Book #13. Mr.
Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, by Robin Sloan. Unabridged audio.
Back in 2009, I listened to
the short story “Mr. Penumbra’s Twenty-Four Hour Book Store”
when it appeared on the Escape Pod podcast. It was one of my favorite stories from that podcast,
and when I saw this in the library, I had to give it a listen. The novel was
very well-reviewed, landing on “best of” lists from the San Francisco Chronicle
and The New York Times. It also hit the NYT Best Sellers List.
The novel is more than just an
expansion of the original story, telling a substantially different tale. Clay
is a laid-off Silicon Valley tech guy who works at an odd old bookstore. The
store has very few customers, and many of the ones that do wander in are quite
strange. He uses skills with technology, and those of a cute Google-er named
Kat, start discover secrets about the patrons, and about the bookstore. And it
all leads to a confrontation with a 500-year-old secret society.
This is a magical realism
story, taking place in a world that resembles our, but varies in ways that are
oddly beneficial to Clay and his quest. There are helpful coincidences along
the way, and the portrayal of Kat as a borderline “manic pixie dreamgirl” are
issues that I had with the book. But the sense of adventure, the setting, and
the characters all combine to make this a very entertaining read.
The theme of the difficulty of
transitioning from old to new technology is strong in this novel. There is a
recognition of both the loss and the gain that technology brings. And as
powerful as the technology created by Google and others can be, the secret to
unlocking the puzzle presented in the novel lies in the old way of doing
things. And at my age, I don’t mind that message.
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