On the Bookshelf Book Review: Convenience Store Woman

Convenience Store Woman
by Sayaka Murata
My rating:  2 out of 5 **

 

This was one of the shortest books I have read in a long time at only 163 pages, so I was able to read to it in a few hours.  But I have to say, this was not one of my favorite stories. Keiko Furukura, the main character, suffers from a neural disorder that makes it impossible for her to connect with people or to distinguish between what is right and wrong.  When she was in elementary school, two of her classmates were fighting in the yard, so Keiko went to the shed and proceeded to hit them in the head with a shovel until they stopped. She couldn’t understand why her teachers and parents were so upset with her afterward.  Keiko spent the rest of her growing up years quietly observing others, hoping to discover the “rules” of being human. When she gets a job at a convenience store, things start to make sense to her. She learns what to do and what to say by following the worker’s manual and her manager’s directions.  She mimics tone and facial features from her co-workers. For the first time in her life, Keiko has a purpose and feels as though she fits in.

 

She doesn’t, however,  fit into traditional societal roles and, after working there for 18 years, Keiko’s friends and family begin to question why she isn’t married or moving on to a better job.  At this point, Keiko decides to ask an ex-co-worker to move in with her, hoping that this will make her seem more normal to people. In comes Shiraha, the most reprehensible character I have come across in a long time.  He is slovenly, weak, lazy and insulting. None of this matters to Keiko since she isn’t able to form connections to anyone, but people around her mysteriously approve of their cohabitation and look at Keiko as being more “normal” now that she has what they consider to be a boyfriend.  In the end, Keiko has to choose between what is expected of her and what she finds fulfilling.

 

While I thought the commentary on societal expectations was interesting,  I thought that the story was flat and the characters unlikable. Unfortunately, this is not a book I would recommend.