This short novel epitomizes everything I love about Japanese literature. Keiko is strange, unable to completely fit in in a culture where conformity is compulsive. She thinks things that other people do not, and finds the never-ending obsession over careers, marriage, and children incomprehensible. But her life takes a turn for the better when she finds a job at a convenience store. All of a sudden, her life has meaning. The store hums life into her.

...Eighteen years later, still a convenience store employee, Keiko is pretending to be a woman she’s not. And other people are starting to catch on.

Like many Japanese novels I’ve read in the past, this is a quiet book. What makes it fascinating is Keiko and her rationalizations of the choices she’s made, and her attempts to mimic acceptable women around her. I also love learning about Japanese culture, which is another perk of this novel.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

The quirky heroine of this novel is a natural as a convenience store employee, even though life outside the store is more confusing and difficult. This is an enjoyable riff on social pressure, status concerns and conformity. Review posted to Goodreads.

Did not read. Removing from shelf. Did not read. Removing from shelf. Did not read. Removing from shelf. Did not read. Removing from shelf.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Press for a digital ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thirty-six year old Keiko Furukura is tired of people insisting that she either get married or get a “real” job. Keiko has worked part-time at Smile Mart, a convenience store chain since she was 18 years old. She loves her job and she does it well, so she doesn’t understand why the meddlers in her life just can’t be happy for her.

See, Keiko isn’t what most people consider to be a “normal” girl. First of all, she’s only ever worked in a convenience store, she isn’t interested in getting married, and she has trouble discerning what’s the right thing to wear or the right thing to say. To hide what others consider to be her “imperfections,” Keiko dives into her work each day, living and breathing for the convenience store. She mimics her coworkers’ speech patterns & ways of dress, & talks as little of her state of life as possible.

Keiko attends to her job day in and day out without complaint, never calling in sick, never taking a day off, always there when needed. Meanwhile her friends and family continue to pressure her to get married or quit work at the convenience store. When a new male coworker starts at Keiko’s store, her whole world is shaken up. Will Keiko risk getting close to him, and what will be the consequences if she does?

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata is a big read in a small package. Clocking in at a little over 150 pages, this fast little novel packs in a lot of story in a short amount of time. Readers are introduced to the quirky, but endearing Keiko, and are quickly pulled in by the sights and sounds of her convenience store. It’s easy to see why Keiko is so enraptured by her job. The routine, the script, the normalcy of it all is somewhat comforting, especially to a woman like Keiko who has apparent issues with stepping outside of her comfort zone.

Convenience Store Woman focuses on the unfortunate societal norms of women - get married, and if you’re not married, you better have a high-profile job - and Keiko just can’t see what the problem is. If she is happy, why aren’t others happy for her? You can’t help but feel frustrated for Keiko and her plight as her coworkers, family, friends, and even their husbands share their opinions of why Keiko isn’t “normal.” The book explores Keiko’s struggle to stay true to herself, while not caving in to the increasing pressures of society.

Translated from its original Japanese, Convenience Store Woman is an engaging, comical read about a woman who does not fit the mold, and even better, has no desire to conform. Readers will root for Keiko as she attempts to ward off the pressures of society, and strives to prove to the world that her life has meaning.

3.5, rounded up (but with MUCH internal turmoil)

I don’t know about you, but I never think about convenience stores. (Except, wait, right now I’m thinking about the fact that 7-11s don’t have bathrooms. How is that convenient I want to know.) Convenience stores are all Cheetos and lottery tickets, in and out in a matter of minutes. Hit the road, jack, head on out to your next stop.

Well, when you read this book, the convenience store is front and center. The customers hit the road lickety-split, like they’re supposed to, but one of the workers, Keiko, is almost a shut-in. Basically she’s married to the store, and the relationship has been going on for 18 years. Or you can think of the convenience store as her addiction, her God. This store, oh this store is her everything. She follows the rules and is obsessed with stocking shelves and creating signs to promote the special of the day. When she’s not in the store, she is thinking about it. She carries the store’s sounds around in her head—all the clicks and clacks that most of us never tune into. To her these sounds are like lullabies. And she feels like she is part of the store:

“When I think that my body is entirely made up of food from this store, I feel like I’m as much a part of the store as the magazine racks or the coffee machine.”

To say the least, Keiko is a weird duck. We get to see a little of her life as a kid, and it confirms that she has been a weirdo forever. It’s a buzz phrase these days, but I’m guessing Keiko is “on the spectrum.”

