Rating: 3.5Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore is a fun, intelligent story about Clay, a unassuming clerk who takes a job as a bookstore clerk. I enjoyed the cultish aspects of this story and, not to give anything away, but it was a trippy way to look at books and what they mean. As far as characters go, Sloan has a set of eccentric customers who milled in and out of the bookstore. But in an ironic twist by the end of the novel, compared with the cults and the Googlers, they appeared very normal. However, I wish the book had gotten more into Neel's relationship with Clay, because I find friendships really interesting in novels, but the story was to-the-point and ended succinctly. Now to explain the 3.5 rating: On Goodreads, three stars means that I liked it. Some people think three is insulting, but here I gave it 3.5 because I liked the book. True, I have heard nothing but positive things about this book, so I went in with high expectations. But I wasn't disappointed at all. This book WAS good, and I DID like it. But... that was it. I got the glow you get when you read a good book, but it didn't stay with me. In other words, it didn't make me run outside and brag about the book to strangers. I do consider this a recommendable book, though; this is a fun adventure story, with many unexpected turns and memorable characters.
