Convenience Store Woman

A quirky sad slim novel, about how we're fitting ourselves into boxes in order to fulfill the norms and expectations society and other people are projecting onto us.

Keiko, the protagonist who clearly registers on the autism spectrum, finds fulfillment in her work as a convenience store clerk. The store's rules and repetitive tasks please her, by giving her life clear guidelines and goals. She copies other people's behavior in order to appear as human and normal as possible. Yet her friends' and sister's expectations of what the life of a woman her age should be like, weigh on her and she approaches it like a puzzle to solve.

Well, that was a bit like being repeatedly hit over the head with a hammer - fortunately, a small one!

“When something was strange, everyone thought they had the right to come stomping in all over your life to figure out why. I found that arrogant and infuriating, not to mention a pain in the neck. Sometimes I even wanted to hit them with a shovel to shut them up, like I did that time in elementary school. But I recalled how upset my sister had been when I'd casually mentioned this to her before and kept my mouth shut.”

This is such an odd wee book. A quick read, ultimately because not a lot happens and there's not much of a character arc to speak of, but Murata's writing is compelling and Keiko's story is endearing and relatable, despite her bizarre personality quirks. Her constant enforced cheerfulness and unabashed bluntness reminded me an awful lot of May Kasahara from Murikami's The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. An interesting look at the role of the individual in the machinery of society, and society's expectations, and often insistence, of conformity.

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.

4.5 stars for this strange and curious masterpiece of a critique to modern society and to the way we feel entitled to force others to fit in a specific box with a tag. Short, with some dark humor and an unforgettable protagonist.

Kooky, engrossing, weird and wonderful. Also, full of truth!
I couldn't put this down, and at 176 pages, you really don't have to. Keiko is awesome.

short read, somewhat absurdist.

What a unique, strange and intimate novel. How do you understand what feels right to you and how do you go back to it despite the social pressure not to? It's about trying to fit in, to be normal and to explore the unexpected codes of what it means to be a woman of thirty six, and what is expected from her. It's about the call for acceptance, inclusion, and understanding, while staying true to herself and staying strong in her own lead. read in one go.

Read and reviewed: 2018-06-15