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Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

by Robin Sloan (Goodreads Author)

3.81 of 5 stars 3.81 · rating details · 21,315 ratings · 4,832 reviews

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...more

ebook, 237 pages

Published October 2nd 2012 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (first published 2012)

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Oct 21, 2012 Blair rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, read-on-kindle, 2012-release, overrated

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore is one of those books that appears to have the perfect blend of ingredients for something brilliant. It's a mystery/adventure set in San Francisco, revolving around an out-of-work marketeer and web designer who takes a job as a clerk at the odd little bookshop of the title. He soon realises that there is more to Mr. Penumbra's than meets the eye, and together with a group of his friends, he embarks on a mission to get to the bottom of the shop's real purpose. Wha...more Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore is one of those books that appears to have the perfect blend of ingredients for something brilliant. It's a mystery/adventure set in San Francisco, revolving around an out-of-work marketeer and web designer who takes a job as a clerk at the odd little bookshop of the title. He soon realises that there is more to Mr. Penumbra's than meets the eye, and together with a group of his friends, he embarks on a mission to get to the bottom of the shop's real purpose. What follows is a fantastical series of events involving an international secret society and almost impossibly complex codes hidden inside a series of books. It's a collision of ancient mystery and very modern, internet-savvy characters. It really sounded like something I would love, and it was in fact a really enjoyable little story. However, it's short - almost certainly far too short for all the ideas it tries to cram in - and at the end I realised it had been something of a letdown, for two main reasons.

Firstly, I couldn't escape the nagging feeling that it was very familiar, that I'd almost read it before. It didn't take me long to realise that this was because the narrative voice reminded me so much of Ready Player One, a great adventure book which I read about a year ago. If it wasn't for the fact that Ready Player One is set in the future, I could easily have believed that this story was being told by a slightly older version of the same guy. Obviously the stories are very different, but their voices sound and feel very alike. Also, the plot is similar to Lev Grossman's Codex. Incredibly similar. Both have a kind-of-likeable, kind-of-annoying young male protagonist whose sidekicks are a computer-obsessed best friend and an unusually intelligent young woman (who's also the love interest), a central mystery involving a peculiar library and a centuries-old encoded book, and the use of modern technology and software to help solve a very old-fashioned conundrum. (There's even one scene, involving the main character visiting a warehouse full of museum objects to retrieve an important artefact, which I'm pretty sure is in both books, but I'd have to re-read Codex to know for definite, it's possible I'm confusing it with something else.)

Secondly, I found it very juvenile. I'm only sure it must be intended for an adult market because all the characters are adults - I really felt the author's style and execution would be much better suited to an adventure for teens (more specifically, teenage boys). Weirdly, it felt more like YA to me than Ready Player One, which actually has teenage protagonists. It also had all the hallmarks of YA that normally stop me from enjoying it: lack of a properly detailed backstory; two-dimensional characters (the bad guy is a collection of clichés and a damp squib all at once); way too many convenient details (Neel is a millionaire who can pay for everything the group needs, Kat can get them into Google and utilise all the company's resources for their task, etc). There's no real tension or peril: it's too obvious any obstacles are going to be overcome easily. I did genuinely like the fact that the power of new technology was so closely woven into a story about an arcane fellowship of book-lovers, and the progression of the story illustrated that there will always be a place for both 'old' and 'new'. But all those references to Google, Twitter, apps etc are going to sound very dated very soon, and the fact that the characters could solve practically anything by looking it up on the internet - while accurate and funny - diffused a lot of potential tension.

I thought this was a likeable, quick and very easy read but I have to admit I'm a bit bemused by all the rave reviews it's been getting. It's a nice idea, but it's been done before and done better. Ready Player One is more involving and more fun, and there are countless versions of the secret-society-intrigue-and-mystery story that have more power, atmosphere and punch. (less)

148 likes · like · see review

Apr 30, 2013 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Rating: 3.9* of five

The Book Description: 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 a...more Rating: 3.9* of five

The Book Description: 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 twenty-first 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 reader, no matter the time of day.

My Review: A bookstore with no customers wanted. A secret society called “The Unbroken Spine.” A library of books in a code that even Google boffins have trouble breaking. In the end, a resolution to the seemingly mortal combat between tree books and ebooks that will leave the true-hearted reader smiling.

