How Can My Manager Be So Stupid?
The Outrageously Entertaining Japanese Bestseller about a Bookstore Clerk Clinging Onto Her Love for Books Against All Odds
Will be published approx. on 1. September 2026
Book
Hardback
272 pages
979-8-217-18229-9 (ISBN)
Description
"The perfect mix of wry humor, fascinating characters, and heartfelt thoughts on what it means to understand the world through stories."--Kristen Perrin, New York Times bestselling author of How to Solve Your Own Murder
A wickedly funny office comedy about one bookseller's (occasionally) ludicrous attempts to understand her manager while against all odds clinging to her passion for books--the perfect read for anyone who has felt that they can't even . . . with the idiots among us.
Kyoko Tanihara loves books. Just about. But life at the Musashino Bookshop is starting to get her down. Instead of promoting her favorite stories, she finds herself distracted, tearing her hair out at the mere sight of her infuriating manager Takeru Yamamoto who can't seem to do anything but get in her way of success. From Yamamoto's useless obsession with self-helps books to his cringey remarks on the hottest author in town, everything about Yamamoto seems designed to set Kyoko off. All that amid her struggle to make a name for herself in the publishing world, it's tough for her to keep her love of literature pure and alive. Until one day she is handed a book that speaks to all her frustrations, and opens her eyes to a whole new reality. What if there's actually more to her manager's obnoxious antics? What if, just maybe, her manager isn't so stupid after all?More details
Persons
Kazumasa Hayami is a writer, born in 1977 in Kanagawa Prefecture. His debut novel 108 was a bestseller and later made into a manga and a film. He won the Japan Mystery Writers Association Award for his novel Innocent Days, and the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize for The Royal Family (Passing the Reins). His novels are almost all adapted for screen. Haydn Trowell is an Australian translator of Japanese literature whose work has appeared in Granta, Electric Literature, and Words Without Borders. He has translated fiction by major prize-winning authors such as Yasunari Kawabata, Maki Kashimada, and Rie Qudan, and he has worked extensively with publishers in Australia, Japan, the U.K., and the U.S.. Haydn holds a PhD in translation studies from Monash University and has a background in both translation and creative writing.