Description

‘Silly, poignant, and utterly relatable’ Mara Faye Letham
‘A charming, delightful gem’ Susan Coll
‘A wry read perfect for anyone who’s ever worked in a customer facing job’ Mackenzie Reed

Kyoko Tanihara still loves books. Just about.

But life at the Musashino Bookstore is starting to get her down. Instead of promoting her favorite stories, she finds herself distracted, tearing her hair out at the mere sight of her infuriating manager, who can’t 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 isn’t so stupid after all?

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.

Translated from the Japanese by Haydn Trowell

Publisher Review

Utterly delightful – the perfect mix of wry humor, fascinating characters, and heartfelt thoughts on what it means to understand the world through stories . . . It’s one of those rare books that, when I finished, I wanted to turn back to the first page and start again, greeting the characters like friends * Kristen Perrin, bestselling author of How to Solve Your Own Murder * Winsome, silly, poignant, and utterly relatable, How Can My Manager Be So Stupid? reminds us of the importance of both losing ourselves and finding ourselves in a good book. * Mara Faye Lethem, author of A Person’s A Person, No Matter How Small, and translator of Beatriz Serrano’s Discontent * Teeming with small bookish delights and hilarious bookish catastrophes, How Can My Manager Be So Stupid? is a love letter to books and bookstores and a charming, delightful gem * Susan Coll, USA Today bestselling author of Bookish People and forthcoming Word Salad * A wry read perfect for anyone who’s ever worked a customer-facing job and has felt their soul slowly wither away. How Can My Manager Be So Stupid? balances wit, humor, and heart to spin a compelling story filled with book love and big feelings * Mackenzie Reed, author of I Hope This Email Finds You in Hell * Perfectly wry * Foyles (2026’s Best Translated Fiction) *