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A review by rawrr_reads
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
3.5
This book is about a 36-year-old woman (Keiko) who inherently is very different from others in terms of her personality, which makes it difficult to co-exist with others as she often finds it hard to understand why people react the way they do. But she finds a cheat sheet to exist without raising flags, just follow what others are doing and they will accept you. That's why she sticks to the convenience store job she gets when she's 18. Because working here gives her a set of rules to follow, and she makes those rules her entire life, she ceases to exist as a person outside the convenience store.
This book touches on how people who are different and do not conform to social norms and values face prejudice in society. Keiko represents the demographic anxiety in Japanese society, which has experienced falling marriage rates and low birth rates for years. One striking line from this book is, 'the normal world has no room for exceptions and always quietly eliminates foreign objects, anyone who is lacking is disposed of'. This line elaborates on the prejudice seen in society about people who are different, but at the same time it also shows how different Keiko is, she says people must be 'disposed of', which is not a word that people would usually use in the same context as human beings.
This book is so realistic to the point where there's no prince charming or Mr.Right who helps Keiko change, there is no character development and that is the beauty of this book. It shows that sometimes, people are just not willing to change their ways. However, we are introduced to another peculiar character in this book as Keiko's love 'dis-interest'; Shiraha.
Shiraha is a lazy and reckless misogynist who gets fired from the convenience store Keiko works because of his inadequacy. These two unconventional characters band together, Keiko uses Shiraha as a means of trying to be 'normal', whereas Shiraha lives with Keiko as a parasite who uses her to escape the world.
Although this novel draws light on a lot of controversial issues in this society, I couldn't overlook a few things that brought down the rating of this book for me. One of which is the fact that Shiraha felt incomplete as though he wasn't a fully developed character, and it felt like he was just added for the plot. I would have loved to know more about him and how his mind worked.
This book touches on how people who are different and do not conform to social norms and values face prejudice in society. Keiko represents the demographic anxiety in Japanese society, which has experienced falling marriage rates and low birth rates for years. One striking line from this book is, 'the normal world has no room for exceptions and always quietly eliminates foreign objects, anyone who is lacking is disposed of'. This line elaborates on the prejudice seen in society about people who are different, but at the same time it also shows how different Keiko is, she says people must be 'disposed of', which is not a word that people would usually use in the same context as human beings.
This book is so realistic to the point where there's no prince charming or Mr.Right who helps Keiko change, there is no character development and that is the beauty of this book. It shows that sometimes, people are just not willing to change their ways. However, we are introduced to another peculiar character in this book as Keiko's love 'dis-interest'; Shiraha.
Shiraha is a lazy and reckless misogynist who gets fired from the convenience store Keiko works because of his inadequacy. These two unconventional characters band together, Keiko uses Shiraha as a means of trying to be 'normal', whereas Shiraha lives with Keiko as a parasite who uses her to escape the world.
Although this novel draws light on a lot of controversial issues in this society, I couldn't overlook a few things that brought down the rating of this book for me. One of which is the fact that Shiraha felt incomplete as though he wasn't a fully developed character, and it felt like he was just added for the plot. I would have loved to know more about him and how his mind worked.