Kikuko Tsumura

This was a wonderfully weird, hilarious, and dark book. Slowly following the nameless narrator, as she navigates five “easy” jobs after a burnout, might not be for everyone. But I enjoyed it a lot. (The easy jobs were: watching surveillance footage, writing copy for trivia on the rice cracker packages, putting up posters, and keeping watch on a huge park.)

There is a lot of absolutely lovely deadpan humour. You know, how some people can say the most outrageous things with a straight face? show more In this novel, the main character comments on the most banal things with the same straight face.

The darker undercurrents are also there - glimpses of the main character’s back story, things that happen in the last two jobs, etc. I also liked moments of magical realism (or whatever weirdness that was).

I liked the narrator’s attitude - there is honour and dignity in doing a job as well as you can, no matter what the job is.

The novel is very Japanese in many subtle ways, so I especially recommend it if you like to explore Japan via books (I know I do). show less

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 task that isn't too taxing. With each new job requiring the narrator to become more emotionally invested, even as the job description becomes ostensibly less challenging. Her quest takes her down many rabbit holes, with her self-imposed exile from real work acting as a form of personal liberation. She excels at show more working behind the scenes, with observational feats that her male colleagues deem both inspired, if not a bit distasteful for their own liking.

Really, this story is Tsumra's subtle exploration of Japanese workplace relations and entrenched gender bias. Tsumura experienced severe gendered workplace harassment herself in a previous job. But here she only give vague reasons for the career burnout caused by an excessive engagement with her work. Tsumura's advocacy aspires toward incremental, harmonious change rather than outright revolution. Her change is much more stealthy and insidious and far more introspective.

It does not read as a quirky magical realist book that I've seen from some reviews. It has something to add to workplace culture, even if it is only a subtle message. The one issue I had is the injections of British-isms from the translation. They felt out of place and the character an odd voice that isn't fitting with her tone. show less

The narrator (who I don't think was ever named, but maybe I missed it) burned out from the work she'd previously been doing for about 14 years, so badly that she no longer even wants to work in the same field. She's been living with her parents and her unemployment insurance has run out, forcing her to seek some form of employment again. She tells Mrs. Masakado at the employment center that she wants an easy job located as close as possible to her home, and Mrs. Masakado finds her the show more perfect thing: a surveillance job located across the street from her house. Literally all she has to do, all day, is watch video footage of her assigned target, paying special attention to any deliveries he receives or any DVDs from his collection that he interacts with in any way.

It's a weird little job. It's technically easy and close to her home, just like she asked, but she finds that she has enough issues with it and its particular drawbacks that she doesn't want to stick with it when her contract is up. After that, Mrs. Masakado does her best to match her up with the perfect job for her. She takes on a bus advertising job, creating audio advertisements for businesses located along a particular bus route. After that, she works as the writer of interesting notes and messages on cracker packets. Then she switches to a job that involves putting up and switching out various informational posters. Finally, she ends up taking on something advertised as "as easy job in a hut in a big forest." Sounds kind of ominous, right?

This was a strange and quirky book, in a way that was pretty much perfect for me. Not much happened, but I found each new job that the narrator took on to be fascinating. If she'd stuck to the letter of what the jobs required, she probably could have been perfectly content with several of them. However, the narrator was the type of person who became emotionally involved in everything she did. Nothing was "just a job."

In her surveillance job, she found her wants and needs being influenced by the target she was assigned to watch. In the bus advertising job, she became caught up in her boss's concerns and a potential mystery involving one of her colleagues. At the cracker packet job, the amount of attention her work received took a toll on her and led to her suffering imposter syndrome. She became so invested in her postering job that she essentially put herself out of work. Even her final "easy job" became a puzzle for her to investigate and solve. This was not a woman who was capable of just doing the bare minimum, collecting her paycheck, and going home.

I'm still not sure how I feel about where the story (and narrator) ended up. This was essentially a book about burnout, but I didn't get the impression that the narrator learned any techniques to prevent it during any of her various jobs. If anything, it seemed like she'd be inclined to burn out faster. Maybe her journey was about recognizing and accepting the type of person she was?

I don't know. Despite my issues with the ending, I enjoyed seeing the narrator tackle each of her various jobs. They all had quirky aspects that didn't always quite feel real - the bus advertising job, in particular, left me with questions that were never really answered. I could see myself wanting to reread this at some point - maybe if I did I'd get something different out of the ending.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job is a delightfully quirky novel that also pulls on the heartstrings with its apt observations on loneliness and fear of failure. It’s wonderfully Japanese, with its mentions of rice crackers, potentially unexplainable events and society over the individual. But most of all, it’s the search by one woman for a job that fits – be it easy, boring, inside or outside.

We never find out the name of the narrator of this novel, but she is willing to share show more many other things with the reader. After leaving a job that burned her out, she’s ready to start again. Living with her parents, she seeks out a new job. Preferably nothing with too much reading or writing or even thinking. Her employment agency sends her to a rather unique job. Her job is to watch the secret camera feed of an author who seems to do little writing and has an extensive collection of DVDs. It’s long hours and rather repetitive, but it seems to fit – until it doesn’t. She finds herself craving the food and drink the author consumes and it all gets quite dramatic. Perhaps it’s time to move on… As she tries other jobs, such as writing advertisements for a bus route, working in a rice cracker factory, putting up posters and working in a forest, she begins to realise that it’s not necessarily an easy job she’s looking for. In all her jobs, she has helped others – maybe that’s the part that lifts her up?

I loved the different roles that the narrator takes. They are so varied – who knew that writing facts and other titbits for rice cracker wrappers could be a job? The interactions she has with her colleagues and the community add to her journey of self-discovery, as the reader works out that her true calling is to help others way before she does. There are some little magical quirks too – the unexplainable that often pops up in the Japanese novels I read – such as shops magically appearing then disappearing. It’s not a major part of the novel though if you dislike magical realism. There are also plenty of descriptions of Japanese food, from rice crackers to hot dishes and snacks (breadfruit crisps, anyone) that made me wish for some delicious Japanese snacks.

The style of writing is casual, friendly and easy to read as the narrator pours out her work-related heart to the reader. I think Polly Barton, the translator, has really given the narrator life off the page. She’s easy to relate to and it’s oh so easy to miss Japan while reading this novel. It’s still very Japanese, from the devotion to sports teams, the looking out for each other and the almost-cult appearance but this is a story that anyone can relate to. If you’ve ever wondered if there was an easier or more interesting job out there, this is a fun book to read – and might make you grateful that your job is less dramatic.

Thank you to Bloomsbury for the copy of this book. My review is honest.

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