Convenience Store Woman

“Even when I'm far away, the convenience store and I are connected.”

Omg, this book was actually SO FUN, and yet so provocative at the same time. I will say, though, I felt like this book is probably best appreciated by readers who have spent some time in Japanese, or minimally an Asian community and culture, because there was a lot of satire about the social structures, prejudices, and biases that are still fairly rampant in society and culture here. I also got bonus points of appreciation because Japan is probably my most visited holiday destination and I have an extremely vivid memory and impression of their convenience stores, and the visceral experience it is shopping in them as well as the almost robotic-like standard of service their staff never fail to emulate.

Keiko Furukura has always had trouble pretending to be human. It's not that she's an alien or anything, this isn't a sci-fi or fantasy book, but she's always had trouble understanding the underlying social codes, etiquette, and behaviour. She might be written to be autism-coded, but it's not definitively labeled in this book. In any case, quite often her thought process sounded like an AI going through deep learning to behave more like a human being so that she could fit into society. Despite this though, her narrative voice was personable, often relatable, and overall genuine and sincere in her wish to feel like an accepted part of society, as well as not to hurt the people she at least appreciated for having been kind to her in the past, like her sister.

“When I first started here, there was a detailed manual that taught me how to be a store worker, and I still don't have a clue how to be a normal person outside that manual.”

So, Keiko takes great joy in her job as a part-time convenience store worker, a job she has held for the past 18 years, since she herself was 18 years old. There is a very fixed set of rules guiding her behaviour, and she is valued for following those rules to a T. She enjoys how predictable everything is.

“It was fun to see all kinds of people... don the same uniform and transform into the homogenous being known as a convenience store worker.”

Despite finding joy and fulfillment in her job, she is still constantly being judged by her friends and family for “not being normal”, in that she is 36 years old and still in a “dead-end job” as a part-time convenience store worker. Without going into too much spoilery details, Keiko takes some steps to experience life as someone who is accepted into the fold of society.

There is definitely some satire and criticism here about the misogyny of society as well as the gender and sexuality stereotypes that is still deeply entrenched here. As someone who was born and raised in an Asian society, I think it hit pretty hard. It's easy to judge this book on more left-aligned values and find basically every other character in this book annoying except for Keiko, but I think it's a lot grayer than that over here. There's still a pressure to get into a relationship, to get a full-time job, to get married and have kids, even for me and even in this day and age. It might be a different experience from someone living in another country, especially if they were in USA or the EU, but differences in culture doesn't make any one culture less valid or more backward than the other. Anyway, being from a very similar culture to that of Japan, I could absolutely get the predicament Keiko was in and it hit much harder for me. There's also some commentary here about “normalcy” and how it feels like a performative act most of the time, just that for most of us it just comes more subconsciously than others (like Keiko, who has to make a much more conscious effort about it).

“The normal world has no room for exceptions and always quietly eliminates foreign objects. Anyone who is lacking is disposed of.”

Overall, I enjoyed this a ton but I'm not sure whether I'd recommend it to just about everyone. To anyone who is far removed from Japanese and Asian societies, this book might be quite bewildering and illegible (I hope it isn't, but I can imagine that it would be). Nevertheless though, it was quirky and had a sense of humour that had me chortling out loud at some parts, with a relatable and endearing though eccentric protagonist too.

I don't know how I was in the mood for this type of book. The last time I tried something similar (meaning slice-of-life, no angst), I couldn't get into it, but Convenience Store Woman pulled me in. I could relate to Keiko. We actually don't have much in common, but I could relate with society trying to 'fix' you, trying to dictate what you're supposed to do, projecting onto you, and I really loved the main theme of the book.

I liked Keiko very much from the start, I liked her peculiar way of thinking and doing things. Her method of doing things was very logical and she had a purpose and a path. Reading the book I loved discovering the way Keiko worked. Sayaka Murata really has away of drawing the reader in and getting the reader to care and be curious about what's happening. Highly recommend the book.

“As far as I was concerned, though, keeping my mouth shut was the most sensible approach to getting by in life.”

Keiko has always been different. Growing up she had problems understanding social norms, and her parents were concerned that she would always require an extra hand in life to get by. But soon after Keiko started going to university, she stumbled upon Smile Mart, a new convenience store opening up outside her train station. She was hired on, and spent the next 30-something odd years employed as a convenience store clerk. The same-ness of convenience store life appealed to Keiko, where there was an understandable pattern and flow to a workday. But everyone around her, from her parents to her friends to even her coworkers, felt that there was something wrong with her for not wanting something more for herself. Where was her permanent job? Her husband? Her kids? Troubled by this, Keiko decides to try and change these things about her to better conform with societal expectations... but things don't go as planned.

I really enjoyed the premise of this book! The thoughts and ideas the author puts forth about conformity and fitting in and “fixing” oneself were appealing to me, as was the description of Keiko's convenience store. Everything is the same, day after day, but not really when the product is constantly moving off the shelf and there's newness everywhere each day. This would have been a favorite of mine, if only...IF ONLY...Shiraha didn't exist. I know why he was needed in the story, but he was grating, he was dismissive, and his attitude really stunk. As soon as he was introduced and I saw where the author was going, I started losing steam in this book. Surely there were other ways of getting the same points across without having to read through his rantings about the Stone Age.

