Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Convenience Store Woman

Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

76 reviews

slaywithsteph's review against another edition

4.75

lighthearted reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

maddykes13's review against another edition

3.5

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

bellsdixon's review against another edition

3.0

challenging funny fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

gemmu's review against another edition

4.5

inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I love quirky and morally gray characters, so this book was really up my alley. I even found the main character quite relatable at times.

At some points the story felt almost thriller-like - but not for the reasons you might think. Keiko Furukura's uncommon thoughts - although, a bit creepy - were not the reason for my uneasiness at times. Instead, all the other characters created the pressure of uncertainty. You couldn't be quite sure when they would push Keiko, or anyone else outside the social norms, too far. Personally I just don't like noisy people, which probably caused me the most discomfort while reading.

Over all, one of the best books I have read for a while <3

Content Warnings

charlie_woodchipper's review against another edition

4.0

lighthearted sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Impressive how this was successfully made into something somewhat lighthearted. It was a bit unsettling at times, and could easily have been turned into a horror book. But it wasn't, and that made the experience special, different. I don't think I've read something quite like that before. It tackled extreme obsession without being violent or gory or creepy. It made convenient stores appear cozy and homy somehow, because of the protagonist point of view

Content Warnings

_al's review against another edition

3.5

challenging funny reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

3.5/75 out of 5 stars and I genuinely enjoyed but also in the middle I kinda got confused if we meant to read Keiko as a character and the entire book in general as a satire or its just a nice message and that Keiko meant to break from the desire to "blend in". Obviously in the end it was the second but I think it got jumbled a bit (even though Keiko was hilarious)
Still, the book was very enjoyable and I liked Keiko as main character. The themes and message was also kinda echoing some my personal struggles and long existing thoughts, so that's also nice.

Content Warnings

laurenbaggy's review against another edition

3.75

emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

ferdie's review against another edition

3.25

dark sad fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book is easily read in one sitting. I wouldn't say I enjoyed the story, but it prompted a lot of thoughts on acceptability, normality, and finding your way when you don't fit. There is never a diagnosis, but the main character Keiko is autism coded. The book is descriptive of masking and how she tries to mimic others to appear normal. It felt exhausting reading it, not to mention doing it everyday. Convienance Store Woman left me feeling pity, struggle, earnestness, and cheery for her in the end.

Content Warnings