Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Convenience Store Woman

Compelling, immersive and beautifully written. This book builds an amazing atmosphere around the convenience store. The woman’s perspective and inner voice is just so so interesting. Reading this book made me think a lot about conformity and it’s complexities. Take a few hours out of your day to treat yourself to this reflect, unique book.

Also, you can always tell if you read a good book, or a book that you really liked if you continue to think about it for a while after, and that has definitely been the case here for me.

Content Warnings

fox_at_the_circus's review against another edition

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challenging funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

The book is a fun and easy read, and also tackles its main themes well for being so short.
Keiko is a really good main character, I got attached to her really quick. She is just living her life as a convinience store worker, while trying to navigate all these expectations that her family and friends have. It shows just how society treats people it considers "not normal".
Shiraha is obvisously a horrible person, but he serves his role as a character. And it's funny, whenever Keiko's inner dialogue rejects his "logic". Also in the end, when she finally tells him to leave her alone, it's really a moment I celebrated with and for her!

Content Warnings

navayiota's review against another edition

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challenging funny informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I really enjoyed and connected to this book. I think it was an immaculate critique of capitalistic society and how a person's value is judged by what they contribute to others and how little they shake the boat. The rage Keiko felt when she was being grilled for information about her personal life, and the way everyone so shamelessly criticised her to her face about her life choices really resonated with me and stirred up all kinds of emotions. It's always such a great feeling, reading a book and knowing the author just gets you.
I didn't find Keiko weird, I related to some of her thoughts and actions like having to copy everyone around you to fit in, although I will say I have enough empathy to not eat a random dead bird or hit a kid on the head with a spade to end a fight. Reading about her thought process immediately brought the phrase "ruthless efficiency" to my mind. She navigates the world with a different set of values, and reducing pain is just not one of them. She doesn't do it out of malice, she just doesn't get why it's a big deal. All she needs is someone to explain to her what the societal rules are so she can follow them, and that's why she thrives in a convenience store. There's a manual spelling everything out for her, and that's exactly what she wants. There's nothing wrong with her, she just needs guidance and a place to belong, where she won't be judged for what she can or can't do, or any surrounding factors like her age or the clothes she wears. I hope this book made this clear for some people. I believe this should be essential reading for anyone trying to become more open minded.
I'll definitely be checking out more of Sayaka Murata's work. I can say that as simple as this book was, it really blew me away.

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