Escapist fun. Rollicking silliness. Eccentric amusement. All on offer in heaping helpings, with a garnish of goofy grins.

Election season has me on Outrage Overload, and my antidote to any ill is reading a good book. Short of terminal disease, I believe a good read will cure any ailment of mind, body, or spirit. I stopped frothing hysterically about Bain Capital owning an interest in a voting-machine contractor in Ohio for almost an hour while reading this book. Watching the evil-bastard GOP set up for another election steal like 2000 causes me to scream imprecations loudly, so Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore hath wrought a miracle!

Take a break from your cares. Read this enjoyable, entertaining book about improbable people doing implausible things to solve an impossible, absurd problem. It will leave you refreshed!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.(less)

45 likes · like · see review

Jun 15, 2012 Greg rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-about-books, fiction

I am so happy that we happened to be walking past the booth were Robin Sloan was signing, and someone was holding up a copy of the attractive ARC trying to lure people onto the line (which I now see the cover has been added to the book on goodreads, the book looks better than the picture suggests). This is good and I'm thinking if the world has any fairness at all this will be a fairly good selling book this fall.

In a perfect world this would go blasting up the sales charts and topple the Fifty...more

83 likes · like · see review

Jan 26, 2013 Mark rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Mark by: Richard

Shelves: first-person-narration

I have just lost the will to live. Have spent two hours writing a review of this brilliant book and then saved it but somehow Goodreads managed to lose it . Will probably kill someone if i sit here any longer so am off to the gym to do something sweaty, noisy and pointless and maybe will try again later. Very f***ing annoyed. Bye for now....................its a brilliant book by the way. I hate the 21st Century sometimes

'Your life must be an open city, with all sorts of ways to wander in'

'All t...more

43 likes · like · see review

Aug 26, 2012 Melissa Rochelle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2012, arc

August 2012: (First, I never read the short story because by the time I discovered it I already knew it was a novel so I didn't want to ruin anything for myself...you know, just in case. Now that I've finished the book, I'll read the story.)

The book -- AMAZING. I loved it. Really. It's chock-full of bibliophile goodness. This is up there with Ready Player One geeky goodness.

Clay finds himself unemployed (like many these days) and one day stumbles into a quirky bookstore looking for a late-night...more

29 likes · like · see review

Oct 27, 2012 Maureen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, first-reads, novels

**disclaimer: i got this book through the GoodReads "First Reads" giveaway program. nonetheless, this is my true and honest opinion of the novel!**

clay jannon, the protagonist and narrator of the novel is a bright young art school graduate who takes a job at mr. penumbra's 24-hour bookstore after losing his job as a web designer, only to stumble upon the mysteries that the narrow building contains within its walls, and within the pages of what he calls "the way-back list". there's no acknowledge...more **disclaimer: i got this book through the GoodReads "First Reads" giveaway program. nonetheless, this is my true and honest opinion of the novel!**

clay jannon, the protagonist and narrator of the novel is a bright young art school graduate who takes a job at mr. penumbra's 24-hour bookstore after losing his job as a web designer, only to stumble upon the mysteries that the narrow building contains within its walls, and within the pages of what he calls "the way-back list". there's no acknowledgement printed in my ARC to my old friends mr. peabody and his boy sherman here, yet i felt them hovering over it in their WABAC machine and the novel really felt at times like it was an extended, more complicated adventure of theirs. clay embarks (pun intended -- sorry, blame mr. peabody) on a quest to understand the secrets of the store, with the help of some very resourceful pals (including a hot nerd chick who works at google, and a roommate who builds models for ILM), and with clay's voice, in this quick and entertaining novel, the author robin sloan cleverly pays tribute to technology, to books, and to knowledge, and most of all, to friendship.

i enjoy books that contain puzzles. i adore intertextuality, and i thrill to find books that have other books within them, and as one might imagine, mr. penumbra's 24-hour bookstore contains multitudes. some of them you can pick up at your local library-- with pleasure i found hammett name-checked early on. first editions of borges, the king of fictional libraries and imaginary books are boosted; murakami also makes an appearance (and there are apparently more biographies on richard feynman than i was ever aware of), while other books like the codex vitae of aldus manutius exist only in this novel that reminds us that the early printing press had a lot in common with the internet, that the technology might be different but the intent, to share knowledge and the human story, is in essence the same today as it was when the early publisher, whose life and legacy is fictionalized as part of the encrypted story in this charming, almost too contemporary novel, first brought key greek works like those of aristophanes, and herodotus to be printed on his press in pocket-sized editions for the masses in the fifteenth century.

