#Kikuko Tsumura

[miscellaneous-03]

Nobody's life was untouched by loneliness; it was just a question of weather or not you were able to accept that loneliness for what it was. Put another way, everyone was lonely, and it was up to them whether they chose to bury that loneliness through relationships with other people, and if so, of what sort of intensity and depth.

- Kikuko Tsumura, There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job

#life #life quotes #book quotes #books #japan #literature #There's no such thing as an Easy Job #Kikuko Tsumura #book tumblr #bookblr #booklr

[quotingmyjourneys]

"What a wretched life I led! And yes, I knew. Of course I knew that there were innumerable things in this world incomparably much harder and more terrible than what I was going through right then. But just for that moment, I wanted permission to crank my unhappiness gauge to the max. I’d dial it back down, I promised to dial it back down right away. By the day after tomorrow at the latest."

— There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura (Polly Barton, Engl. translator), first pub. 2015, Japan

#There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job #Kikuko Tsumura #Japanese literature #magical realism #contemporary #contemporary fiction #fantasy #adult fiction #asian literature #books #book quotes #quotebook #on life #quotes that made me laugh

[youritalianbookpal]

Ten Questions Book Review - There is No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura

What is it? 35 years old woman has a breakdown and leaves her job. After 6 months, she tries to get back into the job market and she finds... Peculiar jobs, to say the least.

Who should read it and why? If you feel a bit lost, this boom might be for you.

Which genre(s) is it? Contemporary novel, though a part of me would want to classify this as short stories.

What is the setting? Japan, more or less 2020s.

How are the characters? The protagonist is really sweet and relatable, and the characters around her are a mosaic of weirdness that I really appreciated.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of the novel? The strength here to me lies in the creativity of the author. Kikuko Tsumura created a beautiful plot (plots?) that I have found to be very engaging. If I had to pick a weakness, it might be that I felt the ending to be extremely rushed. We find out what the protagonist's first job was like... 3 pages before the end? I think I always complain about rushed endings, but this is most definitely one of those times. I needed a bit more.

Did I cry and/or laugh? Some moments were funny, but not enough to laugh out loud. I was, however, very moved towards the end, which is also why I didn't like how rushed it was. You dare to leave me here alone crying?

Who shouldn’t read the book? On the back of my copy it says that this book is suggested to people who love Murakami, and I don't agree. While I love Murakami and I have loved this book, I think that this novel is extremely different from anything I've ever read of Murakami to make me want to warn people who want to pick it up hoping they'll find the next Kafka on the Shore. This book doesn't have enough magic realism not weirdness (though there's plenty weird people around) to be granted the comparison with Murakami. The book is amazing on its own, without making racist assumptions that all Japanese authors have to write like Murakami to be digestible to a Western audience.

Any random comment? To the woman on the cover, slumped on her desk: I feel you sis.

Which quote stuck with me?

“Nobody’s life was untouched by loneliness; it was just a question of whether or not you were able to accept that loneliness for what it was.”

#ten questions book review #kikuko tsumura #book review #there is no such thing as an easy job

[smokefalls]

The time had come to embrace the ups and downs again. I had no way of knowing what pitfalls might be lying in wait for me, but what I’d discovered by doing five jobs in such a short span of time was this: the same was true of everything. You never knew what was going to happen, whatever you did. You just had to give it your all, and hope for the best. Hope like anything it would turn out alright.

Kikuko Tsumura, There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job (translated by Polly Barton)

#Kikuko Tsumura #There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job #quote #fiction #2022 reads

[mervederya]

“Whoever you were, there was a chance that you would end up wanting to run away from a job you had believed in, that you would stray from the path you were on.” ― Kikuko Tsumura, There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job

#Purple outfit #pastel aesthetic #pastel books #japanese literature #there's no such thing as an easy job #kikuko tsumura #pastle aesthetic #pastel outfit #Book Lover #bookblr #book quotations #bookislife #bookworld #bookstagram #booksbooksbooks

[morgan--reads]

There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job - Kikuko Tsumura

Summary: A young woman, burned out from her corporate job, seeks an easy job through an employment agency. As she cycles through jobs searching for the perfect fit, she discovers that not only might there be no such thing as an easy job, but there also might be no such thing as a normal one. 

