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rebecca_oneil's review against another edition
4.0
2019 Read Harder Challenge: A translated book written by and/or translated by a woman. I believe this was both written AND translated by a woman (translator Ginny Tapley Takemori).
I read this short book on an airplane, after which my Kindle died, and I haven't been able to get my highlighted quotes back. But I recall one of the blurbs comparing it to both Shopgirl and Amelie (two favorites of mine), and that's an apt comparison for this story of loner Keiko, who has been working at a convenience store in Japan since age 18 -- and she is now 36. But what if she's NOT unhappy? The store has a uniform, a manual, and other humans to observe and imitate. Keiko's conflict between her own instincts, her learned adaptations, the things she won't bend on, and society's expectations is both hopeful and a little unsettling.
Also, I get the impression from this book that the Japanese convenience store is a culture unto itself in a way that they aren't here in the US -- if I ever travel there, maybe I'll get a sense of that. I've thought about this book a lot since reading it.
Favorite quotes culled from Goodreads:
“This society hasn't changed one bit. 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.”
“She's far happier thinking her sister is normal, even if she has a lot of problems, than she is having an abnormal sister for whom everything is fine.”
“The normal world has no room for exceptions and always quietly eliminates foreign objects. Anyone who is lacking is disposed of.”
Her description of the job giving her everything she needs to continue doing the job: enough money for daily food; enough time for a good sleep.
I read this short book on an airplane, after which my Kindle died, and I haven't been able to get my highlighted quotes back. But I recall one of the blurbs comparing it to both Shopgirl and Amelie (two favorites of mine), and that's an apt comparison for this story of loner Keiko, who has been working at a convenience store in Japan since age 18 -- and she is now 36. But what if she's NOT unhappy? The store has a uniform, a manual, and other humans to observe and imitate. Keiko's conflict between her own instincts, her learned adaptations, the things she won't bend on, and society's expectations is both hopeful and a little unsettling.
Also, I get the impression from this book that the Japanese convenience store is a culture unto itself in a way that they aren't here in the US -- if I ever travel there, maybe I'll get a sense of that. I've thought about this book a lot since reading it.
Favorite quotes culled from Goodreads:
“This society hasn't changed one bit. 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.”
“She's far happier thinking her sister is normal, even if she has a lot of problems, than she is having an abnormal sister for whom everything is fine.”
“The normal world has no room for exceptions and always quietly eliminates foreign objects. Anyone who is lacking is disposed of.”
Her description of the job giving her everything she needs to continue doing the job: enough money for daily food; enough time for a good sleep.
carireads's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
dionemay's review against another edition
3.0
This was a delightful short read. I saw it described as a sort of Japanese “Amelie” set in a convenience store which sort of pans out. The main character is truly odd and was fun to see the world through.
2020 Reading Women Challenge #14-A Book Set in Japan or by a Japanese Author
2020 Reading Women Challenge #14-A Book Set in Japan or by a Japanese Author
marfbody's review against another edition
3.0
Gotta say this is one of the odder books I have checked out. Convenience store worker Keiko is a 36 year old woman who has never quite fit in, and we are not clear if she is just naive, or has some mental condition that provokes potential unsavory and dangerous responses at times. The writing is clear and very descriptive as it takes us through her days… and then occasionally veers off into a sharp turn when things change in her world. A very unpleasant coworker rocks the boat a bit, and this leads to a potential big change in Keiko’s life. Interesting.
bibisreadings's review against another edition
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
“O padrão do mundo é compulsório e os corpos estranhos são eliminados sem alarde. Os seres humanos fora do padrão acabam sendo ratificados"
Devorei este livro em duas sessões. Li até 70% fora, e 30% em casa. Ele te prende na trajetória da protagonista e não te deixa escapar. Keiko trabalha em uma loja de conveniência 24h, uma konbini. Ela não se sente parte da sociedade, por não agir de forma convencional como esperam (escola, faculdade, trabalho, casamento, ter filhos). Notei que isso a-angustiava, ela não sabia como viver. Ao entrar na konbini, ela se sente parte de algo, parte do mundo. Agora há um manual para seguir. Eu achei preocupante ela só se sentir bem no trabalho, mas, talvez há pessoas que realmente gostem de viver assim, não sei.
