Kikuko Tsumura – författare

_______________'Surreal and unsettling' - Observer Cultural Highlight‘Wise, comical and exceptionally relatable’ - Zeba Talkhani‘Quietly hilarious and deeply attuned to the uncanny rhythms and deadpan absurdity of the daily grind’ - Sharlene Teo_______________A woman walks into an employment agency and requests a job that requires no reading, no writing – and ideally, very little thinking.She is sent to an office building where she is tasked with watching the hidden-camera feed of an author suspected of storing contraband goods. But observing someone for hours on end isn't so easy. How will she stay awake? When can she take delivery of her favourite brand of tea? And, perhaps more importantly – how did she find herself in this situation in the first place?As she moves from job to job, writing bus adverts for shops that mysteriously disappear, and composing advice for rice cracker wrappers that generate thousands of devoted followers, it becomes increasingly apparent that she’s not searching for the easiest job at all, but something altogether more meaningful..._______________‘An irreverent but thoughtful voice, with light echoes of Haruki Murakami ... the book is uncannily timely ... a novel as smart as is quietly funny' - Financial Times'Polly Barton’s translation skilfully captures the protagonist’s dejected, anxious voice and her deadpan humour ... imaginative and unusual' - Times Literary Supplement

_______________''Surreal and unsettling'' - Observer Cultural Highlight''Wise, comical and exceptionally relatable'' - Zeba Talkhani''Quietly hilarious and deeply attuned to the uncanny rhythms and deadpan absurdity of the daily grind'' - Sharlene Teo_______________A woman walks into an employment agency and requests a job that requires no reading, no writing – and ideally, very little thinking.She is sent to an office building where she is tasked with watching the hidden-camera feed of an author suspected of storing contraband goods. But observing someone for hours on end isn''t so easy. How will she stay awake? When can she take delivery of her favourite brand of tea? And, perhaps more importantly – how did she find herself in this situation in the first place?As she moves from job to job, writing bus adverts for shops that mysteriously disappear, and composing advice for rice cracker wrappers that generate thousands of devoted followers, it becomes increasingly apparent that she''s not searching for the easiest job at all, but something altogether more meaningful..._______________''An irreverent but thoughtful voice, with light echoes of Haruki Murakami ... the book is uncannily timely ... a novel as smart as is quietly funny'' - Financial Times''Polly Barton''s translation skilfully captures the protagonist''s dejected, anxious voice and her deadpan humour ... imaginative and unusual'' - Times Literary Supplement

_______________''Surreal and unsettling'' - Observer Cultural Highlight''Wise, comical and exceptionally relatable'' - Zeba Talkhani ''Quietly hilarious and deeply attuned to the uncanny rhythms and deadpan absurdity of the daily grind'' - Sharlene Teo_______________A woman walks into an employment agency and requests a job that requires no reading, no writing – and ideally, very little thinking.She is sent to an office building where she is tasked with watching the hidden-camera feed of an author suspected of storing contraband goods. But observing someone for hours on end isn''t so easy. How will she stay awake? When can she take delivery of her favourite brand of tea? And, perhaps more importantly – how did she find herself in this situation in the first place?As she moves from job to job, writing bus adverts for shops that mysteriously disappear, and composing advice for rice cracker wrappers that generate thousands of devoted followers, it becomes increasingly apparent that she''s not searching for the easiest job at all, but something altogether more meaningful..._______________''An irreverent but thoughtful voice, with light echoes of Haruki Murakami ... the book is uncannily timely ... a novel as smart as is quietly funny'' - Financial Times''Polly Barton''s translation skilfully captures the protagonist''s dejected, anxious voice and her deadpan humour ... imaginative and unusual'' - Times Literary Supplement

"Haruki Murakamin kaikuja. Sekä älykäs että hiljaisen hauska." Financial TimesKansainvälinen läpimurto on kirpeän hauska kertomus merkityksen etsinnästä työelämässä!Nainen etsii työtä, johon olisi lyhyt työmatka ja jossa ei tarvitsisi ajatella. Hänen ensimmäinen pestinsä on valvontakamerakuvan tarkkaileminen, ja se osoittautuu varsin vaivalloiseksi tehtäväksi. Naisen vaihtaessa työstä toiseen saamme seurata mitä erikoisimpia työtehtäviä, kuten elämänohjeiden laatimista riisikeksipakkauksiin. Uuden työuran edetessä käy yhä selvemmäksi, että kenties nainen etsiikin helpon työn sijaan jotain paljon tärkeämpää.Unelma helposta työstä on Japanin arvostetuimmalla kirjallisuuspalkinnolla palkitun kirjailijan Kikuko Tsumuran kansainvälinen läpimurto. Kirja oli Time-lehden 100 kirjan listalla, jotka jokaisen pitäisi lukea vuoden aikana.Kikuko Tsumura syntyi 1978 Osakassa, Japanissa. Ensimmäisessä työpaikassaan valmistumisen jälkeen hän kärsi työpaikkakiusaamisesta, minkä vuoksi hän irtisanoutui, kouluttautui uudelleen ja etsi uuden työn. Tsumura on voittanut lukuisia kirjallisuuspalkintoja, kuten Ryunosuke Akutagawa- ja Noma-palkinnot.