Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
MR. PENUMBRA’S 24-HOUR BOOKSTORE
by Robin Sloan
Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2014, LA Times Finalist 2012
Date Read: October 5, 2023
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore is part mystery, part treasure hunt and partly a glimpse into the mind of its author, Robin Sloan. After reading much more dense novels lately, this was a breath of fresh air. Out of whole cloth, Sloan creates a secret society that is both believable and very cult-like.
The Unbroken Spine is a secret society of scholars that are attempting to decode an ancient book by Manutius. They believe that within this book lies unimaginable secret, including but not limited to the secret of eternal life. The book is written in such difficult code that scholars need to have a foundation in code breaking through the Founder’s Puzzle before they can even attempt to crack Manutius.
All of this is discovered by happenstance when Clay, an out of work graphic designer, is desperately looking for a job that pays the rent. He wanders by Penumbra’s and decides to apply for a clerk position. Immediately, he knows this is no ordinary bookstore as the books go up about 3 stories to the ceiling. Further, people wander in and present a card to check out books that no one has ever heard of. So it’s a lending library?
His understanding of the store is further muddled by several key mandates including he must never open any of the older, leather bound tomes and he is to write down who borrows what book, when and every detail about their appearance, smell and anything else notable about their countenance.
As Clay begins to dig further, he is able to include his girlfriend Kat from Google, his friend Neel who became rich on technically rendering anatomically perfect boobs, his roommate Mat, an artist for ILM and other random characters that creates a well-rounded and formidable team. Through this team they are able to break into the Reading Room of the Unbroken Spine and capture the images of Manutius’ book.
With the computing power of Google at their fingertips, they are able to attempt to crack the code. With nearly everyone form the society, key members of Google and other unbound scholars, the entire presentation ends in a whimper. They were unable to crack the code. Everyone looks at each other in wonderment. Does this mean there’s really nothing there to crack? Have all these scholars been wasting their lives?
The plot continues and all resolves in a satisfying ending that highlights the value of friendship as the highest form of satisfaction in life. And I cannot disagree.
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