Sayaka Murata

Meet Keiko. Keiko is 36 years old. She's never had a boyfriend, and she's been working in the same supermarket for eighteen years. Keiko's family wishes she'd get a proper job. Her friends wonder why she won't get married. But Keiko knows what makes her happy, and she's not going to let anyone come between her and her convenience store... *Convenience Store Woman comes in three different colours; the colour you receive will be chosen at random*

Convenience Store Woman

alexia

I'd noticed soon after starting the job that whenever I got angry at the same things as everyone else, they all seemed happy. If I went along with the manager when he was annoyed or joined in the general irritation at someone skiving off the night shift, there was a strange sense of solidarity as everyone seemed pleased that I was angry too.

Now, too, I felt reassured by the expression on Mrs. Izumi and Sugawara's faces: Good, I pulled off being a "person".

You eliminate the parts of your life that others find strange—maybe that's what everyone means when they say they want to "cure" me.

It is the start of another day, the time when the world wakes up and the cogs of society begin to move. I am one of those cogs, going round and round. I have become a functioning part of the world, rotating in the time of day called morning.

In other words, you play the part of the fictitious creature called 'an ordinary person' that everyone has  in them.

Brandon Liew

"Keiko has never really fitted in. At school and university people find her odd and her family worries she'll never be normal. To appease them, Keiko takes a job at a newly opened convenience store. Here, she finds peace and purpose in the simple, daily tasks and routine interactions. She is, she comes to understand, happiest as a convenience store worker. But in Keiko's social circle it just won't do for an unmarried woman to spend all her time stacking shelves and re-ordering green tea. As pressure mounts on Keiko to find either a new job, or worse, a husband, she is forced to take desperate action..."--Provided by publisher.

Sanne

I was taking on the form of a person that their brains all imagined as normal. Being congratulated by them felt strange, but I merely said, "Thank you."

"Furukura, you're lucky, you know. Thanks to me, you can go from being triply handicapped as a single, virgin convenience store worker to being a married member of society. Everyone will assume you're a sexually active, respectable human being. That's the image of you that pleases them most. Isn't it wonderful?"

So that was it: now that she thinks he's "one of us' she can lecture him. She's far happier thinking her sister is normal, even if she has a lot of problems, than she is having an abnormal sister for whom everything is fine. For her, normality—however messy—is far more comprehensible.

Everyone seemed happier than when I'd told then I’d never been in love, and they were carrying on as if they knew everything about my situation. The previous me—who'd never fallen in love or had sex, who'd never had a proper job—had sometimes been hard to read. But everything about the new me—the one who had Shiraha living with her—was clear, even my future.

“[…]. Society has reached the stage in which not being of any use to the village means being condemned just for existing.”

“then I wouldn't have had to go to such lengths to find out how to be normal.”

She was getting carried away with making up a story for herself. She might just as well have been saying I was "cured." If it had been that simple all along, I thought, I wish she'd given me clear instructions before, then I wouldn't have had to go to such lengths to find out how to be normal.

Seeing how excited she was, it occurred to me that it wasn't such a stretch to say that contemporary society was still stuck in the Stone Age after all. So the manual for life already existed. It was just that it was already ingrained in everyone's heads, and there wasn't any need to put it in writing. The specific form of what is considered an "ordinary person" had been there all along, unchanged since prehistoric times I finally realized.

"If you ask me, this is a dysfunctional society. And since it's defective, I'm treated unfairly."

I thought he was probably right about that, and I couldn't even imagine what a perfectly functioning society would be like. I was beginning to lose track of what "society' actually was. I even had a feeling it was all an illusion.

The normal world has no room for exceptions and always quietly eliminates foreign objects. Anyone who is lacking is disposed of.

 why I need to be cured. Unless I’m cured, normal people will expurgate me.

Finally I understood why my family had tried so hard to fix me.

