Reviews tagging 'Acephobia/Arophobia'

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

63 reviews

gemmu's review against another edition

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inspiring reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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

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_al's review against another edition

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challenging funny reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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.

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flashandoutbreak's review against another edition

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hopeful inspiring reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75


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hsteel's review against another edition

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medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0


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spooderman's review against another edition

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challenging funny 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? Yes

4.0


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thesunthesunthesunthesun's review against another edition

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funny reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I love Furukura, she is so iconic, just let her be!!!! Just let her do her thing!! She deserves to just work at the convenience store 😭😭😭😭 (Dutch translation ftw, it just hits different than the english one)

The story is pretty fast paced, Furukura is an iconic main character and i love her. A truly painfully accurate account of society and the inner workings of some people's minds.

Amazing writing, Shiraha is the most annoying asshole ever and I hate him.

My partners read the book out loud to me and the only reason it took this long is because I needed to have a break three times per page because I had to yell about Shihara.

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serendipity421's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


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ophycore's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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markwillnevercry's review against another edition

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3.0

It was a kind of a good book? It is all about your purpose and your role in society. However, I did feel uncomfortable while reading a big part of it. I know that it is intentional and that Shiraha is supposed to make us feel uncomfortable, because he is so crazy, but it did not make this the best reading experience. The jury is still out on whether or not Keiko is just autistic and asexual, but the bigger point is that she found her place in the world, but that does not satisfy people around them. It would have been nice seeing this story entirely without Shiraha, it seems like there would have been other ways to evolve the situation into her being made less of a convenience store worker by people in the store and that leading her to a crisis of identity, but this is the way that the writer decided to go through with it and I did not enjoy it.

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uparrowhead's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

A wonderfully strange book that does for quite a fast but comfortable read, Convenience Store Woman shows the hopefullness in the hopeless. I really enjoyed the overarching message of the story that heavily focused on how people are influenced and perceived by society when it comes to normality and conformity.

This isn't the kind of book that I tend to find myself reading, but it was very enjoyable while also being simple. There were times where I found the protagonist, Keiko, being very relatable in the ways in which she strays from what is considered normal in humans.

The overall message of the story, despite the hardships that lead up to it, is just a classic tale of "Be yourself, even in a society that opposes you." The story wasn't exactly ground breakingly major, but I feel like it carried it's message really well and proved to be an entertaining read. Definitely recommend to people who might feel outcasted in this world, one way or another.

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