Book: Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore
Author: Robin Sloan
Pages: 288
How long it took me to read: 5 hours (with several breaks)
Plot Summary: Clay Jannon, recently down-sized from a New
Age Bagel business, finds himself wandering around the streets of San Francisco
looking to find inspiration and employment. He finds himself near the highly
intriguing bookstore called ‘Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore’. Never seen a
24-hour bookstore, he stepped in to respond to the flyer, which said they were
looking for a night clerk to manage the bookstore. He meets the charming and
mysterious Mr. Penumbra, who hires him to manage the store at night.
In the very first week, Clay learns that the ‘bookstore’ is
not what it seems. To start with, it does not stock the usual bestseller and
the typical ‘vampire’ and ‘wizard’ type of books. More importantly, all it
seems to stock are very ancient-looking books full of codes. These books and
their coded messages are supposed to lead to a big, life-altering secret that
can, potentially, change the world. Intrigued, Clay tries to find out more and
it is this curiosity, which leads him and his friends on an adventure of a
lifetime- one that changes them all.
Characters: First of all, there is Clay, twenty-something,
designer by training. Clay is the voice of this book and his is a funny, wry
and nerdy voice, which is delightful to read. Along for the ride on this
adventure are Clay’s friends Neel, Kat and, in ways big and small, Mat.
Neel Shah is Clay’s childhood friend and fellow lover of
comic books and warlock adventures. Neel, a dot-com millionaire is as intrigued
by Mr.Penumbra’s Bookstore as Clay and is an integral part of the adventure in solving
the coded mystery of the books.
Kat Potente, a ‘Googler’ (Google employee) is a brilliant
data visualization professional and Clay’s romantic interest. Kat is a firm
believer in the potential for humans to achieve immortality and is a genius
when it comes to making sense of codes and large amounts of data.
Mat is Clay’s roommate and is fantastic at building 3-D
models of anything. His skills play an interesting and crucial role in cracking
the first big break-through in the literary mystery.
Last, but not the least, there is Mr. Penumbra- who, as you
might have guessed from the title, owns the 24-hour bookstore. He is rather old
but intelligent, mysterious and a bit of a rule-breaker. He is at the center of
this literary mystery that hides in his bookstore and is very invested in
seeing it solved because solving this mystery has been his life’s work.
What I liked: Um, this book, pretty much, had me at hello! The
word ‘bookstore’ in the title was what drew me to it and true to my
expectations, the book did not disappoint. Mr. Penumbra’s Bookstore seems like
a magical, book-lovers paradise come to life! Tall shelves filled with old,
well-loved books, the divine book-y smell that one can only find in a library
these days. It sounds like a place I’d love! Now add an element of mystery, adventure
and technology to it and you have a winner of a book.
I also enjoyed getting to know all the characters of this
book- Clay and his friends who are, essentially, super-bright adventurers. Each
character is relatable and real and nerdy- they were all delightful to read
about.
What I didn’t like: The actual big mystery was, sort of, a
bit of a let-down. I had expected something big, not exactly what was hinted in
the book (that seemed a tad impossible) but something equally big nonetheless.
So, that was a bit disappointing. (Sorry, if this sounds vague, but I don’t want
to spoil the book for those who want to read it).
Will you like it? Yes. Especially, if you like books and
mysteries and quests.
Rating: 4/5
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