MP book review

 Devin Brantley 

Mr. Davidson

Contemporary Literature 

15 September 2023

MP Book Review 

In Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour bookstore we follow a young man by the name of Clay Hannon, who gets laid off from his job during the economic drop in 2008. While wandering the streets of San Francisco he stumbles across a bookstore; Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour bookstore. After a brief interview on what’s his favorite book, he’s the new night shift clerk. Much to Clay’s surprise, he was no ordinary clerk at an ordinary bookstore. Mr. Penumbra’s bookstore holds many secrets such as the books known as the “waybacklist” and the secret cult that is responsible for those books. Before realizing the truth he was already knee deep into the mysteries of the bookstore with the help of his friends. Now with his friends and all the people he meets along the way, he attempts to solve the secret to immortality which the cult has been searching for 500 years. 

I really liked how the Author made Clay as a character. Clay isn’t the smartest or strongest person in the room, but he does possess a unique set of strengths that drive the narrative. Clay’s strengths aren’t exactly noticeable to begin with, but they sure make a difference. His strengths revolve around his curiosity, technological knowledge, problem solving, determination, teamwork, and loyalty. “Once you get hung up on something, people around get hung up too.”(Sloan 88) Clay's loyalty would be his greatest quality because he puts it all on the line for his friends. The reason for his efforts throughout the book was because his friend Mr. Penumbra. Clay's teamwork would be his second best quality because he values his friend’s contributions and is able to see the value in working together although he does things on his own from time to time. These two along with all the other great qualities of Clay makes him a very well rounded character and a perfect candidate for the main character. 

The dynamics of the characters is one of the best parts of this novel. Every character is their own person, not just add-ons to the plot. The Author, Robin Sloan, did a great job with that in my opinion. The characters have their own lives and they come with their own strengths and weaknesses. Each character is connected to each other in some way as well. It may be past relationships, or similar interests. The book makes the characters seem like real people who experienced real events. “Your life must be an open city, with all sorts of ways to wander in”( Sloan 157). This quote to me represents the individuality of everyone, not just the main characters. I feel like this is a way for the characters to connect with each other. 

I personally think that this was a great book. I actually managed to read the whole book which is saying a lot. I don’t read books often because I prefer digitized forms of content such as videos, etc. But this book was a really interesting read. I would 100% recommend this book especially to beginners or light readers. What's so ironic is that I don’t read books often but this book demonstrates the importance of books. The book doesn't take too long to get interesting and it has a nice pace. The mystery aspect of the book was definitely my favorite with none of the over the top spookiness and complicated riddles like most mystery novels. The book also teaches important life lessons such as friendship and what makes us immortal. The final message that Manutius hid was significant and one that we all can learn from. 

Comments

  1. Adussy ToadSeptember 15, 2023 at 6:22 AM

    I agree with you on the character dynamics, they each had their own interesting stories and seeing how they all connected in some way was really cool.

    ReplyDelete

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