The Convenience Store Woman (2016) by Sayaka Murata #JapaneseLitChallenge18

🏪 Keiko Furukura grown up as an unusual child. She never fits in, neither at home, nor at school. It's just that she thinks differently from other children. Like, when they found a dead bird, while the other children were devastated or crying, Keiko was thinking that her father would like to have the bird cooked for dinner tonight. I think I will feel similar to Keiko - dead bird is just, well... a dead creature. It would be different if it was my pet, but a random dead bird is just natural. That's just one example, but Keiko's family was worried, and always think she needs to be cured.

🏪 At eighteen, Keiko still doesn't fit in in college. At this point, she took a part time job at a convenience store. It was a God-send to her, so to speak, as she finally found peace inside the regulated small world of convenience store. When one works in a convenience store (the kind that are numerous in Japan, as well as other Asian countries), one becomes a store worker; no matter what one's gender, sex, education, race, or social background is. One is only expected to perform based on the store manual. One would not be expected to be, to feel, to look like anybody else, since during working hours, they are all one entity, convenience store workers. Then, and only then, does Keiko feel happy, safe, and comfortable. No wonder that she never leaves the job, and becomes more and more attached to it.

🏪 Now Keiko is in her thirties, still a part-timer, still unmarried. Her family and friends are uneasy, often annoy her with their comments, insinuations, persuasions. Apparently, Keiko still doesn't fit the society. What is her fault? She lives independently, doing a good job, doing no harm to others, and more especially, completely happy and peaceful with herself. What's wrong with that? Well, it's wrong because the society dictates that a normal person should marry and procreate, and he/she should always improve in career. Being comfortable in one place for the rest of one's life isn't normal. It seems that all the Keikos in the world have only two choices: being happy of their own values, but being shunned forever from the world, for rejecting the society's convention; or accepted in the society, but forever living as a soulless creature, always conform with others.

🏪 Who would have thought that this seemingly nice and sweet little book is actually so thought-provoking, though in a fun and easy going way, without judging or condemning? Beyond the main theme, I loved its convenience store dynamic atmosphere as the background, but also, almost, as a living entity in the story. As an Asian, I, too, can't live without convenience stores. We even have four inside the apartment complex, two of them with ATM machine, where I can buy bread, fresh fruits, and sometimes hot snacks in about five minutes walk. Very convenient indeed!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2

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Japanese Literature Challenge #18

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