Keiko is robotic and passive, which made it hard for me to feel much for her. She did entertain me—many of the things she does and thinks are pretty funny. And she fascinated me—I definitely wanted to see what she would do next. In terms of a character study, the book gets an A-plus. Well, I’ll change that to a B, because there are two times when Keiko shows a dark side. One is an action and one is a thought, very brief. I just didn’t buy it. For a few minutes, I wondered whether the book was going to turn into a thriller. I don’t get why the writer went there. We know Keiko is weird. It’s not necessary to throw in an odd trait that doesn’t fit with her personality.

This book is all about conformity. Keiko wants to conform so much that she imitates people’s mannerisms and speech patterns, which becomes comical. Family and friends want her to act normal, and they won’t drop it. They want her to be married and they want her to have a better job. The pressure is on.

The story gets infinitely more interesting when a guy comes into her life. Their relationship is totally bizarro. Keiko and the guy have conversations about conformity, mostly meaning the guy spews his ideas. He’s a little pedantic and the ideas seem sophomoric at times. Also, the ideas are repeated too much. In those cases, the writing seems amateurish.

I loved the originality of the plot and the character and liked that it was told in first-person. It was a kick learning so much about Japanese convenience stores (I wonder if they have restrooms?!), and I loved getting the picture of the work scene there. Of course, I just loved getting a peek at Japanese culture in general. As often happens when I read a book from a different land, I wish I could beam myself up—and in this case, land in Tokyo. I would definitely head for a convenience store. Would I be greeted when I entered, like in Keiko’s store?

This is a fast, entertaining read by a popular Japanese writer. (A cool fact: The writer worked in a convenience store when she wrote this book!) The language is simplistic, which I sometimes liked but sometimes made me crave sophistication. I was going to say this book is lightweight, but actually it’s not because it drills home how society’s expectations affect your life and shows how people treat those who don’t conform.

I’m giving this book 3.5 stars. I’ve been hopping madly back and forth, trying to decide whether to round up or down. Even while writing this review, I’ve changed my mind twice!! For now I’ve settled on rounding up. The book is definitely way more than a meh, and because it’s so original, I don’t think I’ll forget about it. Meanwhile, I can’t believe I’m spending so much time worrying about (and moaning about) a stupid number! I liked the book—just get over it, Debbie!

I’m so sorry I didn’t show the contents of the Joy Jar and Complaint Board in easy-to-read lists, like I usually do. It might have made my rating problem easier! But I’d say the Joy Jar ekes out a win. Although the book isn’t a wow, I would recommend it, especially to those who enjoyed Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.

My review is 4.1 stars.

I don't know anything about this book and the author until this book arrived in my hands. This is a different book, from my expectations, surprising but I would say a good surprise. The MC of this book is considered to be completely different from the other people.

If someone will ask me a question that what will do - try imitating others to be normal or follow yourself to be different from others? I would say everytime that I would like to be different because I'll be who I am actually, from inside. I never have to change anything. In my opinion, this book is revolving around that idea. The main character "Keiko Furukura" is different from everybody and she just wants to be normal like everyone.

I wanted this book to be more, as I was not happy regarding the size of the book. And while reading each and every page of the book, there are a lot of emotions that are passing by inside me. I was completely fallen for the characters of the book and I love the plot and the theme of the book. I don't know anything about the author but the author is so talented and very good at writing scenes and the dialogues.

There was a special connection with the story, plot and the scenes. I definitely want to read more books by the author.

*** Thank you Grove Atlantic Publications for providing me with the ARC of the book ***

Keiko Furukura has an unusual flaw. Though she’s intelligent, she doesn’t understand other people. Ever since she was a child, she had a hard time knowing how to act, how to speak, how to emote, how to just be in the world. But she seems to have found a place for herself in Convenience Store Woman, by Sayaka Murata (translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori). As an employee of Smile Mart, Keiko performs the role of a thirties-something part-time convenience store worker. She functions well enough, until the day when he meets the reprehensible Shiraha and realizes that her friends and family keep asking when she’s going to get married.

I really enjoyed reading about neuro-atypical Keiko. Once I stopped trying to diagnose her (I couldn’t help it; I took a semester of psychology as an undergrad), I learned to see through her eyes. She’s a scientist who constantly studies the people around her to learn how to be “normal.” She adopts mannerisms and speech patterns from the people around her. Essentially, she’s been acting her entire life, because her default state is affectless, unambitious, baffling, and occasionally frightening to the people she meets and her family. In the same way that she doesn’t understand people, they don’t understand her. The chance to look at society through Keiko’s eyes reveals a lot about how inexplicable most cultural norms are.

