How Can My Manager Be So Stupid by Kazumasa Hayami

About the book: Kyoko Tanihara still loves books. Just about.

But life at the Musashino Bookstore is starting to get her down. Instead of promoting her favourite stories, she finds herself distracted, tearing her hair out at the mere sight of her infuriating manager, who cannot seem to do anything but get in her way of success.

From his obsession with self-help books to his "inspirational" speeches at staff meetings, everything about Takeru Yamamoto seems designed to set her teeth on edge. As the store lurches from crisis to crisis, facing criticism from customers and authors alike, only the prospect of changing a life by handing over the perfect book keeps her going.

Until one day she is handed a book that speaks to all her frustrations, and opens her eyes to an alarming possibility. What if there's actually more to Yamamoto's obnoxious antics than meets the eye? What if, just maybe, her manager is not so stupid after all?

How Can My Manager Be So Stupid (2026) is the perfect read for anyone who has felt that they cannot even . . . with the idiots that walk among us.

How Can My Manager Be So Stupid is translated from the Japanese by Haydn Trowell.

About the author: Kazumasa Hayami is a writer and screenwriter, born in 1977 in Kanagawa Prefecture. His debut novel, 108, was a bestseller and later made into a manga and a film. He won the Japan Mystery Writers Association Award for his novel Innocent Days, and the Yamamoto Shūgorō Prize for The Royal Family. His novels are almost all adapted for screen.

About the translator: Haydn Trowell is an Australian translator of Japanese literature whose work has appeared in Granta, Electric Literature, and Words Without Borders. He has translated fiction by major prize-winning authors such as Yasunari Kawabata, Maki Kashimada, and Rie Qudan, and he has worked extensively with publishers in Australia, Japan, the UK, and the US. Haydn holds a PhD in translation studies from Monash University and has a background in both translation and creative writing.

Rating: 5/5