Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - Convenience Store Woman

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.

Content Warnings

lenahausr's review against another edition

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funny reflective medium-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? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

shio's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

1.0

Content Warnings

fionaqpple's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.5

it’s so not quirky or funny as everyone else said? i loved the concept and the ending but it was just so sad and disturbing at times, i felt so bad for keiko being totally trapped in this world,

and i feel like there is definitely a political message here i missed

Content Warnings

rin_dawg's review against another edition

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funny reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

Content Warnings

perfectplaces's review against another edition

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emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.75

“At that moment, for the first time ever, I felt I’d become a part in the machine of society. I’ve been reborn, I thought.”

-

don’t get me wrong, i enjoyed this a lot! it was really easy to read, i pretty much sped through it in about an hour, and keiko is such a good character, i just…feel like i took away something entirely different to everyone else? like i’ve been reading reviews talking about how this is a horror story and even more talking about it being quirky and funny when to me it’s so obvious that keiko is autistic (actually she’s probably one of the most clearly autistic characters i’ve ever encountered) and the book is a commentary on institutionalised ableism.

like, some scenes in this put physical pits in my stomach because i’ve been there in some respect and the feelings keiko felt and inspired in others were so familiar! but this was also sold to me as a book with a “quirky” narrator and i wonder…am i the one missing something? or is it everyone else?

Content Warnings

samvansam's review

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dark reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

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