Convenience Store Woman

163 pages

English language

Published Nov. 24, 2018

ISBN:
978-0-8021-2825-6
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(41 reviews)

Keiko Furukura had always been considered a strange child, and her parents always worried how she would get on in the real world, so when she takes on a job in a convenience store while at university, they are delighted for her. For her part, in the convenience store she finds a predictable world mandated by the store manual, which dictates how the workers should act and what they should say, and she copies her coworkers' style of dress and speech patterns so that she can play the part of a normal person. However, eighteen years later, at age 36, she is still in the same job, has never had a boyfriend, and has only few friends. She feels comfortable in her life, but is aware that she is not living up to society's expectations and causing her family to worry about her. When a similarly alienated but cynical and …

7 editions

Un éloge émouvant à la non-conformité

Le personnage principal de notre roman s’appelle Keiko Furukura. Elle a, depuis 18 ans, un petit boulot à temps partiel dans un konbini, ces « convenience store » typiquement japonais ouverts 24h/24 et 7j/7. Ce qui inquiète son entourage car ce n’est pas « normal » : à 36 ans, il faudrait un emploi « stable » ou, à la rigueur, être marriée, avoir des enfants. Or Keiko, en plus de toujours bosser au Konbini est aussi célibataire, et ses amis comme sa famille ne lui ont même jamais connu aucune relation… non, vraiment, c’est très inquiétant.

Racontant sa vie quotidienne, Keiko racontera aussi quelques anecdotes de son enfance qui expliqueront au lecteur comment elle est arrivée à la conclusion qu’il convenait de se « fondre dans la masse » et quelles stratégies elle use pour cela.

Dans ce monde régi par la normalité, tout intrus se voit discrètement éliminé. …

Great except...

Content warning spoilers

Review of 'Convenience Store Woman' on 'Goodreads'

 When you live in another country and its culture is less diverse than your own, you become aware of trends and fads not dissimilar from those of where you're from but that you were too close to to see. Japan, where I lived for some years decades ago, is known for having crazes over things—usually cute things—that often got international coverage by journalists on the interesting-things-done-elsewhere beat. (When I was there, koalas and "Jesus Christ lizards" had their time.)
 It's the only way I can explain the success of [a:Sayaka Murata|8816506|Sayaka Murata|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1522684114p2/8816506.jpg]'s 2016 novel, [b:Convenience Store Woman|36739755|Convenience Store Woman|Sayaka Murata|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1680105376l/36739755.SX50.jpg|51852264]. It's awful. The translated version is badly written, and I found no new ideas or moments that I haven't seen expressed better elsewhere many times. What I can't explain is why this short novel (I'm a very slow reader, but I read it in under three hours) has …

Review of 'Convenience Store Woman' on 'Goodreads'

What a weird book. I'm writing this at a time when I haven't really wrangled my feelings about it. It's very well written/translated and it took me very little time to finish it. It's also a really well realized dark comedy in the sense that its exaggerations and caricatures all scratch at something real, whether it's the weight of societal expectations, the way people give themselves to the capitalist machinery or the need for structured behavior in general - and I didn't know whether to feel bad or laugh. It's argument is also complicated further by the existence of Shiraha, someone who, to me, represents the person who can kind of see the system for what it is but reacts to that by seeking to bypass it or benefit from it, and connects it to an extremely toxic worldview as a result. I think I liked this?

Review of 'Convenience store woman' on 'Goodreads'

An expert convenience store worker and Robert D. Hare-level psychopath and possible ace or aro (asexual or aromatic) adopts a pet rat—actually a men’s rights activist/incel type—to reduce people’s discomfort with her lifestyle, which apparently everyone around her in 2016 Japan condemns for failing to include either a full-time job or a family.

This is the setup used to criticize a common habit of society. If people can’t tell some linear combination of socially-common eigenstories about you, they often question the evidence their eyes present them with: even if you’re the perfect worker, the model worker in every way, but you don’t have a respectable life story, you might never be recognized as a valuable colleague or employee or person. Even if you, like the narrator, win over your new bosses and coworkers by being exceptionally skilled and dedicated to your craft, any hint of conventional respectability (full-time job or …

Review of 'Convenience store woman' on 'Goodreads'

The latest literary sensation seems to be Convenience Store Woman, this book is everywhere but maybe because it is currently WITMonth (Women in Translation Month). This is a dark comedy that explores the life of Keiko, who never felt like she fit in with society. She took a job in a convenience store and now eighteen years later she feels like this is where she belongs. Thanks to the convenience store manual she knows exactly how she is meant to act and behave.

Convenience Store Woman dives into society and starts questioning what we consider social norms. For Keiko she feels comfortable working in a convenience store. However for everyone else, they think something is wrong with her. To them, she should have moved on to a better job, gotten married and had kids. This is a brutal look at how damaging social norms can be as the reader follows …

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