Tori's Reviews > Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

Maybe 3.5......I REALLY wanted to love this book. I was prepared to love this book. At first, it reminded me a bit of Shadow of the Wind - a great book about a bookstore. I did love the author's voice - he often made me chuckle as I read, as he not only wrote the story, but also his inner thoughts at times, which were clever. and I loved the setting of San Francisco - it is always fun to identify with a character or locale. My problem, though, was that this book had SUCH potential, but kind of just meandered along. I think it really needed some big conflict, or problem, or enemy, or something! there were hints that something big might come along, but no, the story just kept a nice even keel the whole time.
This story also, like the past few books I've read, involved a protagonist who, along with various of his friends, was very good at computers. He ends up working at Mr. Penumbra's 24 hour bookstore, because it was at least a job. Not a whole lot goes on there, but he finds out that there is a mysterious group of the Unbroken Spine who are trying to figure out the key to immortality by decoding an old book. It just sounds as if there should be plenty of possibilities for adventure there........ but like I said, it's very low-key.
There were some good quotes, thank goodness:
"Simulated light from the simulated windows casts sharp-edged shadows through the simulated store. If this sounds impressive to you, you're over thirty."
"Fingers of thought are raking the space behind the cushions, looking for loose ideas, finding nothing."
He also described the "cult"..."it might have been designed specifically to prey on bookish old people - Scientology for scholarly seniors."
So, this book was kind of a let-down for me. It was a fairly quick read, but I think it didn't live up to its potential.