Ao surgir outro personagem na história, senti raiva dele e quis abandonar a leitura, mas não o-fiz. Seu comportamento me irritou, mas continuei. É um retrato fiel da sociedade contemporânea, nisso me lembrei bastante de O Morro Dos Ventos Uivantes. É interessante, ácido, cruel e triste.
No entanto, é necessário que haja relatos, que os autores exponham suas angústias com o mundo, vendo, assim, que não estão sozinhos e outras partes do mundo se sentem da mesma forma.
Bom, recomendo muito essa leitura, Sayaka é brilhante.
Vi um comentário no insta sobre crianças que não se encaixam e fiquei muito pensativa. Estamos vendo essas crianças? Estamos tentando fazer com que se encaixem? Estamos reproduzindo pressões sociais que criticamos?
Fica a reflexão, adoraria saber o que pensam dessa discussão, e dessa leitura.
Devorei este livro em duas sessões. Li até 70% fora, e 30% em casa. Ele te prende na trajetória da protagonista e não te deixa escapar. Keiko trabalha em uma loja de conveniência 24h, uma konbini. Ela não se sente parte da sociedade, por não agir de forma convencional como esperam (escola, faculdade, trabalho, casamento, ter filhos). Notei que isso a-angustiava, ela não sabia como viver. Ao entrar na konbini, ela se sente parte de algo, parte do mundo. Agora há um manual para seguir. Eu achei preocupante ela só se sentir bem no trabalho, mas, talvez há pessoas que realmente gostem de viver assim, não sei.
Ao surgir outro personagem na história, senti raiva dele e quis abandonar a leitura, mas não o-fiz. Seu comportamento me irritou, mas continuei. É um retrato fiel da sociedade contemporânea, nisso me lembrei bastante de O Morro Dos Ventos Uivantes. É interessante, ácido, cruel e triste.
No entanto, é necessário que haja relatos, que os autores exponham suas angústias com o mundo, vendo, assim, que não estão sozinhos e outras partes do mundo se sentem da mesma forma.
Bom, recomendo muito essa leitura, Sayaka é brilhante.
Vi um comentário no insta sobre crianças que não se encaixam e fiquei muito pensativa. Estamos vendo essas crianças? Estamos tentando fazer com que se encaixem? Estamos reproduzindo pressões sociais que criticamos?
Fica a reflexão, adoraria saber o que pensam dessa discussão, e dessa leitura.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal death and Misogyny
kinda_like_shaft's review against another edition
3.0
Eccentric little Kafka-esque story of a simple worker who's life is enough for her to exist and give her a special purpose, and the society that thinks she should need more. She doesn't. She's got what she needs.
teotime's review against another edition
3.0
Not quirky, weird, or funny. An absolutely devastating portrayal of neurodiversity and so much more. Desperately made me wish it explored so much more (and so much less if the incel).
aimeetuck's review against another edition
3.0
Lovely, absurd book. I'm not a mental health professional, but kept wanting to diagnose the main character - which is ironic due to the themes running throughout the book.
annikjoy's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
relaxing
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
aschwartau's review against another edition
3.0
I don't know that I understood this book, and I can't decide if it's because of the translation, a cultural disconnect, or if I'm just not grasping what this is about.
After reading a bunch of reviews that talk about how 'hilarious' and 'funny' this novel is, I'm guessing that part of my consternation falls on the awkward translation. There were so many moments -- usually in terms of dialogue, but occasionally in terms of how the side characters are portrayed -- that I wondered if this was satire and if I was supposed to find all of this funny. When reading certain scenes as satire (notably the ones in which characters go on and on about how a 35 year old female is an old maid, and has no hope for anything in life because she's not married), then I felt like the author was making some pointed commentary about the outdated expectations of Japanese culture. But then the writing/translation would become so straightforward that I'd question if I'd misinterpreted what the author was trying to do; reading the story through a more literal lens confuses me not only because the main character experiences no growth or change by the end of the story, but much of the writing/translation came off as sloppy or amateurish, particularly in terms of dialogue, which was often clunky, stilted, and unnatural.
For example, here's some dialogue that just feels.......false.
