experience with the book. But I was intrigued enough by the premise to keep reading past the less-than-compelling start. And, by the time I realised that the themes and topics weren't what I was expecting (and went into techie territory I have no interest in), I was invested enough in the characters and the overall story to want to see it through.
I did have an issue with Clay, the first-person protagonist, when he first encountered Kat and went on and on about how cute she was. But then, I thought - he's a 20-something straight man, so it's believeable that he would focus a lot on his attraction to her, even if it was a bit annoying. (And then a really cute girl walked into the cafe I was sitting in and my brain went on exactly the same journey - so apparently, that reaction is not restricted to 20-something straight men...) Also, he's as much attracted to her 'life spark' as anything else, and the fact that she's better than him at programming is a turn-on rather than a turn-off, so I have to give him credit for that.
In terms of the female characters, there ended up being more than I originally thought there would be - though the book doesn't actually pass the Bechdel Test, since none of them ever speak to each other, and none of them are particularly well-rounded. But then, none of the male characters are particularly well-rounded either - except perhaps Mr Penumbra, who was definitely my favourite.
I enjoyed Clay's visit to the Google campus in Mountain View, as I myself was a visitor there around the same time and it was rendered very accurately and gave me some lovely nostalgic feelings.
It's very light, there isn't much depth to the characters, there are quite a few plot cop-outs, and I can imagine a lot of people would be very annoyed about the 'big reveal' at the end. But I had fun reading this book and I actually really liked where it ended up.
So, a thumbs-up from me!
