Convenience Store Woman
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3.7 • 639 Ratings
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- £8.99
Publisher Description
Meet Keiko.
Keiko is 36 years old. She's never had a boyfriend, and she's been working in the same supermarket for eighteen years.
Keiko's family wishes she'd get a proper job. Her friends wonder why she won't get married.
But Keiko knows what makes her happy, and she's not going to let anyone come between her and her convenience store...
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Murata's slim and stunning Akutagawa Prize winning novel follows 36-year-old Keiko Furukura, who has been working at the same convenience store for the last 18 years, outlasting eight managers and countless customers and coworkers. Keiko, who has a history of strange impulses wanting to grill and eat a dead bird, pulling down a hysterical teacher's pants to get her to be quiet applied to work at the Hiiromachi Station Smile Mart on a whim. Where someone else might find the expected behavior for convenience store workers arbitrary and strict, Keiko thrives under such clear direction, finally finding a way to be normal. In fact, she thinks of herself as two Keikos: her real self, who has existed since she was born, and "convenience-store-worker-me." But normalcy is not static, as Keiko discovers. The older she gets, and the further she drifts from milestones like having a "real" job, marrying, and having children, the more her friends and family push her towards change. She strikes a sham marriage deal with a lazy and shifty ex-coworker, which, though it finally makes her "normal" in the eyes of others, throws her entire life and psyche into turmoil. Murata's smart and sly novel, her English-language debut, is a critique of the expectations and restrictions placed on single women in their 30s. This is a moving, funny, and unsettling story about how to be a "functioning adult" in today's world.
Customer Reviews
Strange but moving
Reminded me of Elinor Oliphant. Some people might find it depressing but I found the main character fascinating.
Life on Different Terms
This is a strange but sharp little book. The writing is plain but clever - it captures a complex way of thinking without making it heavy. Some parts feel funny, others quietly disturbing. It doesn’t explain much, but that works. It’s worth reading for how simply it shows something so different.
Not what I wanted but it was fine
The app recommended this to me ‘based on’ me recently reading We Have Always Lived In The Castle which just goes to show why AI is a blight on technology, but I did have a decent time reading this so I can’t complain too much.
The main character’s thoughts and behaviour patterns felt very familiar to me as an autistic person, things like needing other people explained to me and copying other people’s mannerisms to blend in. Maybe because of that, I knew exactly what was going to happen as the story progressed: I knew she would ‘get together’ with the male character for their individual agendas and I knew she would hate leaving the convenience store and want to come back.
I don’t think the main character is a good example of an autistic character though. She just felt easy for me to understand in a way that other humans aren’t. I’m also obsessed with my job and don’t care for much else. At the same time, I couldn’t really identify with her because I don’t live in her world where society has hyper-rigid expectations of gender roles (or maybe I do and I just don’t notice).
Decent morning read.