in the same way a new reader relies on a dictionary to understand the meaning of unfamiliar words, i often referred to the wikipedia and the wider resources of the internet when reading penumbra, as there were many references to people and technologies mentioned with which i was unfamiliar, and wasn't certain were even real. manutius' pivotal friend griffo gerritszoon seems to be based on his real-life employee francesco griffo and it was with great pleasure that i discovered that hadoop and the mechanical turk were real tools of the tech trade. sometimes, i'll admit, i worried that these references were too esoteric - i questioned an allusion to a bloomberg terminal probably supposed to inform the description of another technology (which didn't help me at all because i had no idea what the bloody bloomberg terminal was either), but in general i found that sloan embedded his technical terminology with dexterity, folding it into his narrative with good context and understanding of the general audience that would receive his book. sometimes my suspension of disbelief was hard-pressed by the convenience of the resources at clay's disposal as he unravels the secrets of penumbra's store but ultimately i embraced them, as part of the puzzle that i was unpacking as a reader, a lover of knowledge, and if you will, a literary detective. (less)

24 likes · like · see review

Jan 05, 2013 Ami rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature-fiction, 5-stars_rating

Forgive me, people, this review will be all gushing!

This book charmed me from the very beginning -- with fresh internal monologues, from Clay Jannon, a recent unemployed young man, who just lost his first job out of art school... Then he walks into a bookstore (OMG BOOKSTORE!!) and he climbs the ladder, and I'm in love.

How could I not?

This book is a love letter for books, bibliophiles, but also for technology. We know that the world of books, publishings, and reading have changed in the recen...more Forgive me, people, this review will be all gushing!

This book charmed me from the very beginning -- with fresh internal monologues, from Clay Jannon, a recent unemployed young man, who just lost his first job out of art school... Then he walks into a bookstore (OMG BOOKSTORE!!) and he climbs the ladder, and I'm in love.

How could I not?

This book is a love letter for books, bibliophiles, but also for technology. We know that the world of books, publishings, and reading have changed in the recent years, thanks to the wonderful world of Internet. There are ebooks, ereaders (Kindles, Nook, Kobo, etc), and tablets. We start looking for definitions from Google (instead of those huge print dictionaries). We start looking for facts on Wikipedia. It's NEW, it's EXCITING!

This book refers to all that. It combines the wonderful world of stories (fonts! printings! hidden messages in stories!!), manual crafting (people making props for movies! Knittings!) and technology (data visualization! GOOGLE! computer language!) and creates a great adventure for a simple reader, like myself. It's not futuristic, it's not high fantasy, it's simply a use of contemporary items around us ... and of course, BOOKS!

I'm simply in love with the feeling that this book evokes. I feel like I'm right there with Clay, and his eccletic friends: there's Kat, the smart girl working at Google, there's Neel, his millionaire best-friends who is making money by creating the best BOOBS visual in the world (yes, people, BOOBS!), Mat who is an extraordinaire with props, and of course, Mr. Penumbra, the owner of the store who is also involved in a secret literary group. And it keeps the right balance between books and technology. Just when I think technology will win it all, to solve everything, the book throws a twist. That nope, the great human mind can still win. It's just so, SO amazing.

The book is not without flaws. I'm quite disappointed that the whole adventure pretty much happens at Google or at the store. I sort of want the story to go all "Indiana Jones" or "National Treasure", you know, with secret caves, and such. Also, the very VERY contemporary feeling of this story, might make it go outdated quicky. But in the end, I go back to the whole feeling I have when I'm reading this. It's excitement, it's happiness, it's like being with friends who are really, really enthusiastic about the things I love.

“After that, the book will fade, the way all books fade in your mind. But I hope you will remember this:

A man walking fast down a dark lonely street. Quick steps and hard breathing, all wonder and need. A bell above a door and the tinkle it makes. A clerk and a ladder and warm golden light, and then: the right book exactly, at exactly the right time.”

