Convenience Store Woman

This is a short novel(la?) about Keiko, a 36 year-old woman who began part-time work at a convenience store at age 18 and simply never left. Keiko reminds me of Abed from Community, or Eleanor Oliphant. She sees that people around her worry about her, and she doesn't want them to be upset, but she has trouble figuring out why they're upset and what they want her to do differently.

Murata has readers question viewing life the way we do: as more or less linear, with certain checkpoints that must be reached (college graduation, homeownership, marriage, parenthood, etc.) to prove to yourself and others that you're doing okay. She does this with a protagonist who doesn't understand or subscribe to this.

Keiko just wants to work at a convenience store and be left alone. The store provides her life structure and meaning. She understands what the store needs. She monitors and fiddles with endless variables to help customers have the best experience. She finds comfort in understanding what issues may arise and attending to them, proactively if not preemptively.

The people around Keiko are immensely bothered by the fact that Keiko is not bothered. They're discontent with where Keiko is at age 36, but are more discontent that Keiko is content with where she is at age 36. They project their worldview onto her, and are disturbed as she fails to grasp how behind she is. How does she not feel the pressure they feel just by being around her?

Then you have Shiraha, who is also an outsider struggling to “be normal,” but he's not at all content in the way Keiko is. He's miserable. He's a passionate misogynist. Shiraha is a smart way for Murata to show that there's more than one way to be an outsider. Keiko and Shiraha both exhibit antisocial behavior and have yet to achieve many of the same social and financial milestones. But their motivations and perspectives differ. Their relationships with concerned family members (Keiko's sister, Shiraha's sister-in-law) differ. After complaining incessantly about people pressing their worldview onto others, Shiraha does the same thing to Keiko. He monologues about the Stone Age and double standards, and presses Keiko to do what will benefit him, while assuring her it's what's best for both of them. Keiko finally stands up for herself, but does so by turning back to the convenience store. And in a way, I was proud of her. I saw it as a relative victory, a way of reclaiming the life she never wanted to change in the first place. If 90 Day Fiance has taught me anything (it's taught me very little), it's that it's far better to be alone than to be with someone awful.

Altogether, Convenience Store Woman is hilarious and unsettling. It made me reevaluate the standards we use to determine whether a life is fulfilling. Why do we have such an averse reaction to people living like Keiko? What anxiety about existence does her existence provoke? Plus, the cover of the edition I read is so cute. For a tiny book, this one will stick with me.