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This novel has the slightly absurd feeling I love in most of the Japanese fiction I read, combined with real commentary on the nature of meaning and belonging as a newly-middle-aged adult. There's both the pleasure and the risk of throwing oneself into one's work, there's burnout and avoidance, and also healing and finding one's place in a community. I know I'm missing a lot of the cultural nuance, but I still find the story relatable.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5️⃣. An easy read with a powerful payoff.

Suffering from burnout, a woman tries out five alternative jobs successively, with the help of an employment councillor. Each new job has surreal or possibly supernatural elements, nicely capturing the fraught psychic relationship many of us have with working for pay, especially in Japan where this story is set. Amusing & thought-provoking. Audiobook read with a soothing warmth by Cindy Kay. Translation from Japanese by Polly Barton.

You never knew what was going to happen, whatever you did. You just had to give it your all and hope for the best.

I loved this: quirky, bleakly funny but made me think about work choices without being too didactic about it.

The long hours, the sitting still all the time, the intense boredom - once I got started on this job's bad points I could have gone on forever, but of course it had its perks too. For example, the amount of time I had to spend talking to my colleagues was extremely minimal.

I really enjoyed this book, it wouldn't seen such an interesting premise but I was fascinating by each job she took and wanted it to carry on. Definitely glad to have read it.

While recovering from a nervous breakdown caused by her previous employment, an unnamed narrator takes a series of temp jobs. Looking for a perfect job that isn't really a job, more a simple task. With each new job requiring the narrator to become more emotionally invested, even as the job description becomes less challenging.

Really, this story is Tsumra's subtle exploration of Japanese workplace relations and entrenched gender bias.

On the fence about this one. Some great writing. But i found myself grasping at the larger point.

I had high hopes for this one, but I‘m not sure what I just read! The narrator, having left a stressful job, works her way through five “easy” jobs, each becoming more odd as we go along. I enjoyed the prose and style of writing as I have done with other translated Japanese fiction and there were parts I really liked, but overall this was a slow read for me and although the ending was quite satisfying it came too late to completely win me over.

?January 2nd, 2022
I actually quite liked this book!
If the title wasn't already a big spoil, the protagonist is looking for an "easy" job after quitting her previous job due to burn-out, but she soon finds out that such a thing does not exist!
I think the morale is to find a job in which you can find meaning, instead of one where you do "nothing" :)

This is the only #CyberMonday deal I couldn't resist. I managed to get a few swap gifts (hoping their shipping is fast enough 🤞🤞🤞) as well as a few books for me. #bookoutlethaul

A woman quits her job due to burnout and proceeds to take up one temporary job after another her only stipulation being that it is an easy one. But as she moves from one post to another (survelliance, advertising for a bus company, a cracker company, a hut in a forest) realises you never know what's going to happen whatever you do. You just have to give it your all and hope for the best. After all, there's no such thing as an easy job..

#SeptemberWrapUp
The Tsumura was great! It was my favorite read in September. My book club finished the Ishiguro in September too and gave it mixed reviews. I‘d say it‘s a light pick for me, but I totally get the criticism. And I had my first encounter with an audiobook narrator I couldn‘t stand (Underland). Can‘t say I enjoyed the book itself much either. 😬

Total: 7
Print: 2
Ebook: 2
Audio: 3
Fiction: 4
Nonfiction: 3

#lmpbc: 1

Such a fun and engaging read about a woman trying out different "easy" jobs after suffering burnout syndrome in her profession. Strange and sometimes almost otherworldly experiences continue to plague each position from the bus adverts that seem to advertise for businesses that pop up overnight to a postering job fighting back against a cult. Exactly the sort of read I needed this weekend and great on audio!

In a certain way, this book is very simple—it follows a woman from job to job as she learns the ropes of a new situation, looking for something easy. That almost seems boring, but it really works! It‘s an exploration of anxiety and burnout while maintaining a relatively light tone and smatterings of humor. I really enjoyed it!

I really liked this. And I expected this to be way quirkier than it was. Basically, the main character has burned out on her job and is looking for something easy and fairly mindless to do instead. It doesn't exactly work out as planned.

#BookSpinBingo square 6
@TheAromaofBooks

The English-language marketing of this book really leans into the 'Weird Japan' stereotype, which is too bad IMO. The story of a woman who takes on a series of random jobs does have its moments of 'weirdness' but I would I would describe it less as 'surreal & unsettling' & more as quirky & life-affirming. At most, it exudes a gentle air of magical realism - particularly the end. Anyone who has had much work experience knows, work is weird! (cont.)

Job burnout is real, and when the narrator of this novel quits her job, she finds that maybe the alternatives aren‘t anymore appealing. My favorite jobs were her first, watching a video feed of an author suspected of smuggling, and another odd one, coming up with factoids for rice cracker packages. Each job has an interesting twist to it and the book had a satisfying end! #JapaneseLit #audiobook #hoopla

So excited after reading the blurb for this #hoopla #audiobook borrow! It helps that @keepingupwiththepenguins said it was like Convenience Store Woman and My Year of Rest and Relaxation - two favorites! #UpNext

A young woman who burned out after 14 years in her career takes short contract jobs through an employment agency. The jobs are unusual, but plausible- but as each contract goes on & she becomes more invested in her ‘easy‘ job, the stranger each job becomes. Light surreal/confabulist touches plus the occasional meditation on work & meaning tie her various job adventures together in a fairly quick & enjoyable read. #ARC

Which is more important, I wonder – not to be lonely, or to live the life you‘ve chosen for yourself?

I would agree with the blurb that this is sort of a morph between Convenience Store Woman and My Year of Rest and Relaxation. But, for some reason, this one didn‘t quite hit for me like either of the others. Overall good, but was slow in several places. #ARC #Edelweiss

Book 1 of 2021

Getting in on the #weeklyforecast action.

Hoping to finish No Such Thing as an Easy Job, as well as the audio of Power Hour. Both are from Netgalley so I can get reviews submitted then. After that, I think I‘ll crack on with Ready Player Two from my Christmas pile.

There‘s No Such Thing As An Easy Job is Convenience Store Woman meets My Year Of Rest And Relaxation, two books I absolutely loved. The writing is wry, and a little bit weird, just the way I like it. This is a book about the quiet desperation of searching for equilibrium, the perfect note on which to end the year. Full review here: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/new-releases/

Our mc, a bright, curious, single woman in her 30s, drifts between increasingly surreal part-time jobs, looking for work she can do without becoming over-invested.

I adored this book. I identified so strongly with the main character that at times it hurt - and took me an unnecessarily long time to read! I love the mix of surface-level quirk & not-quite-magical-realism, day-to-day life in modern Japan, & the very real experience of a woman trying

This is a free short story, A Ghost in Brazil, by Kikuko Tsumura, an English Pen award winning author. Her highly anticipated novel ‘There‘s No Such Thing As An Easy Job‘ (tagged) is due out on the 26th of November and is recommended for fans of Convenience Store Woman. Hope you‘ll enjoy.

https://granta.com/a-ghost-in-brazil/?fbclid=IwAR00WG9byXw2TgtWWix9-JKrMDhPWNDNZ...