店長がバカすぎて
(Tencho ga Baka Sugite)
by 早見和真 (Kazumasa Hayami)
Author: 早見和真 (Kazumasa Hayami)
Japanese Level: JLPT N2
Genre: Slice of life, work drama, comedy
Pages: 301
Amazon Japan Kindle: 店長がバカすぎて
Bookwalker Japan: 店長がバカすぎて
Japanese Summary
「幸せになりたいから働いているんだ」
谷原京子、28歳。独身。とにかく本が好き。
現在、〈武蔵野書店〉吉祥寺本店の契約社員。
山本猛(たける)という名前ばかり勇ましい、「非」敏腕店長の元、
文芸書の担当として、次から次へとトラブルに遭いながらも、
日々忙しく働いている。
あこがれの先輩書店員小柳真理さんの存在が心の支えだ。
そんなある日、小柳さんに、店を辞めることになったと言われ……。
English Summary (translation by Japanese Talk Online)
“I work to be happy.”
Tanihara Kyoko, 28, and single. Anyway, she loves books.
And right now she’s a temp employee at the Musashino Bookstore in Kichijoji.
She works tirelessly day after day under her incapable manager Yamamoto Takeru who is brave only in name,
and as the person in charge of literary novels, runs into problem after problem.
The only thing that keeps her going is her senpai Koyanagi Mari.
But when Koyanagi says she’s quitting…
Why You Should Read 店長がバカすぎて (Tencho ga Baka Sugite)
I am a little burned out on キャラノベル—light novels for adult where there’s no storyline or character development and each chapter is a cookie cutter episodic story—and I was worried when I started reading that this novel was another one. But I was pleasantly surprised to find that although each chapter is somewhat episodic they’re not cookie cutter and actually has a plot! Even small things mentioned earlier in the story came back in unexpected ways, which gave the world a sense of consistency.
I was honestly surprised to find that this was one of my favourite Japanese novels of the year (so far) because the protagonist has such a strong voice and personality.
Tanihara Kyoko is a single woman working at a bookstore. She loves books and reading but absolutely hates her annoying boss. The story is told in first person so we get first-row seats to what she thinks about her boss, her coworkers, authors, booksellers, and the customers. The distain and dissatisfaction in her internal monologue is then juxtaposed with her spoken voice as she tries to quell her internal rage as she puts on a professional face is soooo good. (If you’ve ever worked in Japan or any customer facing job, you know exactly what I mean.)
I loved how Tanihara isn’t perfect, she’s just human, and goes through a wide range of emotions that matches the situations so perfectly I couldn’t help but empathise with her.
This novel has an audiobook which I listened to while reading and the narrator captured Tanihara’s voice perfectly!
I found myself laughing out loud while reading this, and even gasping a few times in rage and/or surprise. It was a really fun read!
Why Japanese Learners Should Read 店長がバカすぎて (Tencho ga Baka Sugite)
This book is great for realistic everyday Japanese, both in terms of Japanese you’ll hear at a store and everyday conversational Japanese.
You have the casual grammar of Tanihara’s inner dialogue and her conversations between friends and family, as well as formal です・ます form when coworkers are talking to each other, and the very formal keigo while she talks with customers, authors, and publishers.
Saying that, it’s probably best read if you have at least a JLPT N2 level of Japanese because there’s a lot of advanced words and grammar spattered between the easy to read dialogue.
There are also sections where it’s very description heavy, but the audiobook helped make these sections easier to read.
Summary
This is a fun read for anyone who likes strong female characters, office drama, and books. It’s very similar to 私は定時で帰ります (Watashi wa Teiji de Kaerimasu) which is another fantastic novel about the frustrations of working for a Japanese company.
Try a sample for free on BookWalker Japan to see if you’ll like it.
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