Shiraha, on the other hand, does not try to fit in. He is an awful person, straight from a red pill reddit thread. He talks about the Stone Age constantly to “explain” why men and women are expected to behave in certain ways, sneers at any kind of gainful employment, and is basically a dick. And yet, Keiko is willing to put up with him because having a “boyfriend” makes her life a bit easier. People stop wondering about her quite so much because she suddenly makes sense to them.

But as Convenience Store Woman develops, it becomes clear that Keiko is in an untenable position. Does she keep up the charade? Or does she insist on being who she is, in spite of the social consequences? I also felt a little bit of extra tension because most of the Japanese literature I’ve read lately had me worried about the possibility of things taking a turn for the macabre. (At the risk of spoiling things, I’m happy to report that no one dies in this book.) I wasn’t sure what to expect from Convenience Store Woman. What I found turned out to be interesting, unusual, and moving. I really liked this novella.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration. It will be released 12 June 2018.

What a delightfully bizarre book.

Keiko's a bit of an outsider just trying her best to fit into the world around her. She's content with the rather mundane life she lives. The convenience store isn't just her place of employment, it's the only place she feels like she belongs and everything finally makes sense. She parrots and imitates everyone she meets - mostly to keep them off her back - but working at the same convenience store for 18 years is starting to make some eyebrows lift. Something needs to change.

This basic premise keeps the book flowing in such a compulsive way. I've seen a few uses of the word "quirky" in other reviews and they're not wrong. Keiko's narration is so deadpan and off-kilter that there are several points that honestly made me laugh out loud. The whole thing reads quite cinematically as well, in a very slice-of-life indie movie kind of way. CONVENIENCE STORE WOMAN is easy, it's strange, and it's just a lot of fun to breeze through.

3.5 stars — What a strange little book—at times delightful, at times disturbing, and also kind of darkly whimsical? Still sorting out my thoughts on this one...not what I was expecting, but I think I enjoyed it.

This was a really peculiar little book. I'm not sure what I thought I was getting into, but I don't think I was quite prepared for Keiko when I started reading. She operates on a completely different level than the rest of society, and her internal musings often come in jarring contrast to the rest of the world's (and my) expectations.

Since she started working at the convenience store at age 18, Keiko has reveled in the comfort and consistency of the tightly controlled environment. She does her job extraordinarily well, living her whole life in harmony with the store. She's picked up some brilliant strategies for blending in with others, but now that she's getting older, people are starting to scrutinize a little more. At the same time, a new employee disrupts the status quo by loudly voicing his own unpopular opinions about society. What follows is a bizarre, thoughtful, and sometimes hilarious exploration of the rules of society and how we treat people who don't fit in.

I honestly don't know how to recommend this book, but I'm glad I read it.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley to read in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t know what’s the exact meaning in Japanese, but the "convenience” word used here captured the essence of the book perfectly - such a versatile word with so many meanings.

We have an awkward 36 years old woman, who is working at this convenience store for the past 18 years. She never had a boyfriend, nor other job than this. As a child, she was different than the rest, to the point her parents took her to a psychologist. She used to think out of the box, being pragmatic and with a practical solution for everything, even if most of the times, the solutions were unorthodox, to say the least (these were also the funniest moments of the story for me).

But because everybody thought she was different than the rest, she tried all her life to keep appearances and finding this job suited her perfectly at the time, along with different excuses used when people start asking questions about her linear life. When questions became too many, she finds another solution to fit in: a convenience relationship.

For such a small book, it has so many layers: it’s about today’s judgmental society, about our working selves - who are taking their tolls on our personal life and free time - and ultimately, about the compromises we make to fit society and have some peace of mind.

Despite the fact that I didn’t approve some of the choices she made, I resonated with her completely in the end. Afterall, one’s life is one’s life and we should not care about what others say; everybody should construct their life as they see fit; we live our lives, not other’s and viceversa.

And even though is kind of sad on occasion, it also has its moments of black humor; fine irony at today’ society, with its rigid and prejudiced mentality, is present all over the story. The writing is fluent and balanced, easy to follow - a couple of hours reading, worthy all the way.

This was a wonderful, short story. The main character is on the autistic spectrum and has trouble figuring out people or society. Society's norms makes question what she should do with her life. All she wants to do is work at a convenience store but she's considered too old. I loved reading her journey over her struggle with doing what society wants and what she really wants.

The plot of the story is interesting at the same time unusual and a bit weird. It definitely shows a side of human nature often overlooked and purposely ignored.

Very poignant book and very well written tbor ok highly enjoyed

Convenience Store Woman is a charming novel about a quirky and socially inept character who defies convention, baffling everyone around her.

