Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

Convenience Store Woman is one of those books that you see everywhere in bookshops but do not hear about much in the online book community. Having read another book by Sayaka Murata (Earthlings), I was intrigued to see what Convenience Store Woman would be like.

Convenience Store Woman follows the life of Keiko, who is thirty-six, living in Tokyo. Like the title suggests, she works in a convenience store and is very good at her job. She has been working at Smile Mart since she was eighteen, the only place she feels like she fits in. Her family think she is weird, and she found it hard to make friends at school.

From the way that the story is written, you get an amazing sense of Keiko's personality and internal monologue. She does not fit into the norms of Japanese culture during the time when the book was written. Keiko finds it hard to be herself, often mimicking the traits and behaviours she sees in other people. She likes working at Smile Mart because it has a rigid routine, everything has it places, and Keiko knows what to do if something goes wrong.

Like with most of Sayaka Murata's books, Convenience Store Woman is a book about challenging social constructs and not fitting into society. Keiko does not understand the need to be hopping from job to job when she is happy working at the same place day in, day out. Other characters challenge what it means to be valuable in modern society and how people who deviate from the expected paths are viewed, whether it is not having children, not wanting to get married or just not wanting the participate in the workforce.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Convenience Store Woman because it highlights a unique look at the human condition and examines the motives people have to push their beliefs and views on others.

N.B. Would also like to add, that unlike Earthlings, Convenience Store Woman did not leave me confused for days about what I had just read.