This was one of my favorite reads of the year. Kikuko Tsumura's burnt-out protagonist seeking something new was a balm to read. I look forward to reading more of her works in the future. I hope they get translated!

I did attempt reading this book but couldn’t get into it. I even tried getting the book from the library but still wasn’t something i could get into it.

While I enjoyed the idea of this novel, I found the actual writing a bit challenging to follow as each chapter felt like it's own stand alone. It is a fun and quirky way to consider one's own history. An easy read.

An engaging slice-of-life novel that gives us a glimpse of the Japanese world of work as the protagonist traverses one job after another. Throughout, the reader is not made exactly aware as to why she keeps changing jobs, or why she has certain criteria that she seeks out, but the jobs and the character are compelling enough to keep reading to find out why. A quirky, enjoyable story.

In a world plagued with jobs that demand more and more of their workers without appropriate compensation, it is no wonder that so many people burn out, which is exactly what happens to Kikuko Tsumura's unnamed protagonist in her new novel, There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job. This woman in her 30s is done with the hard work and what's something easy ... and that's specifically what she asks for at her employment agency - an easy job. But she is soon to find out that there is no such thing as an easy job, as the title of this novel implies.

There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job follows the protagonist through her work at five different jobs - one in surveillance, where she watches a man on camera hoping to catch a glimpse of contraband supposedly in his possession; one in bus advertisements, where she writes copy for ads played on the bus line; one in cracker packet advertising, where she comes up with a novel idea for the back of a cracker packet; one in poster promotion, where she puts up posters in the homes of people and businesses; and one at a national park, where she performs park maintenance.

This book is solely focused on the narrator's work, so that is the only aspect of her life that we see. While I am a fan of career-focused novels, this one falls short, frankly because none of the protagonist's jobs are particularly interesting. I can see where the author tried to inject some "spark" into these easy, boring jobs, and while her ideas may do well in Japan, where this book is set, I don't know how well they will go over with an American audience.

If you can accept that a book about easy jobs will, in nature, not be the most exciting read, there is a lot to enjoy on these pages. Readers are given a healthy dose of Japanese life and culture, and will enjoy drawing parallels between working conditions in Japan as opposed to those in the United States.

I requested a copy of Kikuko Tsumura's There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job because several people likened it to Convenience Store Woman. But there aren't many similarities beyond the narrators being single, thirty-something women with "easy" jobs in Japan. While Keiko's convenience store job gives her a feeling of satisfaction and normalcy, the unnamed narrator in There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job seeks out jobs that won't stir any feelings. She wants a job without stress or emotional investment, and she jumps from one to the next by way of a recruitment agency.

This book is structured with one job per chapter. While the last chapter includes a number of callbacks, there aren't many direct connections between the others, which leaves the book feeling like a collection of short stories or essays: "The Surveillance Job," "The Bus Advertising Job," "The Cracker Packet Job," "The Postering Job," and "The Easy Job in the Hut in the Big Forest." Each chapter is focussed on its related job; there's no sense of the narrator's home life, and little information about the burnout that left her looking for easy work. Unfortunately, because each chapter feels so much like an individual story, there's little momentum to push the reader to start the next chapter when one has ended.

The narrator takes this string of odd jobs after burning out and quitting her full-time job. After she moves back in with her parents, she has to find a job—any job—when her unemployment insurance runs out. Her one requirement at the recruitment agency is that she wants a job that barely qualifies as a job. If I'd read this book in my mid-twenties while feeling numb from a 3+ hour daily commute and mandatory overtime, it might have struck a deeper chord—but maybe not. This discussion of burnout and brainless work occurs in a space where the narrator is strangely blasé about her salary, and where she doesn't encounter social pressure to have a better job (à la Convenience Store Woman). It's the friction between not wanting (or being able) to work and having to work that usually drives this type of story, or makes it relatable. Without financial or social pressures, or a sharper look at the narrator's home life, it's as though these jobs occur in a vacuum, which may be why the narrative struggles so hard for momentum.

I'm torn on this book. On one hand, I understand that the narrator specifically seeks out non-stimulating work and therefore a non-stimulating story might be inevitable, but there's something a little too dull about the presentation. The language strikes an odd tone—both stilted and casual—and events are narrated from a distance. Part of this is because the narrator is hesitant to get too involved with any job. However, the language doesn't liven up very much even when she does get more involved with her job or coworkers. It's also hard to visualize events. There's a lot of talk of going places and doing things but comparatively few descriptive elements. It's written more like, "I did this and then I did that."

Near the end of a few chapters, the tone is warmer because the narrator can't help involving herself and caring (to varying degrees) about each job. In the second chapter (my favorite), she works for an ad agency and is told to watch for "things appearing that shouldn't be there." This chapter might be a little too surreal when compared to others, but the mysterious element gives it a much-needed spark. The cracker-packet job was also interesting because it offered the most insight into the narrator's interior life and her way of managing job-related stress. This job requires her to research and write themed trivia and advice for the backs of cracker packets, and she swings between taking satisfaction in her work and indulging her feelings of self doubt.