Quote: “I wanted a job that was practically without substance, a job that sat on the borderline between being a job and not.”

My rating: 4.0/5.0   Goodreads: 3.63/5.0

Review: In the same vein as Temporary or The Cabinet, No Such Thing explores the detachment of work through a fantastic lens. Essentially the chapters function as a series of short stories, each one focusing on a new and strange job. They build to a gentle catharsis, which I found satisfying. The magical realism leans more realistic in this book, but there’s an uncurrent of unease throughout all the stories that makes their reality feel unsettled. It really works for this genre and it heightens the anticipation in reading each story. Is the mysterious figure in the park a threat? Is the cult putting up rival posters going to turn on her? Is this woman trying to steal her job at the cracker company? Why is the trivia on those cracker packets so sinister? None of the stories escalate into outright horror and they often are lightly comedic, but they are also pleasantly tense, keeping the pages turning. 

#there's no such thing as an easy job #kikuko tsumura #book review #book recommendation #magical realism #in translation

[tinynavajoreads]

Recently Finished: The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories by Jamil Jan Kochai, and No Such Thing As an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura

Both of these books are one that I wouldn't necessarily pick up at first glance, but hearing what their actual stories were about, I was intrigued and checked them out from my local libraries on the Libby app.

The Haunting has been mentioned earlier on this blog, with the haunting surrealist stories of love and family and connection, especially to Afghanistan. It pulled me in in ways that I didn't think it would and kept me there with all the connections and intertwining threads throughout each story.

No Such Thing sounded cute, and a light read that I checked it out on more of a whim. But with each job change and each rediscovery of herself (the main character), I got to know her a bit more and to empathize with her. Working in a capitalistic society is hard enough without all of the emotional labour that comes with it. But by resting and giving herself time to heal again, she discovers her love for her work again and slowly makes her way back.

Both of these books had a bit of a surrealist vibe, while staying just finely enough on this side of reality, that you could see these things happening. But the small bits of fancy and flight gave a connection, a cord to the stories that made me want to keep reading them. I enjoyed both and would recommend you try them out as well.

Fair warning for The Haunting though, it does deal with war, and the war in Afghanistan and all that comes with it. Read at your own behest.

#the haunting of hajji hotak and other stories #jamil jan kochai #no such thing as an easy job #kikuko tsumura #ebook #translation #book talk #reading #booklr #book review

[clarislam]

Book Review: "There's No Such Thing As An Easy Job" by Kikuko Tsumura

Cover of “There’s No Such Thing As An Easy Job” by Kikuko Tsumura I’m back with another book review, and this time I’m reviewing “There’s No Such Thing As An Easy Job” by Kikuko Tsumura! “A young woman walks into an employment agency and requests a job that has the following traits: it is close to her home, and it requires no reading, no writing – and ideally, very little thinking. She is sent to…

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#4 out of 5 stars #amreading #book review #books #fiction #Kikuko Tsumura #reading #There&039;s No Such Thing As An Easy Job

[hoorayiread]

There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job, a Review

Sometimes, you just find the right book at the right time. I'm a person who has struggled with finding satisfying employment and only recently started a new job. I choose what I read by rolling dice, and this one just happened to come up.

There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job, by Kikuko Tsumura is a novel about a woman who burns out at her old job and seeks to find a new one that involves very little work or thought. She tries out five different options over the course of the book, with each job comprising a single chapter (yes, it's a 400 page book with 5 chapters).

God, I loved this book. Its a fairly relaxing read, as the problems the main character faces are fairly low-stakes. It's more about the emotional journey, although each job does have its own storyline with a sort of mystery that the protagonist needs to solve.

The novel does some very interesting things with the way its written. It has some pretty subtle commentary on the nature and politics of gender in Japan. The main character's bosses are exclusively male, while she gets a lot of comfort and support from her female coworkers and the women of her community. Also, the book makes heavy use of coincidence, to the point that the book almost feels like magical realism.