They were harsh words, but he muttered them so quietly I somehow didn't get the feeling he really was all that angry. From where I stood, there were two types of prejudiced people—those who had a deep-rooted urge for prejudice and those who unthinkingly repeated a barrage of slurs they'd heard somewhere.

I find the shape of people’s eyes particularly interesting when they’re being condescending. I see a wariness or a fear of being contradicted or sometimes a belligerent spark ready to jump on any attack. And if they're unaware of being condescending, their glazed-over eyeballs are steeped in a fluid mix of ecstasy and a sense of superiority.

“…, since they all think they are normal …”

‘When something was strange, everyone thought they had the right to come stomping in all over your life to figure out why.’ 

"But once they get it into their heads that I'm not normal, since they all think they are normal they'll give me a hard time about it, won't they? That'd be a lot of bother. So it'd be handy to have an excuse to fend them off with."

When something was strange, everyone thought they had the right to come stomping in all over your life to figure out why. I found that arrogant and infuriating, not to mention a pain in the neck.

… But they didn’t want to think it through that far. I had the feeling I was being told they wanted to settle the matter this way because that was the easiest option for them.

It was the same as when I’d hit that boy with a shovel at school. All the adults had jumped to the unfounded conclusion that I must be an abused child and blamed my family. That way they could understand why I’d done such a terrible thing and therefore have peace of mind. So they’d all pressed me to admit my family situation was to blame for what I’d done.

What a pain I thought, wondering why everyone felt such a need for reassurance.  …

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. That day, I actually became a normal cog in society.

And so, believing that I had to be cured, I grew into adulthood.

It is the start of another day, the time when the world wakes up and the cogs of society begin to move. I am one of those cogs, going round and round. I have become a functioning part of the world, rotating in the time of day called morning. 

Convenience Store Woman - Gadis Minimarket

Demi Tuhan mau marah banget sama dialog ini. Shiraha beneran definisi manusia gak punya modal tapi banyak maunya.

ℛ.

Sekalipun ini transaksi, kau tak perlu membayarku. Yang penting kau membiarkanku tinggal di sini dan memberiku makan.

 justru sekarang kayak menggambarkan kehidupan masyarakat sesungguhnya yang banyak tekanan, entah itu tentang menikah, punya anak, atau pekerjaan. Tapi, masih tetap dibuat geleng kepala sama isi kepalanya Furukura.

ela merecia ter virado supervisora da loja nao ia ter pra ninguem!

Keiko Furukura had always been considered a strange child, and her parents always worried how she would get on in the real world, so when she takes on a job in a convenience store while at university, they are delighted for her. For her part, in the convenience store she finds a predictable world mandated by the store manual, which dictates how the workers should act and what they should say, and she copies her coworkers' style of dress and speech patterns so that she can play the part of a normal person. However, eighteen years later, at age 36, she is still in the same job, has never had a boyfriend, and has only few friends. She feels comfortable in her life, but is aware that she is not living up to society's expectations and causing her family to worry about her. When a similarly alienated but cynical and bitter young man comes to work in the store, he will upset Keiko's contented stasis--but will it be for the better?

Ren 

** spoiler alert **
           yes, keiko is such a peculiar individual but never in a bad way. it was after 50 pages when i felt that pinging sensation in my brain. she must be a fellow neurodivergent! that's why seeing the world through her perspective was such a fascinating ride. she never minded the fact that she does not fit in, even if she knows that the world will never cater to her beliefs. it's so unfair seeing how the world treats neurodivergents sometimes.

Caroline

Read this book as a part of my Bookclub botm and its the first book, I read based on Japenese literature. 

The book follows 36 year old Keiko Furukura, a social misfit from childhood but when she finds herself a job at a convenience store, keiko believe that there is no world beyond that convenience store and she would never fit in with the normalcy of the world and can never be fixed. 

Convenience store woman is a tiny book with a big meaning. This book does convey the message of how important it is to be normal and fit into the world rather then being a misfit like keiko and being nudge all the time by family, friends, colleagues and more over the society. 