When Keiko Furukura starts working at a convenience store during her time at university, she feels that she has finally found somewhere she belongs. She loves the predictability of stocking the shelves, counting out bills, and talking with regular customers. Pulling from the behavior of her colleagues, she’s able to piece together the appearance of what people expect of a woman her age.

But eighteen years later, both her family and her co-workers at the convenience store wonder why she hasn’t found a husband and moved on from the store. As their questioning becomes more insistent, Keiko is faced with the decision to conform or to live the life she wants to live.

Murata brings to the page a penetrating look at Japanese culture and the pressure many feel to conform. The woman she creates in this novel is a pleasure to spend time with. Looking at the world through her eyes offers a fresh perspective on tradition and expectations.

4 quirky stars to Convenience Store Woman! ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Keiko was always a little different in her parents’ eyes. When she went to college, she got a job at a local convenience store. She tried her best to fit in by copying the other employees there, from their clothing to their mannerisms. Life passes by, and many years later, Keiko is still working at the convenience store. No one around Keiko is comfortable with her choice to stay there, but she is content...until she tries her best to change.

The messages here about conforming are profound. Poor Keiko goes down the rabbit hole of trying to meet everyone else’s expectations.

This is a short book, an easy read, and there’s a character to try to understand who will probably work her way right into your heart!

Thank you to my Goodreads friend, Taryn, for the recommendation to read Keiko’s story!

Many thanks to Grove Atlantic, the publisher of the most unique and quirky, well-written books, Sayaka Murata, and Netgalley for the copy. Convenience Store Woman will be published on June 12, 2018.

The moment I finished reading this story - I immediately wanted to know everything about the author- Sayaka Murata. WHO IS SHE? I was screaming inside about how WONDERFUL she must be.

This book is a GEM!!!!! Awe-inspiring writing — irresistible—and weirdly outlandish!

My gosh...I had the best laugh when I discovered that ‘our author’ —-one of Japan’s most exciting contemporary writers—[I AGREE,I AGREE] —‘really’ works as a part time employee in a convenience store. Talk about material for inspiration— Sayaka has first hand experience. Cracks me up! I love it!

I love Japanese Literature anyway ....and Sayaka’s storytelling is so marvelous- with humor - complexity of conformity- that I just can’t stop smiling about this slim ADORABLE - but ALSO VERY AFFECTING....( with sad undercurrents)...novel.
Who WOULDN’T enjoy reading this? I can’t imagine anyone not being consumed by it.

What stands out to me about our main character - Keiko ( self- acclaimed different )- who has worked in the convenient store for 18 years, watching other university students come and go....and managers come and go....
is how deliciously self aware Keiko is. This girl is ‘not’ stupid.
I felt that even when Keiko copied the styles of fashion - and language
-jargon of others - demonstrating that she ‘could’ blend in—that mostly she was at peace with herself exactly the way she was. There are many ways to look at this story — the illusions about what society calls normal - and our human agreements about what’s considered a successful life or not...etc.

I adore Keiko. I hope the author writes more books about her. I’d love to continue to follow Keiko again. I miss her already. Honestly- I can imagine a dozen stories centered around Keiko!

The other thing that makes this book so special is ‘THE FEELING/THE AURA’ we ‘experience’. A GEM I tell ya, a precious gem! ......leaving us with much to think about!

*HIGHLY RECOMMEND*...it’s a quick treasure of a read!

Thank You Grove Atlantic, Netgalley, and Sayaka Murata ( I’m a new fan!!!)

Based on this cover, and the fact that it's a Japanese novel (does this count as a light novel?), I expected something that was a pleasant slice of live piece or a surreal magical realism story. It was neither of those. It starts pleasantly enough but then unfolds into a story of what seemed like a case of undiagnosed autism, or just plain old social awkwardness finding their niche in a corporate handbook and meeting the Japanese equivalent of an MRA loser. Not the most inspiring thing, but this is what happens, I suppose, when you write a quirky story with relatively unlikable characters. At the core of what the characters rail against or try to comply to is that yes, Japanese society has certain expectations that one cannot escape.

Keiko is different. When she was a child and the other kids found a dead bird and wanted to have a funeral for it, she suggested that they take it home and cook it. At 36 years old, she has lived alone and worked part-time in a convenience store for 18 years. Can she ever conform to what society wants a woman to be? Is having a man in her life, even a parasitic loser, better than living alone? Will she ever fit in? Does she even want to? A reflection on society’s expectations, particularly of women, this novel, translated from Japanese, is undoubtedly one of the most unusual and thought-provoking books I have ever read.