Review: How Can My Manager Be So Stupid? by Kazumasa Hayami, Translated by Haydn Trowell

 How Can My Manager Be So Stupid? 

by Kazumasa Hayami, Translated by Haydn Trowell

Blurb from Goodreads:

A candid story of one woman's fight to find her way through her working life, while, against all odds, clinging to her passion for reading and for sharing books.

Kyoko still loves books. Just about. But life at the Musashino Bookshop is starting to get her down. Above all, there's one question that keeps going round and round her How can my manager be so stupid?

From his obsession with self-help books to his insistence on giving inspirational speeches at staff meetings, everything about Takeru Yamamoto seems designed to set Kyoko's teeth on edge. And, as the bookshop lurches from crisis to crisis, facing criticism from customers and authors alike, it's tough for her to keep her love of literature alive. Only the prospect of changing a life by handing over the perfect book keeps her going.

But then she herself is handed a book that changes everything. Within its pages, all the struggles of her daily life are reflected back at her. Was there more to her manager than meets the eye all along?

A winning blend of slice-of-life (somewhat romantic, occasionally ludicrous) comedy, satire, and human drama with a pinch of mystery to spice things up, How Can My Manager Be So Stupid is the perfect read for anyone who has felt that they can't even . . . with the idiots that walk among us.

 This was way too long - I was pretty bored, to be honest.  I kept hoping for more but the big twist at the end was pretty anti-climatic.  It really is just about working in a bookstore....  Hope you have better luck!

How Can My Manager Be So Stupid? comes out next week on September 1, 2026, and you can purchase HERE.  

I know it was a common sentiment, but I believed a novelist should put their writing first, above everything else, even social media. I realized my way of thinking was old-fashioned, but even when all the noise came from a writer I liked, I couldn't bring myself to enjoy it. If they had time to spare, I would rather they used it to finish their next book.