The subject that the author hits on, in this tiny book made me stop and think, "Don't we all sometimes in our life struggle to fit into societies normalcy and that there is always a pressure to do something, be somewhere, become something or follow normal social traditions like find a job, get married at the right age, make more money, have children etc, it's like we always have to jump from thing in life to another & if we fail at even one of societies normalcy, we are termed as a misfit or as someone who needs to be fixed." 

This book is surely very high on social commentary as I could personally relate to many of the social behaviours, expectations and pressures mentioned in this book. 

The book does start of in a quirky and laugh out aloud manner but is much much more then that. The writing style is easy going as well as the characters, though the Character of Shiraha was sometimes annoying and manipulative but he always ended up stating relatable facts about the way society behaved. I also quite loved the convenience store setting and how it functioned 24/7 and how much hardwork and attention to detail went into running a convenience store. 

There was only one tiny problem that I had with this book, was that I was hoping for a different kind of ending, so it fell a little flat for me. 

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I'm looking forward to reading more Japanese translations. 

I would definitely recommend this book and I feel everyone should read it atleast once in a lifetime.

kait

This book was a very anticipated read for me and I am so glad to have experienced this. In this book, we follow Keiko, who is quite different from those around her. She has a hard time relating to others and, at most times, really does not know who she is. However, Keiko does have one thing that she truly loves for herself: the convenience store she has been working at since she turned 18. From the very first day the store opened to now in her mid-30s, Keiko's source of happiness has been fulfilled through this store. While there is little to no romance between Keiko and other people, her love for the convenience store shines through. 

I really loved the writing, as I really felt like I would enjoy convenience store work. I had never thought of it as something appealing and now I imagine how fun it would be to work in one and meet all the customers and restock the shelves. 

I found myself relating to Keiko in a lot of ways. Sometimes I find it hard to relate to others and this book was able to describe some of the feelings of being ostracized from others or differing from society's "one right way" of thinking. Keiko often takes how others talk and dress to blend into society better, which I think is something that many people can relate to on some level. As Keiko puts it, she's learning how to be a person. 

This book really hits on all cylinders, especially when explaining different social issues. Topics described include sexism, misogyny, ableism, ageism, asexuality, mental health, and more. 

This book did start to feel repetitive. The book takes place in the convenience store for basically the entire book. As that is the title, I knew what I was getting into. However, I was really rooting for the main character to explore more and go to different places.

buny

Convenience Store Woman  is short and deadpan and weird in its delivery and quirkiness but at its core? Absolute bonkers. It's about many things but the most pivotal, to me, it is about conforming to societal expectations that comes from being a single woman who's in her thirties, faced with confusing challenges for Keiko who has a hard time picking on social cues or being social at all really. 

It's good food for the brain and I admired the firm feet planting from Keiko to stay a convenience store worker because it was the only thing she understood, the only place she felt like she was 'normal' at all, refusing and struggling when pressured to leave by her peers and Shiraha, the asshole with the bad teeth. 

Although she is not your normal easy to understand protagonist, Keiko and her heart gets through to you easily by the simple yet beautiful writing and translation. This little book is gonna suddenly come to me randomly and make me stop whatever I'm doing and  think  so yes, I will be looking forward to reading more of Sayaka Murata's novels and getting lost and found by them a little bit.

I feel like I tried so hard to like this more than I did. The first half was quite mundane, I mean the book itself is pretty mundane and that’s the whole premise, but I wish the author tackled the conformist society deeper? If the goal was an introduction to the struggles of women in a conformist, age-backwards society then they got it, but I think it could have tackled more. It also could have shed more thoughts and perspectives on what really is going in Keiko’s mind (i.e. mental health). Shiraha’s character, I think was necessary but not to until the end. I feel like he was meant to symbolize the masculine, heteronormative, DEADBEAT man. He was annoying but necessary.