If you're feeling frustrated or burnt out at your job, I highly recommend this.

#no such thing as an easy job #kikuko tsumura #burnout #work problems #read a book #book review #bookblr

[quotingmyjourneys]

"It was really hard to work out if she was a kind person or a brusque one. I guessed that at heart she was kind, but when she sensed a potential obstacle in her way, she became brusque. Which, when I really thought about it, just made her a normal member of the human race."

— There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura (Polly Barton, Engl. translator), first pub. 2015, Japan

#There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job #Kikuko Tsumura #Japanese literature #magical realism #contemporary #contemporary fiction #fantasy #adult fiction #asian literature #books #book quotes #quotebook #on work #on work culture #faves

[fischiff]

palmstories　あなた

津村記久子　岡田利規　町田康　又吉直樹　大崎清夏

palmbooks

https://palmbooks.jp

#kikuko tsumura #toshiki okada #kou machida #naoki matayoshi #sayaka osaki #palmbooks #buch

[smokefalls]

Nobody’s life was untouched by loneliness; it was just a question of whether or not you were able to accept that loneliness for what it was. Put another way, everyone was lonely, and it was up to them whether they chose to bury that loneliness through relationships with other people, and if so, of what sort of intensity and depth.

Kikuko Tsumura, There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job (translated by Polly Barton)

#Kikuko Tsumura #There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job #quote #fiction #2022 reads

[bookscoffeeandi]

Kikuko Tsumura : Lekka praca nie istnieje

#Kikuko Tsumura #Lekka praca nie istnieje #glowbook #wydawnictwo glowbook #literatura #recenzja #recenzja książki #books coffee and i

[likeadesertisland]

There’s no such thing as an easy job by Kikuko Tsumura (a review)

This is my first ever review so please be nice to me. 

This book was originally published in 2015 by Japanese Author Kikuko Tsumura. It runs at 416 pages, making it a lengthier novel. So, what’s the plot of this book? 

This novel follows our protagonist, who is unnamed throughout the whole novel, she is a 36-year-old woman who takes on a series of temp jobs after quitting her previous job (from a nervous breakdown I might add). The whole story is broken into 5 lengthy chapters, or rather sections, in which each section corresponds to a different job. No two jobs are similar and each eventually comes to an end, whether it be by the protagonist's choice or not. She takes different jobs such as surveilling cameras, putting up posters around town, writing fun facts and advice in the back of rice cracker packing, and more. The main character enjoys each job just fine and at times humors us but also makes us relate to her hatred of having to work every day until we die. 

However, there is one thing she is adamant about every time she visits her temp agency. She wants an easy, simple job. She isn’t picky, she just doesn’t desire anything besides a sufficient paycheck at the end of the day. 

This book isn’t one with a plot that’s going to keep you hooked all throughout. I would describe it as one in which not much happens a lot of the time. There’s no big revelation by the end of the book. In fact, it's quite simple really. 

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

However, each job in this novel has an element of strangeness or a twist that keeps you interested throughout the book. For example, at her last job, she discovers a young man, the same age as her, living inside the park. I’ll stop there to avoid any severe spoilers.

In short, this book isn’t necessarily trying to teach you a lesson, or be philosophical even. By the end, the main character is pretty much where they begin, searching for another job in the future. It’s telling us the experience of our main character, which while fictional, may be very similar to the reality of young adults in the workforce, in Japan, and all over the world. That is, the feeling of being burnt out, but not being able to escape or even know how to cope with it due to the pressures of external factors. 

I really enjoyed reading this book. I don't think this book is for everyone, but if you enjoy books where not much happens then give it a chance! 

4/5 stars 

#spoiler #kikuko tsumura #there's no such think as an easy job #books #bookworld #bookish #book review #japanese #booktok #booklr #long reads #reading

[mycabbagesblog]

— There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura (2015)

{translated by Polly Barton}

#japanese literature #books & libraries #kikuko tsumura #book quotes #books #there's no such thing as an easy job #loneliness #translated literature