Reviews

I quite enjoyed this. It was simple, funny, and low-key profound in a way that felt like a satirical episode of Black Mirror. It highlighted the social construction of society and how those that don’t conform are deemed outsiders, parasites that must be cured or excavated if all else fails. Everyone seemed to have the idea of how our MC should be living her life, making her feel as if something is wrong with her, resulting in her disrupting her own happiness to please others. This reminds me of the quote by Thomas Aquinas: There is within every soul a thirst for happiness and meaning. For our MC her meaning and happiness was tied to the convenience store where she felt reborn, yet everyone, except for the person living and experiencing the life, felt that she needed more to be fulfilled. It added an echo to a lot of thoughts and feelings that I have which was validating. Some parts genuinely had me lol'ing. Shiraha got let off too easy in my opinion, but I'm glad that she got her version of HEA and was happy because of it. It's not a book I'm itching to recommend, but I'm glad that I read it. I think this would serve as a great introduction into the literary fiction genre. Some litfics are ambiguous but here the MC tells you the conflict of the story and how she plans to engage with it.

hmwolf2017's review against another edition

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4.0

A delightful satire of capitalism or a neurodivergent slice-of-life fiction, perhaps both.

books_hay's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes

alexrinehart's review against another edition

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4.0

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I picked this novel up from the library when looking for translated fiction and fiction with autistic representation. It's not explicitly stated in this book that Keiko is on the autism spectrum, but I believe it's interpreted by autistic reviewers that she is on the spectrum. At least, that's how I found this book, from a list of books with autistic representation.

This book was mundane but addicting. It was so interesting to read from Keiko's point of view and about her reality. I related to her in a lot of ways when she described her

Spoiler

strategies to blend in with other people by observing their fashion and makeup choices.

I learned from reading this book that I enjoy character study stories.

This book also had one of the most irritating male characters I have ever read. The man, that I can't remember the name of, that becomes a large part of the story gives off huge incel vibes. He is my least favorite male character and character I have read thus far.

There is some internalized ableism that it in the book, and it didn't feel like it was addressed. The ableism was just present and normalized. The word "fix" and "fixed" were used in relation to Keiko's inabilities to blend in with "normal" society. Maybe this is also a translation issue.

I would highly recommend this book to people interested in contemporaries, translated works, character studies, and autistic representation (however I am not an #ownvoices reviewer for autism).

I don't think there is any highly mature content, unless you consider the Incel's toxicity in the book mature. But I think this book could be read by young adult readers.

Reader-Provided Content/Trigger Warnings

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