Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Reviewed by: Katy Jacob
Reviews
Title: Convenience Store Woman
By: Sayaka Murata
Published: 2018
Call #: Fiction Murat.S
Keiko Furukura had known since a very young age that she wasn’t “normal.” Despite her family’s efforts to make her change, more than anything she found ways to adapt and hide the lest desirable of her thoughts and actions from society. Then, one fateful night just after she had started university, Keiko stumbled upon the soon-to-be-open Smile Mart at Hiiromachi Station and her life changed forever. She soon became a convenience store worker. Now, 18 years later, Keiko finds meaning and fulfillment from her life as a Smile Mart employee, but the pressure to change from those around her may change everything.
Sayaka Murata is quite popular and successful in Japan but this is the first of her books to be translated into English. This book is just phenomenal. Keiko is thoroughly examined as a character in such a beautiful and respectful way that allows the reader to fully empathize with her even though they may have very little in common. The book is very ‘slice of life’ and gives the reader such a vivid feeling of being inside a Japanese convenience store that it gave me flashbacks to my visit to Japan. At a slim 163 pages it reads quickly, and not a single paragraph is wasted.
READ 2020 Categories: Under 200 Pages (January) & Translated (March)
Tags: January Read 2020, March Read 2020, READ 2020