Overall: 2.7 (out of 5.0) The comparisons to Convenience Store Woman set an unfair bar for this book. There's less here in terms of humor and vibrancy, but the stories might be more engaging if they were trimmed a bit (I don't think I read any of them in a single sitting, which is unusual for me). The nature of these five jobs leads to repetition, of course, and while this book isn't meant to be action-packed, there's a way to discuss mundane things that isn't mundane.

NB: This book was provided for review by the publisher, Bloomsbury USA (via NetGalley).

I've seen some other reviewers lamenting the comparison of this book to "Convenience Store Woman" and "My Year of Rest and Relaxation." Sure, it's not an exact parallel, but this book *feels* the same as those books - and I loved it in the same way. There was something so uncomfortable and unexpected about the narrator, and her decisions kept surprising me - but at the same time, she felt familiar. So many of my questions while reading were never answered, which will leave me thinking about this book for a while...

An unusual read about a woman who takes (and ditches) a number of temporary jobs because she's had enough of her career (you don't find out what it was til near the end). There isn't a linear plot and it could probably be read as a series of short stories as it's divided into five chapters which don't necessarily flow one to the next except that each time there's a new job. You might have a smile from the unnamed narrator's thoughts about what she's doing but I'll admit- the almost steam of consciousness gets a bit draggy in the middle of this perhaps overlong novel. The translation is a little rough in spots (or perhaps it's true to the original and not smoothed on purpose). I wish there had been a bit more exploration of how Japanese women are treated in the workplace and the workplace culture. Thanks to the publisher for the arc. This is a different take on the recent genre of (slightly) unhinged millennial women.

I loved the premise of this novel (and can relate, vicariously), but the execution didn't fully do it for me. I LOVE the idea of a book without a conflict, but I guess I don't love it in all iterations, because I found the level of detailed description in this rather boring. I can appreciate what the author is trying to do, and I think this book will be very successful for many readers, but it just didn't work for me.

A long, curious, interior, droll story of mundane work in Japan, where everyday anxieties and experiences contrast with slender mysteries and fraught psychologies. As much an insight into the Japanese way of doing things, this amusing if perhaps excessive story beautifully evokes a woman’s existence - her food, her needs, her emotions. We know nothing much of her circumstances and rarely glimpse her at home. Work is everything, and yet it’s nothing special.
A bit like ‘Convenience Store Woman’, this is a tale of working life in a weird world. It’s beguiling. I’m looking forward to the author’s next.

If you liked Convenience Store Woman, here's a book that you'll enjoy reading. The story is told through several episodes in the life of a 36yo woman who suffered burnout, abandoned her career, and moved back in with her parents, and then asks her recruiter to find her an easy job. That may be the gist of the story but it's the narration that makes it a really enjoyable read.

Thank you Netgalley for this e-ARC.

This is a funny but slow moving book that delves into Japanese work culture and explores contradictions of paid work.

The main character tells us she is burned out from her chosen career and decides to work with a temp agency to find an easy job. As she moves through a series of five seemingly easy jobs in one year, she finds that there is no such thing as an easy job. In each job, she becomes too personally invested while inwardly critiquing the illogical aspects of each workplace.

My main critique of this book was that it was too slow paced. This is why I’m giving it 3 1/2 stars, rounded up to 4.

That said, there is a lot to like here. I enjoyed learning about Japanese work culture. In each chapter I learned about new lunch and snack foods—it was fun looking up the Japanese equivalent of lunchtime Chipotle takeout. The book also takes us through a slice of the Japanese workforce: unmarried, mid-30s folks like the narrator; childless couples; parents struggling to piece together after school care. I could also identify with caring too much about a job.

Looking for an easy job, sure, The idea hits home especially now. We are all burnt out!

But what does "easy" mean? Is easy better than interesting?

We follow the protagonist through several mundane jobs in her search for easy, sitting all day in a chair.

I found parts of the book funny, and generally thought it was a pleasant read, but not life-changing, Hit differently in this moment, but not sure it is one I will come back to. Could for sure see this as an art film.

As much as I found this book interesting and pleasantly weird, and as real as some of the narrator's observations on working life were, I'm afraid this book fell short of the mark for me. First, it's so long: each job could've basically been a book unto itself. I started feeling fatigued halfway into job 2 and never quite lost the feeling. More importantly though, is the fact that the message of the book is pretty muddled: sometimes it seemed to be about appreciating good where you can find it, and then at other times it seemed to suggest you shouldn't get too emotionally invested in your work, and then at the end it just comes out and says that you should just throw yourself into the workplace thresher and hope for the best. Maybe I was expecting something a little sharper, something that would lead to exposing the surreality inherent in all employment and that's why this ended up feeling lacking. That said, it still has some good moments too it, and I think readers who are fans of slightly weird fiction like Convenience Store Woman may find something to enjoy here.