And the last sentence just makes me all shivery and tingly ... because yes, the RIGHT BOOK, at exactly THE RIGHT TIME, will make everything worth while *sigh*
(less)

34 likes · like · see review

Oct 26, 2012 Louize rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Those who want the answer to the greatest question...

Recommended to Louize by: Aldrin

Shelves: favorites

Same thoughts from The Page Walker.

HOW TO LIVE FOREVER?

I have an ebook for a while now, but did not bother even browsing through until my friend, up there, started reading it. When I finally started, I realized what I almost missed.

Clay Jannon was unemployed, another victim of the financial downturn. His job hunting led him to a local bookstore, and was immediately hired as the night clerk. It’s not unusual that there were fewer shoppers during the night –it was mostly dull, unproductive, and...more

7 likes · like · see review

Nov 03, 2012 Kwoomac rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, adventure, amateur-sleuth, books-about-books, contemporary-lit, quest, reviewed

This is a love story. About books. Robin Sloan does an incredible job of cramming a lot into a relatively short novel. While I must admit the whole computer/google thing went right over my head, it was still fascinating to read about it. Every optical eigenvalue is being inveigled. What the heck? I'm also not into role-playing games (although I"m addicted to "The Guild"), but it was so much fun to watch Clay and his friends get the chance to play out their real life quest. There's loads to learn...more

15 likes · like · see review

Jan 18, 2013 Emily rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, i-wouldn-t-mind-that-life, interiors, mysteries, favorites, like-a-cloister

stunning. i loved it; considered it marvelous from page one. if it were a board book, i would slip it into my greedy mouth and chew. it has all the facets of a great story: relatable characters, a stealthy adventure, BOOKS, a quasi-romance, secret societies--what's not to crush on here?

since reading this i've tried to foist this book on several people i know. to my mother:
"hey, i found a book i think you'd like. it has a scholarly mystery, dweebishly fun characters and an adventure crusade that...more stunning. i loved it; considered it marvelous from page one. if it were a board book, i would slip it into my greedy mouth and chew. it has all the facets of a great story: relatable characters, a stealthy adventure, BOOKS, a quasi-romance, secret societies--what's not to crush on here?

since reading this i've tried to foist this book on several people i know. to my mother:
"hey, i found a book i think you'd like. it has a scholarly mystery, dweebishly fun characters and an adventure crusade that revolves around15th century printing. remember that class i took? and technology, oh the technology! read it!"

her reply: "technology? ohhhhhhhhh, i don't think i'd like that." in that ever diminishing way that tells you she completely didn't hear anything you said except the word "technology" and she is both apprehensive and in denial of its existence which causes her to whisper when it’s mentioned.

like any good book dealer, i tried an old professor, too. i said in my email: "you might like it. i've read reviews in which people compare it to a more cheerful version of "name of the rose."

to which he replied (i quote): "Name of the Rose was a huge bore as is most everything else by Umberto Eco. Can remember Bernhard raging about invitations to this and/or that literary conference in Europe with an opening note......Umberto Eco will attend! You can imagine what Bernhard had to say about that and of course TB did not attend."

okay, so i'm 0-2. but here's why YOU should read this book. the writing is fluid and charming. the main characters are lovingly painted and so real that you want to meet them for coffee and ask what their latest undertaking might be. the mystery is sweet, sometimes sad, but ultimately the journey is the end--which you will appreciate. i know it.

some of the technologies discussed in this book are jaw-dropping. i am not a techie, but even i could understand what was going on (at least a little) which means you will too.

the stride, the language---just all around creatively sophisticated and taut. if this were an alcoholic drink, it would slide down the throat with ease and give a warm glow to the face. it would not be the type of drink that would cause you to call someone a whore or hit on the pizza delivery person. that is a good thing.

it goes something like this: toby our protagonist, down on his luck in this wasteland of an economy, takes a job at penumbra's 24 bookstore so he doesn't have to move back in with his parents like so many of his friends in these crappy economic times (hear! hear!). while working at the odd bookshop, he discovers that the books on the shelves aren't exactly what they appear to be--nor are the customers.

