Convenience Store Woman

This was a bit of a weird one to rate and categorise for me. It's billed as being ‘darkly comic' but I didn't feel anything like that coming through. It's a tale of a woman who does not fit in and trying to fit in the only ways she knows how. It explores ideas of normalised behaviour within society and how these normalisations can make anyone who doesn't adhere to them feel alien or, in Keiko's example, not human.

She goes from trying to be normal based on what her family and sister want or react to, to people she's known from school, to her colleagues at the convenience store, including Shirara, who also falls outside social norms but is equally no good for Keiko.

This is a story about following your instincts whether or not that makes you appear ‘normal' and ultimately trying to shake off the restrictive expectations that are placed upon us by societal and cultural norms.

Keiko is a well-written, neurodiverse character in a story that does not focus on naming and parading her differences. The author has successfully made a sympathetic character and does an excellent job of telling the story through the eyes of someone who feels out of place and as if they don't understand the world swirling around them. Keiko's slice of normalcy as a ‘Convenience Store Woman' feels tangible and provides an excellent opportunity to explore the difficulties she faces getting on in life.