Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore Review

 

*SPOILERS* :) Robin Sloan’s Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore follows tech-savvy Clay Jannon after he recently lost his job. He begins to work at the titular bookstore and quickly notices things aren’t what they seem. He sees peculiar things about the store: the book selection is large and unrecognizable, and he is told not to look at the books and to make extremely detailed notes of all the customers. Moreover, the store seems to make money with only a few regulars who don’t pay anything for their books. Clay is immediately suspicious and begins to investigate, bringing more people in to help as the story progresses. Eventually, Clay and his friends uncover the secrets of an ancient society and enlist the help of Mr. Penumbra himself to continue solving the mystery. 

I think this book has potentially interesting characters, but I feel they aren’t fleshed out as well as they could have been. Perhaps this is because the characters don’t appear enough to have full characterization, but a few of them still feel flat when they shouldn’t. For instance, take the love interest, Kat Potente; she serves as Clay’s tech wizard and has a connection to Google, but technology is all she ever talks about. She doesn’t have any personality outside of being a bubbly nerd; she’s just basic. Her character arc sees her going through a period where she gets absorbed in her work and loses her bubbly personality, but it comes out of nowhere. She starts as a lively nerd with an insatiable thirst for knowledge, and after failing to solve the greatest mystery in the novel (potentially the secret to immortality), she becomes a lifeless workaholic and then returns to her regular self in the epilogue with no real transitions. The change in her behavior is understandable, but it just kind of happens without any buildup. Furthermore, that side of Kat isn’t explored beyond her not texting Clay back, and I think Sloan could’ve done more fleshing out a depressed and defeated Kat. "Now she was throwing herself into the PM and mostly ignoring me." (Sloan 235). What bothers me about this part of Kat’s journey is how she is cast into the background when she fails, and we don’t get to see how the failure affects her. Overall, I think Sloan could have done a lot more to add depth to the characters. Clay doesn’t grow much as a person either; he is the same at the beginning and the end. I find it hard to believe that there were no events that could’ve changed how Clay acted. And finally, Corvina, the villain, doesn’t even stick around long enough to see how he is wrong. Mr. Penumbra probably has the most depth of all the characters, and even he suffers from a lack of interesting characterization. There just isn’t a good payoff for a lot of the characters.

On a more positive note, I think the settings in the book were very compelling, and they were made better when coupled with vivid descriptions and language. Everything was easy to understand and didn’t leave much to be confused about when it came to what was happening, which I think would be necessary for a mystery novel. The novel had a vast variety of settings that kept me interested, from techy environments like Google’s headquarters to more historic places like the Reading Room or even Penumbra’s Bookstore. The places the characters went, even when they felt a tad similar to each other, brought a livelihood to the novel and made it seem more dynamic, like more was happening, in a way that I appreciated. The different environments felt fun, and the best example of this, in my opinion, is Con-U. I think this is where Sloan’s creativity shined. "The floor is a maze of tall metal shelves loaded with boxes, canisters, containers, and bins. Simple enough. But the shelves—the shelves are all moving." (256). The descriptions of the warehouse set the scene very well, and that can be said about most, if not all, of the places the characters visit. Seeing the setting through Clay’s eyes lets us experience the world with him, and I think Sloan did a very good job painting the picture.

Overall, I enjoyed the book. I did and still do have problems with the characterization, but it is not entirely irredeemable. It’s a very fun read with interesting enough characters and a mystery that grew and kept me on my toes as it expanded. Most people would enjoy reading this book, despite its imperfections. Unless you’re someone who likes to sit and critically analyze everything, I think you’ll be interested in this book. It’s clear to me that Sloan made it with care and love for the reading industry. He has characters prattle on about Google and tech a bit too much for my tastes, but I don’t think it completely ruins the book. In my humble opinion, the book's greatest value lies in how fun it is; it’s lighthearted and has a very positive final message about friendship and the effects we can have on the world and other people. I am a fan.