and that's really all i can say before giving any of the plot away. i finished this book with a smile on my face. i had dreams about sitting on santa's lap that night and eating cucumber sandwiches with sherlock holmes in a teashop in london (disclaimer: none of those events happen in this book, it just produces such sentiments). yes, this book has this power.
read it and dream.
(less)

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Nov 05, 2012 Lisa Christen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a must read!! It is fun. It is happy. It is silly. It is part fantasy (kind of). It is part Google-computer-program-wow. It is about love and friendship. It is about books. It is about code breaking. It is about high-tech data stuff. It is about love, adventure, the secret to eternal life, and it is all pretty much set in a skinny bookstore set next door to a strip club in San Francisco. Oh, and there are some guys in the story that wear black capes.

Clay Jannon is our story teller. He is...more

15 likes · like · see review

Mar 14, 2013 Lena rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I developed a deep fondness for this book before I even opened it because when I picked it up and turned out the light, I discovered the cover is glow-in-the-dark.

The twenty-something protagonist of the story, Clay, is an out-of-work web designer who stumbles into a job running the graveyard shift of the titular bookstore. It's not long before Clay learns that the books on the towering shelves are very eccentric, and the clientele who read them even more so. As the story progresses and Clay use...more

15 likes · like · see review

Apr 02, 2013 Ellie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2013-individualchallenge, books-about-books, fiction, popular-escape, literary

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan is one of the most fun books I've read in...well, ever. It combines so many of my most favorite topics: books, bookstores, google, hackers, plus young love and career path! Then there's some ulta-secret cult-like (although reminiscent of the Catholic church) spy activity. Plus my hometown-NYC-and one of my top 3 dream cities (San Francisco). Plus well-written. How could anyone not love this book?

Clay Jannon is our everyman-narrator-pushed out of hi...more

6 likes · like · see review

Jan 29, 2013 MB rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: typologists, coders, sf buffs, conspiracy theorists and those who enjoy sly humor

Recommended to MB by: the title caught my eye. reviews reinforced the curiosity

Shelves: read-in-2012, fantasy-urban-fantasy-paranormals, fiction

That was a ton of fun! Nerdy, modern AND classic. I'm going to be watching for what he writes next.

This book made me keep flashing back to Microserfs. Just modernized, fantastical elements added, more charm. I think Jasper Fforde fans might enjoy too.

4 likes · like · see review

Nov 27, 2012 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What do you get when books and technology collide? Apart from the obvious Ebooks may get Mr Penumbra's 24-hour book store wich although seems quaint and unassuming is home to amazing secret dating back hundreds of years. The story goes of a Clay Jannon who is a self confessed nerd and looking for work after losing his job thanks to the economic meltdown as a website designer for Newbagel. Clay hits the streets and comes across a bookstore advertising for nightshift work. little does Clay know af...more

6 likes · like · see review

Oct 20, 2012 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literary, all-time-favorites, mystery, books-and-reading, ethereal

It's hard to write a review for this book.

It's not hard to rate it. I knew it's going to get a 5-star from me early from the beginning. The review is difficult since it's not a thriller, nor plot-driven, nor has poetic passages, nor it's realistic, nor a fantasy, nor dystopian...and it's not about love. Those people who knows me know how I love books about love.

One the other hand, I also love books about books and reading. Nothing also pleases me more than to read a book and learn something tang...more

14 likes · like · see review

Oct 06, 2012 Hilary rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audible, audio, 24-hour-bookclub

3.5 stars. Cute book - I read it as part of a "24 hour bookclub" on twitter, which was very fitting since the author worked at twitter at one time. This novel feels like a genuinely-felt love letter to geek and tech culture, which comes with its pluses and minuses. To get the minuses out of the way - there are parts, especially the first part, that start to feel a bit like geeky shoptalk, and a bit heavy on hype about super-current techniques. And the biggest downside for me were some of the gen...more

10 likes · like · see review

view all 4 comments

Teesa I apologize for the random comment (new here), but I have to say I was not offended (and believe me, I can get offended by portrayals of women!). I do...more
Apr 07, 2013 07:03pm

Hilary I don't remember much about Kat's character because there wasn't much there. Kat was Clay's helper on his hero journey. Ultimately Clay has to have hi...more
Apr 09, 2013 02:22pm