But this is a short book, and honestly the themes were really interesting to think about. As someone who is also in a part-time position voluntarily (but not for the same reasons), I identified with what Keiko was dealing with.

i loved this until Shiraha was re-introduced. i wish he had less ‘screen time' as i found it painstaking to read through his dialogue. obviously he's supposed to be an irritating character but to have so much of the book taken up by him felt like a slog, personally. i wish Keiko had shovel'd him the first night he stayed over. i was expecting her to have killed him by the end and to be honest i was hoping she would.
i dislike the timid autistic character be taken advantage of trope so I'm glad she prevailed in the end even if there was no comeuppance for Shiraha.
4 stars with 1 star for everything involving Shiraha's monologues rounds this out to a 3.
i think i might enjoy this more on a re-read knowing what to expect but it was enjoyable nonetheless.

3.5 stars.

This short little book ??? just three hours in audiobook form ??? was interesting, if a little repetitive in places.

Japanese convenience stores have a somewhat legendary status around the world and, having never been to Japan, this setting was a big part of what drew me to this book. I did feel like I got a good glimpse into that environment.

While Keiko, the main character, is never explicitly described as being on the spectrum, she reads as an autistic-coded character as she has difficulty understanding social norms and actively masks to blend in socially. I liked Keiko and found her interesting, but most other characters, especially her group of girlfriends, came off as insipid and two-dimensional ??? though perhaps this is done on purpose, given the book's overall message, which I think is something along the lines of: there may be a “right” and “wrong” way to live according to society, but sometimes this is entirely at odds with what is right or wrong for an individual, and it is more important to follow your own path, regardless of what society may think.

Overall, I would say while I enjoyed this book well enough, it wasn't a standout. Had it been significantly longer I may have bailed before the end of the book, but since it was so short I felt I may as well finish it. Everything was tied up well, although the circularity of the plot made it feel like there wasn't much character development.

Short, unsubtle, and wonderful. I imagine many of us identify with the main character, some of us nearly 100%.

I'm impressed anyone functions in modern society at all.

Also, my beginner's level of Japanese tells me the original title is “Konbini Ningen” which translates to “Convenience Store Human”. Interesting they chose to gender it for the English title.

“People who are considered normal enjoy putting those who aren't on trial.”

I think this is the perfect book for anyone who has felt like they needed to change just to fit the mould that society has made for them.

I think I chose to read this at the perfect time as a twenty-three-year-old who is trying to learn how to navigate through life. As an autistic person, this book spoke to me in the way of always feeling like a person on the outside looking in. The constant feeling that something is wrong with you because you know you act and see things differently than others is overwhelming and I believe it was the same for Keiko.

This was a quick, easy read and I enjoyed it.

This was a strange one and I'm not sure how to feel about it. I'm also especially unsure how to feel about translations, or how to critique them — the writing is direct and unadorned, which does mirror the narrator's perspective. The book follows a woman who has been working at a convenience store for nearly 20 years because as it's the only way she has been able to function in society — I'm no psychologist but it seems pretty clear this woman is a psychopath. There is an air of suspense and weirdness carried throughout that keeps it interesting, but otherwise, not much happens. Without being super familiar with Japanese culture I'm only vaguely aware of the social commentary.

What a weird little book. I feel like there's a lot I'm not really understanding - it feels very Japanese - but there's good too. Three stars seems harsh, but four is too generous. Keiko is odd and trying to fit in, but learns to accept who she is. I wish she'd gotten there differently, but sometimes we need to be shaken up to realize what we have, who we are.

I do like stories about misfits and outsiders finding an unexpected place in the fabric of humanity. Is this story one of those? Yes. And no. I found a great deal of intriguing tension here about what it means to “fit in” to the human fabric. I felt ambivalent but mostly sympathetic to the narrator, who is perhaps best described as a very pro-social sociopath. If someone is very different and didn't get hard-coded with society's operating manual, what are they to do? This contrasts a couple different approaches which enable examinations of ape-derived social norms, capitalism, sexism, and personal freedom.

I don't get why it was marketed as “funny, quirky, humorous”. Didn't laugh a bit, just felt bad for Keiko.

It's a well executed deep dive into societal norms & the unfair treatment of those who don't fit in.

I really loved the ending, she finally embraced her feelings, her individuality and put it over what society expects of her.

I'm not gonna lie it was boring & sleep inducing at times but still a good book !

“When something was strange, everyone thought they had the right to come stomping in all over your life to figure out why. I found that arrogant and infuriating, not to mention a pain in the neck. Sometimes I even wanted to hit them with a shovel to shut them up, like I did that time in elementary school. But I recalled how upset my sister had been when I'd casually mentioned this to her before and kept my mouth shut.”

This is such an odd wee book. A quick read, ultimately because not a lot happens and there's not much of a character arc to speak of, but Murata's writing is compelling and Keiko's story is endearing and relatable, despite her bizarre personality quirks. Her constant enforced cheerfulness and unabashed bluntness reminded me an awful lot of May Kasahara from Murikami's The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. An interesting look at the role of the individual in the machinery of society, and society's expectations, and often insistence, of conformity.