An excellent story of existence on the fringes of Japanese society by one of the most exciting Japanese novelists working today.

This was a cute glimpse into the life of Keiko, who is very loyal to her conbini, the Japanese convenience store where she works. I loved reading about all the little details of her day--she had such a unique perspective. I really wish this book would have been longer with more character development, but overall, it was a wonderful little slice-of-life portrait into a part of Japanese culture that I really love. I spend tons of time wandering conbinis in between teaching English classes in the Japanese countryside for a couple of years.

I absolutely LOVED this book.

This is a fabulous and heartwarming story of a thirty-six year-old Tokyo woman named Keiko Furukura.

Keiko feels like a misfit. She believes that she has never fit in anywhere - not even within her own family. Many readers will be able to relate to her.

When she turns eighteen, she starts working at a store called 'SMILE MART.'

An unlikely place for someone to find their niche in life, Smile Mart nonetheless is the place where Keiko feels like she fits in perfectly.

She reads the store's employee manual and she loves the fact that it tells her what to do and how to act. This means that she doesn't have to feel awkward because she just follows the manual. This makes Keiko happy.

For the next eighteen years, Keiko is a model employee. She loves her job and plans to continue working there.

Problems start when her family, and even some of her co-workers decide that she should be aiming higher in life. Plus, societal pressures to find a husband start to creep into her world.

Because of this, Keiko takes drastic action.


Convenience Store Woman is an intimate look at what life can be like for anyone who is deemed "different" in Japanese society. It highlights just how essential society deems it necessary to conform to "normal."

This is a fabulous work of fiction and I was unable to put it down.

5 OUT OF 5 STARS ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This book was... I wouldn't necessarily say it's heartbreaking, because our main character is not really having that feeling, but it's definitely a heavy feeling kind of book. It's a great commentary on society and the expectations to fit in, which in Japanese culture are even more heightened.

Our main character, Keiko, is not fitting in, but she is happy with the part-time job, even at her age (30-something). But her family and even coworkers expect her to find a partner and get married or find a better full time job. It doesn't matter that she is happy, everyone would rather have her unhappy, but normal. With all the pressure everyone puts on Keiko, she is trying to "fix" herself. And it's not an easy to follow journey.

Although it's a quick read, the themes in this book are definitely not as light. But as a side note, as a sucker for all things Japan, I was fascinated by all the supermarket descriptions and the products and all that - and then I found out the writer is actually a part-time worker in a convenience store!

This book was told from an interesting perspective, not like anything I have ever read. I enjoyed the character’s voice and the details of her experience at a convenient store. At first I was not sure about the book but then I found myself really getting into the intricacies of her every day life. I would recommend this one.

Convenience Store Woman challenges us to reconsider how we should define a “normal person” in modern society and prods us to accept people who may be different from our own idea of what is “normal” or even acceptable. This is an important book because it allows us to see into the lives of people on the fringe of society and to sympathize with their insecurities and fears which are, in the end, universal. The book includes exceptional detaile about how Japanese convenience stores work, which I found fascinating. I am also a fan of translations by Ginny Tapley Takemori. See our interview with the translator at https://booksonasia.net/2018/09/29/ginny-tapley-takemori-on-translating-convenience-store-woman/

Quick read and well written! Such a interesting and creative book. I appreciated the explanation of this aspect of Japanese culture I didn’t know much about.

Keiko Furukura has always been a bit different. She doesn’t quite get the social clues to navigate being around others, even though her family tries to help her understand how relationships work. It isn’t until she finds a job at the Smile Mart convenience store when she’s eighteen that she finally feels like she’s found her place.

Following a manual that tells you how to deal with the different type of customer interactions makes life much easier for Keiko. She starts to emulate the phrases and dress of other workers and now daily interactions aren’t the landmines of the interactions she’s had in the past where people have always found her to be odd.

The years pass though and now she’s been working at the Smile Mart for 18 years and when she gathers with some family friends she realizes that everyone is moving on with their life but she’s still at Smile Mart. She hasn’t gotten married, she’s still a cashier but those are questions it seems others have for her. She’s been content with her life so far right?

Her life does end up going a bit topsy turvy when a co-worker, Shiraha, moves in with her after having been fired. His character is in you face and frankly intimidating but at times it felt like he was just rebelling against what people expected him to be like.

At first the novel can come off as light and breezy but the more I think about it, the more I found myself thinking about the effects of social pressures and what it means to be normal. I found the setting to be unique and so vividly described that I also wanted to wander around the aisles looking at the specials and different offerings from what we have in the States. I loved the observations and thought this book was a great addition to my shelves.

A brief and quirky read. It’s exactly what it sounds like it’s about: a woman who’s sole motivation in life is working at a convenience store. Still thinking about a passage where the main character wonders why the world prefers people who are normal but miserable over those who are odd but happy. I will be on the lookout for more books by this author now!

I really, really enjoyed this little novel. It's quirky and so very weird, so basically right up my alley. For such a short novel it packed a lot of punch. It has been a few weeks since I read it and I still find myself wondering what Keiko would be up to.

Keiko Furukura is a 30-something Japanese woman who has worked at the same convenience store for the entirety of her adult life. Overwhelmed by the complexities of the society around her, she finds comfort in her mundane and repetitive job and the job manual after which she models most aspects of her life, including her dress, mannerisms, and speech. Keiko’s family and friends constantly question her life choices, perplexed as to why she would want to remain an unmarried, childless convenience store worker. Despite their concerns, Keiko finds comfort in her simple lifestyle, until a new, outspoken coworker begins to try to change her mindset. This is a charming story focusing on a quirky protagonist, in the same vein as "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine" by Gail Honeyman.

