There is almost a sinister undertone to this brief, interesting novel. Keiko is a young woman working at the Hiiromachi branch of the Smile Mart, a convenience store – which sounds much cleaner, brighter, and customer-focused than any convenience store I’ve visited in the US. She sees herself as essentially reborn from the moment she takes this job. Early in the novel you know that Keiko is a little different – her flat affect in the narration and veneration of rules makes it immediately clear […]

CW: Child abuse/sex abuse A devastating follow up (not a sequel, just the same writer) to Convenience Store Woman, which I also reread and enjoyed more the second time. This story begins with the close narration of a young girl who believes she is a kind of outsider to the world, has a crush on her cousin, and finds weirdness and joy in different parts of her life. She is sexually abused by her teacher (and narrated in such sadness) and this causes her to […]

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata My rating: 5 of 5 stars Keiko has been working at the same convenience store for 18 years. After coming across the store during a university internship, what was supposed to help her pay her student lifestyle suddenly became a more permanent job. This momentarily gets disrupted when an incel tries to manipulate her into colluding against society together. Keiko finds her voice again and stands up for herself and for what makes her feel useful. It’s not stated […]