‘Whoever you were, there was a chance that you would end up wanting to run away from a job you had once believed in, that you would stray from the path you were on’
Sometimes you find some real gems in your book pile, but sometimes, almost in a serendipitous way, some books find you. 2020, to say the least, has been a real curve ball but one of the biggest lessons I have learnt is the importance of work life balance. At a time when I was struggling to figure out whether my job made any sense at all, whether it was worth in any way to pour so much of myself into the work that I do, this ARC request was approved and along came ‘ There’s No Such Thing As An Easy Job’
Originally written in Japanese by Kikuko Tsumura and translated into English, in ‘There’s No Such Thing As An Easy Job’ we meet our unnamed, thirty something, burnt out narrator as she starts her first ‘seemingly’ easy job with a video surveillance company.
Through an extremely honest and candid narrative where she speaks to us, the readers, in first person, we slowly discover her story and how, having reached burn out, she has left her highly demanding job to look for a role that is …. Just Easy, Just No Trouble At All. But is there such a thing as an easy job?
If you have read Murakami, you will easily notice a very Murakami feel to the book – magical, ethereal and thought provoking.
The overall pace of the book is gentle, but underneath it all lies a subliminal message about finding true satisfaction in the work we do; true, honest satisfaction.
As the protagonist moves from the surveillance job to a postering job, from there on to a job writing content for crackers, there were so many instances where I could draw parallels to my own life – like when our narrator shies away and doesn’t take very well to praise and where she just wants to stay invisible, in the background and just do her job.
An easy read, but definitely not a flippant story, Kikuko Tsumura has written a masterpiece that should be a must read for everyone struggling to juggle that fabled work life balance.
Final Words: I came away from reading this book, feeling healed and rejuvenated. A big thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing for the advanced readers copy.
This book released on 26th Nov 2020 and is now available to purchase on Amazon and Waterstones
P.S. featured image courtesy Goodreads
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