This was an enjoyable, easy to read book. It’s the story of a Japanese girl who gets a job at a newly opening convenience store and never leaves. The main character reminds me of Eleanor Oliphant or Don Tillman from The Rosie Project— probably on the autism spectrum with a unique view of the world. The plot was a bit predictable but all in all reading this was not a bad way to spend the evening.

This was a quirky book, fun to read in just a couple of sittings. Interesting look at the convenience store culture in Japan. I found myself rooting for the main character as she tries to find her place in the world.

Keiko Furukura is, above all else, a convenience store worker. She eats food from the convenience store, she drinks water from the convenience store, her speech patterns are an amalgam of the convenience store manual and those of her coworkers. Every cell in her body vibrates at the frequency of the convenience store. She is made of the convenience store. She has been a convenience store worker for 18 years, which worries her family and friends, who don’t understand why she doesn’t want the trappings of a conventional life—husband, children, career-type job. She tries to please them and to assuage their concerns with varying degrees of success and an ill-advised, but logical scheme involving a very bitter man. Convenience Store Woman is a strange little story about different kinds of conformity, and some of the pleasures available when your corner of the universe has a manual.

This one's written for all the oddballs amongst us. (Well, that includes me too I guess - depends on which friend of mine you speak to.)
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Protagonist Keiko Furukara doesn't quite fit in the society she lives in. Weird, quirky, odd are just some of the kinder terms to describe her.
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To fit in, she worked in the same convenience store for 18 years - it's the only job she knows to do (and that she thinks) which fits her. She lives a sad life (by society's standards) and literally breathes and live the convenience store - I think it could be that the store's conformity and routine suits her. What happens then when Keiko meets a man as odd as her? You've got to read this one to find out for yourself! I found him super annoying tbh.
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I remembered finishing this in half a day! It really is a short, but very engaging read. It made me thought of those I may have inadvertently label as weird. Or am I the weird one?
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Grab #ConvenienceStoreWoman if you love all-things-Japanese, or if you're looking for an unexpected, underrated page turner! ❤
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#BookQuotes
~ People who don't fit into the village are expelled: men who don't hunt, women who don't give birth to children. For all we talk about modern society and individualism, anyone who doesn't try to fit in can expect to be meddled with, coerced, and ultimately banished from the village.
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~ People who are considered normal enjoy putting those who aren't on trial, you know.

I picked this book up because it was recommended on Anne Bogel's Summer Reading Guide. I had such high hopes for this quirky, little novel. Keiko is a woman who finds herself in basically the exact same place she has been for years. She feels stuck. The setting of a convenience store seemed like the perfect place for this book. I was hoping for a heart-warming story that really endeared me to all the characters. What I found was a day to day picture of Keiko, but just not much else. It just didn't really go anywhere. I just kept waiting for something to happen to shift things in her life or in the store, but it just wasn't there. I closed the book and felt that I just didn't get it.

* I received this book from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review *

Review:


What I Liked:


Writing. I don't know how much was changes from the original text to the English translation but I found myself enjoying Murata's writing style.


Character. The main character, Keiko, who does not understand social interactions and mimics those around her. It was so interesting to read solely from her point of view as she deals with the normal people around her. She is constantly trying to please people around her while no understanding why they are upset.


Main Message. I found the commentary about society's expectations was well developed and added to the main story. The author used the main character and lack of understanding society and human interactions to expose how society puts pressure on people to conform to their ideals.


Plot. Murata has created a unique short novel that tackles important issues and makes the reader think. It has a strange plot with an even stranger main character but it was a still intriguing read that kept invested in the novel until the end.


What I Disliked:


Length/Plot. I found the main plot to be okay, it was interesting and very metaphorical but at sometimes it was confusing. After the first half of the novel I felt that the plot went all over the place.


Ending. The last handful of pages and the conclusion were okay but I felt they were a bit rushed and unsatisfying. I got the main message but would have enjoyed more fleshed out conclusion.


I recommend checking out this strange novel, it was short but worth the read.


Rating:


4 Stars Out of 5 Stars

I absolutely loved this story of a convenience store worker in Japan who tries to fit into society's mold (with mixed results). Murata has crafted a genuinely quirky, and at times heartbreaking, story of what happens when a person isn't considered 'normal.' My only complaint is that this felt much too short! I would have loved to learn more about Keiko's upbringing, her experiences during her 20s, and what happens to her after the events of the last few pages. I can't wait to see what else Murata brings to the table in the future!

A strange, yet strangely compelling character study. I read this in one sitting and I think that's the best way to read it – immerse yourself in Keiko's world and let the convenience store absorb you...

'Convenience Store Woman' by Sayaka Murata with English translation by Ginny Tapley Takemori is about an unusual woman who works in a convenience store.

Keiko Furukura has always been strange. She has to take her social cues from others. In order to make her way, she holds a job in a convenience store. She likes the order and rules. She adopts the personalities and mannerisms of her co-workers. When a male coworker can't seem to follow any of the rules of the store, Keiko invites him home. This becomes a bit of a misunderstanding and Keiko realizes the people around her are happy that she has a man in her life, but what will Keiko do?

This was an odd little story, and I liked it. I liked Keiko's odd mannerisms. Had the story taken place in the U.S., Keiko would have probably been a serial killer, but instead she is just someone trying to understand the rules of her society.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Grove Atlantic and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.