Convenience Store Woman: A Novel
The English-language debut of an exciting young voice in international fiction, selling 660,000 copies in Japan alone, Convenience Store Woman is a bewitching portrayal of contemporary Japan through the eyes of a single woman who fits in to the rigidity of its work culture only too well
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Readers say *Convenience Store Woman* offers a minimalist yet impactful look at societal pressures and the struggle to fit in. Many admire its insight...
super short but quite entertaining. i really liked the narrator :)
good commentary on what we are “supposed” to do as a member of society
good commentary on what we are “supposed” to do as a member of society
Read this book as a part of my Bookclub botm and its the first book, I read based on Japenese literature.
The book follows 36 year old Keiko Furukura, a social misfit from childhood but when she finds herself a job at a convenience store, keiko believe that there is no world beyond that convenience store and she would never fit in with the normalcy of the world and can never be fixed.
Convenience store woman is a tiny book with a big meaning. This book does convey the message of how important it is to be normal and fit into the world rather then being a misfit like keiko and being nudge all the time by family, friends, colleagues and more over the society.
The subject that the author hits on, in this tiny book made me stop and think, "Don't we all sometimes in our life struggle to fit into societies normalcy and that there is always a pressure to do something, be somewhere, become something or follow normal social traditions like find a job, get married at the right age, make more money, have children etc, it's like we always have to jump from thing in life to another & if we fail at even one of societies normalcy, we are termed as a misfit or as someone who needs to be fixed."
This book is surely very high on social commentary as I could personally relate to many of the social behaviours, expectations and pressures mentioned in this book.
The book does start of in a quirky and laugh out aloud manner but is much much more then that. The writing style is easy going as well as the characters, though the Character of Shiraha was sometimes annoying and manipulative but he always ended up stating relatable facts about the way society behaved. I also quite loved the convenience store setting and how it functioned 24/7 and how much hardwork and attention to detail went into running a convenience store.
There was only one tiny problem that I had with this book, was that I was hoping for a different kind of ending, so it fell a little flat for me.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I'm looking forward to reading more Japanese translations.
I would definitely recommend this book and I feel everyone should read it atleast once in a lifetime.
The book follows 36 year old Keiko Furukura, a social misfit from childhood but when she finds herself a job at a convenience store, keiko believe that there is no world beyond that convenience store and she would never fit in with the normalcy of the world and can never be fixed.
Convenience store woman is a tiny book with a big meaning. This book does convey the message of how important it is to be normal and fit into the world rather then being a misfit like keiko and being nudge all the time by family, friends, colleagues and more over the society.
The subject that the author hits on, in this tiny book made me stop and think, "Don't we all sometimes in our life struggle to fit into societies normalcy and that there is always a pressure to do something, be somewhere, become something or follow normal social traditions like find a job, get married at the right age, make more money, have children etc, it's like we always have to jump from thing in life to another & if we fail at even one of societies normalcy, we are termed as a misfit or as someone who needs to be fixed."
This book is surely very high on social commentary as I could personally relate to many of the social behaviours, expectations and pressures mentioned in this book.
The book does start of in a quirky and laugh out aloud manner but is much much more then that. The writing style is easy going as well as the characters, though the Character of Shiraha was sometimes annoying and manipulative but he always ended up stating relatable facts about the way society behaved. I also quite loved the convenience store setting and how it functioned 24/7 and how much hardwork and attention to detail went into running a convenience store.
There was only one tiny problem that I had with this book, was that I was hoping for a different kind of ending, so it fell a little flat for me.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I'm looking forward to reading more Japanese translations.
I would definitely recommend this book and I feel everyone should read it atleast once in a lifetime.
This was a great book and a really interesting story and character to follow. But if I had had to spend time with that man I would have been in prison for murder.
I just finished the book and loved it, although couldn't exactly puts words to why. The events throughout the book are a bit mundane, so when describing it to my husband it was difficult to grasp his interest. Even so, I loved Keiko's unique point of view and complete satisfaction with her simple life. Seems like we all strive to be "good enough" and I really admired that Keiko just flat out didn't care about it. She was good enough in her own eyes.... as long as the barley teas and best selling rice balls were stocked.
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