𝐈’𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐈 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐞, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞.


After burnout syndrome, a job that requires very little of her energy seems to be our narrator’s goal, the problem is ‘There Is No Such Thing As An Easy Job.’ With her unemployment insurance running out, she has no choice but to seek the help of a job recruiter. Surprisingly, she has the perfect posting of overseeing (surveilling) one Mr. Yamae Yamamoto, a seemingly ‘cushy assignment’- until it isn’t. Jobs send people like her ‘funny in the head’. How do others maintain their sanity, their very energy without becoming limp humans themselves in any job? How can she possibly find a profession with the right pace, that asks little of her? Could creating audio adverts be the solution, for businesses that come and go, places that seem to exist on the fringe of the bustling cities? Places she never paid mind to before, that leave her with an unsettled feeling?

Is it possible not to get too emotionally involved in one’s job? Maybe if she can concern herself with ‘cracker packets’, try as she might, she just doesn’t feel well suited to any job and yet she begins to feel something like a sense of attachment with a desire to quit at the same time. Just what exactly does she want in career? Working for parks maintenance should be an easy desk job, even if it’s in a hut ‘amid the quietude’ of the forest. Even if she is left with an uneasy feeling and strange, inexplicable things happen. It takes five jobs to discover that fulfillment is never a given, jobs are just like everything else in life, open to interpretation but never void of meaning. For people struggling with indifference in their career or stripped to the bone with exhaustion, this is a thoughtful detour. Not exactly life altering depth, more a meditation on the search for fulfillment. It was a decent read whose narrator has a certain appeal. It’s amusing to think that anyone imagines there exists a job without hardship. Though translated from Japanese, work bonds us all.

Publication Date: March 23, 2021

Bloomsbury USA

What a uniquely, entertaining book this was!

We learned little about the main character or anyone else really but the story was really all about the funny jobs she was sent on. Each one had something unusual happen that made her question whether the job was right for her. It had a magic realism feel to it that reminded me of Alice Hoffman . There was very little emotion, everything was told factually. I don't know if that is things got lost in translation or if the author meant for it to be that way.

If you are looking for something different to read without the suspense, big personalities and drama, this will be perfect.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC, this is my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job.

This was a hard book for me to review because it took some time to adjust to the writing style.

At first, I found it hard to continue reading; the writing wasn't bad but reading about the minutiae of the main character's day was tedious at times.

Then, I realized that was the point.

The author was trying to illustrate that finding an easy job, in which one did nothing wasn't the point, but to find a job which was meaningful and your presence essential to the company was what the main character was looking for.

Most of her wry observations were right on point, funny and absolutely correct; the types of colleagues she dealt with, the various bosses she had, even the way she interacted with the headhunter. It was almost Seinfeld-like.

The main character bounces through five jobs in a few months and through it all, she learns from her superiors, her colleagues, picks up new skills and discovers talents in areas she didn't know she had, but most of all, she remains hopeful and optimistic that she will find a job worthy of her skills and talents. You just have to keep looking.

This isn't a book for many people; you have to read between the lines and focus on what is not being said. It may be a book about nothing (like Seinfeld was a show about nothing) but sometimes our lives feel like that, meaningless and without hope.

That's why you have to keep striving, keep reaching and never give up hope.

Also, great cover.

I was immediately drawn in to this book - comapred to novels by Ottessa Moshfegh and Sayaka Murata, it just had to be good. Also, traveling through books during lockdown is my abolutely-not-guilty pleasure I'm so glad to at least have the time for!

Tsumura's novel certainly lives up to the hype and my high expectations. It is quirky, it is different and evry engaging. In a nutshell, it follows the main character who walks into an employment agency and requests a job wit as little thinking involved as possible. If this doesn't sound like the coolest novel idea in the world, you may not be intrigued by Tsumura's work - but I sure was.

I have seen some reviews metion a 'boring' writing style, which I have to disagree with. I think it's clear that the Japanese style is quite different from the Western one, which is something to be admired. But more importantly, the fact that Tsumura's writing is calm and a slow burn is rather symbolic of the plot - the heroine's sort of coming of age where she tries out the 'easiest' jobs possible, when in reality she is yearning for something more meanignful. It's brilliant.

Interestingly, we get little insight into her private life, which was absolutely mind-blowing and unusual to me; how can a book be organized in this way? In my opinion, this is as dark and symbolic as the writing itself, as the woman (who is, by the way, unnamed!) has yet to find out who she really is.

*Thank you to the Publisher for the free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.