Convenience Store Woman ★★★★★

Convenience Store Woman (Click Here To Buy)

★★★★★

Convenience Store Woman by Suyaka Murata is a fiction book about a woman who works in a convenience store.

I read this on my phone and checked it out from the library. I’ve never read a book on my phone before but I forgot to bring a book on a trip (eternal mistake) and this was my in a pinch solution.

Keiko Furukura is a 36 year old Smile Mart employee. She has worked there since she was 18 and it is the only way that she feels she can connect to society. Keiko learns her social cues from the store’s manual, copies her mannerisms and style by other workers, and relates all her life functions around that of the store. When increasingly placed with societal pressures such as getting married and having children, Keiko invites another misfit and critic of society to move into her apartment and takes care of him like a pet until she ultimately realizes that being a convenience store worker is her one true calling.

This book is absolutely delightful. Told in the first person, it does an excellent job of accurately setting the stage for retail work within the context of a convenience store. I loved Keiko’s odd thoughts and how much she loved working at the convenience store. The mental health professional in me wondered if Keiko was on the spectrum and felt bad that she felt so judged for not being “normal.” Overall I would highly recommend this unique and wonderful work.

If you liked Convenience Store Woman, I also recommend Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri, My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-Joo, and i’m thinking of ending things by Iain Reid.

Happy reading!

Ms.Bjork

P.S. Happy 7-Eleven Day, if you haven’t yet, hit up 7-Eleven for a free slurpee!