Reviews

La ragazza del convenience store by Sayaka Murata

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skeltzer's review against another edition

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reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

roadtripreader's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

People have a duty to fulfill their role in society either through the workplace or the family.”

This novella was equal parts soothing, depressing, hopeful and almost terrifying.

Having lived in Korea and spent semester breaks in Japan, this book is weirdly nostalgic for me. Honestly I just want to run to Homeplus, do some shopping maybe step into a DAISO for snacks and then get home and "cook" (read:heat up) some Yangnyeom-tongdak or wait no, chamchi kimbap, takoyaki from Takobi with spicy sauce and top it off with giant mandu from the lady who down the street from my old apartment - oh yeah maybe some galbijjim😍. Convenience Store Woman as a memory tool - that tracks.

Plot/Storyline/Themes: I don't know why but this is like comfort food. It's a tale that pokes all the holes in hetero-society that have always been there. Some holes are big gashes whilst others are annoying pests that just won't piss the hell off. Keiko's story encompasses so many things: am I normal? "you should get married" /"Wait why aren't you married?"/No one's going to marry you", mental illness, norms, right down to "be the cog" , a perfect fit into society blah blah bleh.

Character Development/Favorite Character/s:
Keiko: a woman who may or may not be on the spectrum, clearly nuero atypical highly intelligent and able to reason and mimic and present her thoughts in a logical straight line has to navigate a world that has no space for her. The convenience store is the only place where she is "normal" and fits into the "machine of society". Also she has ZERO ounces of fear as evidenced by her rational chat with a stalkery, one-step-from-murderous incel prick Shiraha. Anyone else would have side-eyed that dude and high-tailed it outta the alley Seriously, the balls of steel!

Keiko approaches life in a way that I find so weirdly clever because we do the same thing to an extent we're just not aware of it in the way that someone with her disorder is - let's face it, she could have just continued to pants teachers and bash classmates heads in with a shovel but she became an anonymous yet prolific mimic. Who needs to be normal when you can be that?

Favorite/Curious/Unique Scene::
Honestly, I thought Keiko was going to set Shiraha on fire or hit him with a shovel during their first shift together. Oh and Holy shyte that Barbecue from hell.

"unmarried Miki whispered to me: “We’re the only ones here who can’t hold our heads up high, aren’t we?”

Favorite/Curious/Unique Quotes:
●"In a short-staffed convenience store, a store worker can sometimes be highly appreciated just by existing, by virtue of not rocking the boat." (Keiko on reliability )

●"Shiraha, we’re in the twenty-first century! Here in the convenience store we’re not men and women. We’re all store workers.." (Keiko on shutting down a Stone-Age monologue by an idiot)

Favorite/Curious/Unique Concepts:
Keiko Furukuwa and how she sees the world.
" A convenience store is a forcibly normalized environment where foreign matter is immediately eliminated."

StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Foreign/Translated Language books by 2025