Oct 31, 2012 Keith rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, ebooks, fiction

A wonderfully entertaining read. Any book that features bookstores,the Google campus, 3D modeling software discussions, references Aldus Manutius, a dungeons and dragon fantasy book series and an ancient conspiracy involving books has my immediate attention. The trip to the Google campus in Mountain View and a visit to the Google Book Scanner add more candy to the mix. Like all quest novels there's esoteric names and labels. One of my favorites is the Gerritszoon font (standard on all Macs accor...more

14 likes · like · see review

Oct 13, 2012 Ryan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

It's been a long, long time since a book has kept me up past the time I wanted to crash, but Robin Sloan did so unbelievably well. Indeed having only started the book yesterday I expected to finish today or tomorrow, but the story, characters, and plot were so remarkable that I just could not put it down.

First off let me say this is a book for book lovers. Secondly this is a book for tech lovers, and unless you have a solid balance of the two, it may be hard to truly enjoy both aspects. Instead...more

16 likes · like · see review

Nov 19, 2012 Veeral rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, adventure

Mystery/Adventure genre was never going to be the same after The Da Vinci Code was first published in 2003. It went from decent to okay and then, just plain bad. Brown delivered a commercially successful message to all the mystery/ adventure writers that as far as your final reveal were big and controversial enough, the quality of prose didn’t matter. So after that whenever I read any book in this genre, I prepared myself for every author to try and “out-do” the conspiratorial reveal of Jesus Ch...more Mystery/Adventure genre was never going to be the same after The Da Vinci Code was first published in 2003. It went from decent to okay and then, just plain bad. Brown delivered a commercially successful message to all the mystery/ adventure writers that as far as your final reveal were big and controversial enough, the quality of prose didn’t matter. So after that whenever I read any book in this genre, I prepared myself for every author to try and “out-do” the conspiratorial reveal of Jesus Christ having kids (It kind of sounds lamer and more inconsequential if you say it in just one sentence, doesn’t it? God's kid had kids! So what, dude? Go home now). Because if you were an atheist, you wouldn’t give a hoot about biblical history and if you were a believer, I doubt if it would trouble you if after 2000 years, Dan Brown (being an awesome historian) uncovered Jesus Christ’s lineage and wrote the “truth”.

My point of saying all this is, when I started reading 'Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore', I was dreading the same thing. Especially after reading the plot:

Clay Jannon is our protagonist who like everybody else is feeling the pinch of current economic recession and so is out of job. Enter Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore. He gets the night shift from 10 pm to 6 am at Penumbra’s 24-hour bookstore. But there are hardly any random customers. And there are some weird rules for working for Mr. Penumbra. The permanent customers visit the bookstore at weird hours and are always in a hurry. Clay suspects that they might be a part of some book cult. So, with the help of his girlfriend who works at Google, his artsy roommate and his millionaire childhood friend, Clay decides to find out more about Mr. Penumbra’s secret cult.

There. Now you can guess what I am talking about. But thankfully enough, Mr. Sloan didn’t join the “out-do Brown” bandwagon. He could have. But he didn’t. As a result, reading this book felt like having a cool refreshing lemonade on an especially hot afternoon.

Moreover, the novel is kept comparatively short, rather than dragging it to 500-600 page mark that has somehow become a standard nowadays.

Given, some readers may find that they have had an underwhelming experience after completing this book. But I would have to disagree.

Of all the conspiracy theories that can come true tomorrow in the real world, a story something like this has every chance of being the one. The amount of restrain shown on the author’s part is quite commendable. Here you are, writing your first novel length book. You have got a good premise (basically book porn for booklovers, i.e. a book about books). There is a book cult of weird personalities. Secrets hidden in books. I mean, you would be tempted to take it to any level, even though it might feel colossally absurd to your readers. Say, the aliens taught us their language. Say, this is not the real planet Earth that we are living in. Say, Atlantis and/or lost city of Z were real. Anything, really. Just so you can rub it in the collective faces of other mystery/adventure writers. But as I said earlier, Robin Sloan kept his feet on the ground and has written a normal yet very good story with a totally believable climax.

