Review by james1star - Convenience Store Woman

james1star 's review for:

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

4.25

emotional funny medium-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

I did really enjoy this book and would definitely recommend it - great for something quick, weird and easy to get through. I read this after a very mind-aching book that took what seemed like forever to get through so I greatly appreciated it’s swiftness.

The plot was okay I think, there were some things I didn’t really like or found that logical but it did follow and was both realistic and intriguing. We are basically following Keiko who is a self proclaimed ‘convenience store worker’ and struggles to fit into society’s idea of ‘normal’ - she discusses this questioning of what is normal, why isn’t she, how can she be fixed and other very relatable questions. She was definitely quite weird and odd in a sense but on the whole likeable and you do want what’s best for her and I really just wanted her to be free of judgment. Most of the other characters were pretty meh, Shiraha being especially unlikable with a victim/pick-me aurora, I did understand his reasoning slightly but overall didn’t like him. The book also gives a good insight into a way of thinking we don’t also consider about society how ‘un-normal’ people are othered and pushed away and how we are all striving to be ‘normal’ whatever that is.

Great little book. Weird and witty, definitely intoxicated making you want - dare I say need - to read on and Yhh… I very much enjoyed it. Not my favourite but a solid 4-4.25 ⭐️ read.

Content Warnings