There's No Such Thing as an Easy Job

I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did! It is divided into different long chapters, covering the different jobs the main character decides to take. She does her best in each of them, after being burned out in the past.It's like this book spoke to me. It reminded me of my young self when I changed jobs often and each of them taught me something different from life and people. How burned out I was in many of them. I could relate to the main character a lot.Moreover, I found the translation quite good, I go into the book so easily. Maybe the writing comes across as more western than Japanese but it works. Despite being one of those odd books, everything works out perfectly.

A thirty-something Japanese woman takes on a series of temporary jobs as she tries to assess what she wants to do with her life. An intriguing mix of weird and the mundane.

I found this insightful and at points hilariously surreal. More than one job gives you the impression that either something fishy or supernatural is going on, and all of them are interesting to observe. The first job with the surveillance of the author features a full page of her being upset about some sausage that he got a flyer for, but because she watches the footage a day or so after it happens, she misses the offer for German wurst and complains about it at length. She’s seething when he fries up some of that sausage and she has to watch him eat it. Wurst day of the week for her.In another job she climbs out of a window to escape a certain situation and because the space between buildings is too narrow, she gets out of there sideways like a crab and all I could hear in my head was Zoidberg going woop woop woop.It took me a while to figure out that the MC was female, even though it matters relatively little for the story (and if you read the back cover, unlike me, you would already know!). The pace was a bit slow at times, as there is only so much enthusiasm one can have for the problems of suburban housewives in Japan. In the postering job I may have lost track of who is who at points but it didn’t affect the enjoyment of the story in general.The protagonist is likeable but definitely has some flaws. She is a deeply caring person that gets too invested in everything she does and for every job I hoped she would stay on but she always left for a variety of reasons, some imagined, some real.

If you are looking for a gripping read, choose other book. This was a bit of a struggle for me. When I was reading it, it wasn't exactly boring, but once I put it down, I want missing it, I didn't have that feeling 'oh, what's next'. I'm not sure what the point of this book is. There is a young woman, who works a number of temporary jobs via agency. She tends to initially be very engaged in the work to quit it at the end for some vague reasons. There's no lesson learned, no major change that would occur. Just a slow paced everyday life story.

Quietly amusing and a good, easy read. Insight into Japanese culture and coping with the stresses and strains of working life, with an amused undertone.

Gift chosen by neice. Presume good.

A quirky and entertaining read. We follow the main character through her temporary jobs that, she makes her own for a time. You are acutely aware that she is trying to work out her place in the world after experiencing some previous work burnout. I savoured her musings on work, life, the supernatural, friendship, family and food. I liked her very much and wished I could taste the snacks she described in colourful detail.

Seriously?, When I read the bite - sized example one can get, well at first I thought no way!Then I read more and more, and I apologize for sounding heartless, I was laughing out loud, sorry. I am weird that way.What can I say I love it.Thank You 🐾