So, why only 4 stars? Google ate the 5th one. I couldn't have been more happier if Google was not mentioned after every 3 consecutive pages. I even dreaded at one point that Larry Page and Sergey Brin might make a brief appearance but thankfully that didn’t happen.

All in all, a very promising first novel. I am eagerly waiting for Robin Sloan’s next book.(less)

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Nov 09, 2012 Libby rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, read-in-2012

Meh - 1.5 stars because the plot was interesting enough that I finished the book and there were some funny moments. While Mr. Sloan is imaginative and quick witted it does not make up for poor writing and boring characters. The book is just bad first person narrative. This would be an acceptable as a Syfy Saturday movie but not for a novel.For example "It's early in the morning. We came straight from the airport. Neel visits Manhattan all the time for business and I used to take the train down f...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Ben rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ugh, not recommended. I considered stopping reading several times, but it was such a quick read that I just sped on through.

The novel made a dramatization of numerous topics that I do feel like I have a bit of expertise around - San Francisco, Googlers, data visualization, encryption - and the book's representation came off as a shallow, borderline painful overt dramatization. It seemed ridiculous. I know little of the author's background, but the novel itself gave the impression of too strong a...more

12 likes · like · see review

Nov 01, 2012 Greg rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Argh. For whatever reason it's taking forever to organize my thoughts into coherence. So they won't be. Coherent that is.

Penumbra's has a surprising amount of thematic weight for a "light" read. Penumbra's talks about friendship, technology, cults, isolation, ennui, passion, simplicity, old-worlds, it's all there. Is it a little packed in? Probably, though here I think the deceptive slightness of the plot helps because you don't really notice Sloan shoving your carrots in with all that cotton c...more Argh. For whatever reason it's taking forever to organize my thoughts into coherence. So they won't be. Coherent that is.

Penumbra's has a surprising amount of thematic weight for a "light" read. Penumbra's talks about friendship, technology, cults, isolation, ennui, passion, simplicity, old-worlds, it's all there. Is it a little packed in? Probably, though here I think the deceptive slightness of the plot helps because you don't really notice Sloan shoving your carrots in with all that cotton candy yumminess. Ultimately I think Sloan's theme is as cliche as "friendship makes it all worthwhile," which makes me gag, but that doesn't make it any less true. This seems a little obvious since the MacGuffin of the whole thing pretty much says it outright.

There's a lot about technology and luddism here (OK/TK), particularly about the book v. kindle because come on, how could Sloan resist? It's a fun diversion, but I don't think Sloan wants us to get carried away with book v. kindle debates. Since the rise of the internet, and then social media, writers write more and more books about the real world versus the imagined/virtual/technological world, always coming out on the side of the real world (In a lot of the Penumbra's reviews I read, people keep citing Ready Player One and I don't want to feel left out, so I'll cite it here). Sloan is hardly that simplistic. It makes me wonder, why do we need to put the two in competition. Yes, there's obvious competition, but you know horses and cars and trains and planes and bicycles coexist just fine, why can't books and kindles? There's benefits to both.

Penumbra's structure is a big reason it feels so slight and fluffy. The quest structure is one of the oldest in the world. We know it's rhymes and rhythms better most any other. It's hard to build tension with a quest structure because the reader knows where he or she is in the story and that of course the hero is going to defeat this stage because there's still a 100 or so pages left. We are smart we readers of books (or kindles). To his credit, Sloan seems to understand this and purposefully makes it harder on himself. Kat and Neel wave their hands and Google and $$ make their problems go away and all the tension melts away as well. That's just plot tension though, Sloan still keeps situational tension through his writing and characters. Scenes like Clay's night-time skulking and Kat's Google Army still bristle with tension even if we're reasonably sure of their outcome.

Clay spends a lot of time isolated. It is important that he have a clear and distinctive voice to keep our attention. Sloan succeeds in keeping him both quirky and normal with a big, fat, glob of neuroses mixed in to keep it interesting. Clay's voice is another reason why Penumbra's might feel slight, but readability is not opposite to quality. Just because it's easy and fun to read doesn't mean it has no weight.

Is it too current? I don't think so. A lot of writers talk in vague terms because they're afraid specifics date things and make things less universal and people in a hundred years time won't know what Google or twitter is. Ugh. The specific can be universal. The vague is always just vague.