“You need to wake up, Furukura. To put it bluntly, you’re the lowest of the low. Your womb is probably too old to be of any use, and you don’t even have the looks to serve as a means to satisfy carnal desire. But then neither are you earning money like a man. Far from it, you’re only working part-time without even a proper job. Frankly speaking, you’re just a burden on the village, the dregs of society.”
“I see. But I’m not capable of working anywhere else except the convenience store. I did give it a go, but it turns out the convenience store worker mask is the only one I’m fit to wear. So if people don’t accept that, I have no idea what I can do about it.”
And what about this? This is the main character's sister talking to her. The narrator is clearly autistic so this feels really cruel and I dont know if it's supposed to be satire or not:
“Will you ever be cured, Keiko …?” She looked down, not even bothering to remonstrate with me. “I simply can’t take it anymore. How can we make you normal? How much longer must I put up with this?”
One thing that I must give the author credit for is somehow making the life of a robotic, passive, hard-to-connect-with convenience store worker compelling enough to keep turning the pages. As an American who's never visited Japan, the convenience store world was foreign and fascinating to me; SO either Japanese convenience stores really are that different from ours, or the author is such a good writer that she made this unfamiliar world erupt to life; I could hear it, see it, feel it.
I just don't really get what the reader is supposed to take away from this novel, or how we're supposed to feel about Keiko, the narrator. The events that took place in the last 1/3 of the novel were confusing because I never truly understood the connect between what the narrator allowed to happen and her supposed motivations; they never seemed truly enmeshed. The situation seemed so ridiculous, that's when I began to think that maybe this was supposed to be satire.
I'd really love to discuss this with someone to figure out what I'm just not grasping about this book.
After reading a bunch of reviews that talk about how 'hilarious' and 'funny' this novel is, I'm guessing that part of my consternation falls on the awkward translation. There were so many moments -- usually in terms of dialogue, but occasionally in terms of how the side characters are portrayed -- that I wondered if this was satire and if I was supposed to find all of this funny. When reading certain scenes as satire (notably the ones in which characters go on and on about how a 35 year old female is an old maid, and has no hope for anything in life because she's not married), then I felt like the author was making some pointed commentary about the outdated expectations of Japanese culture. But then the writing/translation would become so straightforward that I'd question if I'd misinterpreted what the author was trying to do; reading the story through a more literal lens confuses me not only because the main character experiences no growth or change by the end of the story, but much of the writing/translation came off as sloppy or amateurish, particularly in terms of dialogue, which was often clunky, stilted, and unnatural.
For example, here's some dialogue that just feels.......false.
“You need to wake up, Furukura. To put it bluntly, you’re the lowest of the low. Your womb is probably too old to be of any use, and you don’t even have the looks to serve as a means to satisfy carnal desire. But then neither are you earning money like a man. Far from it, you’re only working part-time without even a proper job. Frankly speaking, you’re just a burden on the village, the dregs of society.”
“I see. But I’m not capable of working anywhere else except the convenience store. I did give it a go, but it turns out the convenience store worker mask is the only one I’m fit to wear. So if people don’t accept that, I have no idea what I can do about it.”
And what about this? This is the main character's sister talking to her. The narrator is clearly autistic so this feels really cruel and I dont know if it's supposed to be satire or not:
“Will you ever be cured, Keiko …?” She looked down, not even bothering to remonstrate with me. “I simply can’t take it anymore. How can we make you normal? How much longer must I put up with this?”
One thing that I must give the author credit for is somehow making the life of a robotic, passive, hard-to-connect-with convenience store worker compelling enough to keep turning the pages. As an American who's never visited Japan, the convenience store world was foreign and fascinating to me; SO either Japanese convenience stores really are that different from ours, or the author is such a good writer that she made this unfamiliar world erupt to life; I could hear it, see it, feel it.
I just don't really get what the reader is supposed to take away from this novel, or how we're supposed to feel about Keiko, the narrator. The events that took place in the last 1/3 of the novel were confusing because I never truly understood the connect between what the narrator allowed to happen and her supposed motivations; they never seemed truly enmeshed. The situation seemed so ridiculous, that's when I began to think that maybe this was supposed to be satire.
I'd really love to discuss this with someone to figure out what I'm just not grasping about this book.