Basically I loved it and will definitely read it again. Ugh. This "review" sucks. Oh well.

(less)

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Dec 07, 2012 Dana Stabenow rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Clay Jannon's an out of work software designer in San Francisco, who after much persistence in pursuing want ads stumbles across a "Help Wanted" sign in the window of Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore.

Now: I was pretty sure "24-hour bookstore" was a euphemism for something. It was on Broadway, in a euphemistic part of town. My help-wanted hike had taken me far from home; the place next door was called Booty's and it had a sign with neon legs that crossed and uncrossed.

No, Clay, nothing so pedest...more

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Dec 01, 2012 Brian rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

(3.0) Kinda fun read, kind of like eating candy

It's a bit of a treat, though I couldn't help but think of The Shadow of the Wind dumbed down to the style of Ready Player One. Player One was similarly fun in a shallow kind of way (best review, by the way). Secret society, hidden vaults of books, fighting factions etc. Shadow of The Wind was great, was literature, so kind of wanted to re-read that. So the core felt a little 'inspired' by other work and that cheapened the experience a bit.

There wer...more

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Dec 01, 2012 Christy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries, books-about-books, 21st-century-american-lit

For most of this book, I felt it was a four-star book - well-written, smart, and fun, but not necessarily more than that. The ending, though. The ending is perfect.

I am quoting the last half-page here, hidden to avoid ruining the build-up (seriously, don't read this if you haven't read it before) but included because I want to keep just this last half-page where I can read it again:

(view spoiler)...more

6 likes · like · see review

Oct 08, 2012 Allison rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

You cannot read this book without falling in love: with the Internet (again), with people, with the world. I know that all sounds very vague, a book cannot possibly make you love all of the world, but this book fills you with a sense of epic possibility; It makes you feel as if there is a secret world out there, waiting for you to notice its strangeness and vastness and potential, hoping you'll come find it; It makes you feel that there are friends who are (algorithmically) perfect for you if on...more

5 likes · like · see review

Jan 06, 2013 Audrey rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2013, idgaf

The story is contrived, the characters lack depth, and Robin Sloan's writing is poor and juvenile. I read to the end in the hopes of finding out what all the praise has been about, but I should have quit early on.

I'm not sure where the state of literature is as to include this on several "Best of..." lists, but I really have nothing good to say about this book. The premise is interesting, but it's wasted entirely with a shallow story and flimsy plot devices and caricatures. It should be an easy...more

4 likes · like · see review

Apr 07, 2013 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: finger-lickin-books

In the end, it's about love.

It's about the passion of unraveling the clues to clues to find truth in the end of The Da Vinci Code. It's about the childish wonder at the possibilities of magic in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It's about the boundless imagination required for A Game of Thrones and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It's about the adventures of The Gunslinger.

Robin Sloane loves books. Romping, adventurous, wonderous books. He loves westerns, he loves science fiction,...more

1 like · like · see review

Jun 16, 2012 Janet rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, egalley, debut-novels, book-club-pick, 2012-libfavs

This is not a review, it's a love letter.

I adored this book. Why? It had a likeable narrator in Clay Jannon, a mysterious bookshop, romance, puzzles, secret societies, a San Francisco locale (with side trips to New York), and a sly sense of humor. The theme of Old Knowledge (books) vs. Internet knowledge gave the author the chance to slip in scenes at Google, a museum dedicated to knitting overrun by first graders, information about fonts, a character who made his fortune creating realistic 3-D...more

35 likes · like · see review

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About Robin Sloan

Robin Sloan grew up near Detroit and now splits his time between San Francisco and the internet. He graduated from Michigan State with a degree in economics and, from 2002 to 2012, worked at Poynter, Current TV, and Twitter. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is his first novel. You can learn more at robinsloan.com and follow along at @robinsloan.

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“Walking the stacks in a library, running your finger down the spines — it’s hard not to feel the presence of sleeping spirits.” — 112 people liked it

“After that, the book will fade, the way all books fade in your mind. But I hope you will remember this:
A man walking fast down a dark lonely street. Quick steps and hard breathing, all wonder and need. A bell above a door and the tinkle it makes. A clerk and a ladder and warm golden light, and then: the right book exactly, at exactly the right time.” — 75 people liked it

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