Anyway, I did like the overall emphasis on any convenience store being Keiko’s comfort place. I liked the perspectives of the characters and the judgements, although mostly showed how misunderstood Keiko is. It showed the internal thoughts of someone as complex but, really just simple, as Keiko. She just needed to be understood and left in her comforts.

I feel like I tried so hard to like this more than I did. The first half was quite mundane, I mean the book itself is pretty mundane and that’s the whole premise, but I wish the author tackled the conformist society deeper? If the goal was an introduction to the struggles of women in a conformist, age-backwards society then they got it, but I think it could have tackled more. It also could have shed more thoughts and perspectives on what really is going in Keiko’s mind (i.e. mental health). Shiraha’s character, I think was necessary but not to until the end. I feel like he was meant to symbolize the masculine, heteronormative, DEADBEAT man. He was annoying but necessary.

Anyway, I did like the overall emphasis on any convenience store being Keiko’s comfort place. I liked the perspectives of the characters and the judgements, although mostly showed how misunderstood Keiko is. It showed the internal thoughts of someone as complex but, really just simple, as Keiko. She just needed to be understood and left in her comforts.

Bella Baxter

“She’s far happier thinking her sister is normal, even if she has a lot of problems, than she is having an abnormal sister for whom everything is fine.”

Oh, this is a literary fiction book for me. This is excellent.

Charming and sincere - really enjoyed this one! A great companion piece to this is Erving Goffman’s The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

Mariana

A quick and easy read. I think we can all relate with it in a way as adulthood can be tough in terms of what others (and society itself) expect from us and the struggle between pleasing them and following our own dreams and desires.

However, Keiko’s personality and behaviors seem to hint at some antisocial (or even sociopathic) patterns? I don’t know if anything has been confirmed but I see that many people who read this book got similar vibes.

Also fuck Shiraha. He was such a creep.

Selin Igten

Meg Ma. Guerrero 

I had an oddly difficult time reading the first half of this book. I was probably in a "reading slump" at the time... but once I'd gotten halfway through the book, it barely took me any time at all to finish it altogether. 

It was simple, easy to read. Funny, too. Couldn't fully relate to Keiko but she reminded me of someone who has autism spectrum disorder so I wondered if she also had ASD. (I just looked it up and while never explicitly stated anywhere, enough reviewers have mentioned that it could be a possibility.) I liked that while I couldn't see myself in her entirely, I could understand what she meant about certain things and how the people around her responded to her.

All around, an interesting read.

amari

“…my love for you must be an illness. Frankly, I think it’s your duty to stay with me until I’m cured of it.”

The English-language debut of one of Japan’s most talented contemporary writers, selling over 650,000 copies there, Convenience Store Woman is the heartwarming and surprising story of thirty-six-year-old Tokyo resident Keiko Furukura. Keiko has never fit in, neither in her family, nor in school, but when at the age of eighteen she begins working at the Hiiromachi branch of “Smile Mart,” she finds peace and purpose in her life. In the store, unlike anywhere else, she understands the rules of social interaction—many are laid out line by line in the store’s manual—and she does her best to copy the dress, mannerisms, and speech of her colleagues, playing the part of a “normal” person excellently, more or less. Managers come and go, but Keiko stays at the store for eighteen years. It’s almost hard to tell where the store ends and she begins. Keiko is very happy, but the people close to her, from her family to her coworkers, increasingly pressure her to find a husband, and to start a proper career, prompting her to take desperate action... A brilliant depiction of an unusual psyche and a world hidden from view, Convenience Store Woman is an ironic and sharp-eyed look at contemporary work culture and the pressures to conform, as well as a charming and completely fresh portrait of an unforgettable heroine.

A Novel

I found common ground with Keiko Furukura, who, despite her distinctiveness from societal norms, embraces her identity as a worthy convenience store worker. I believe I express the feelings of those grappling with similar challenges—finding joy in our endeavors is a delightful experience, regardless of external judgments. Awarding this book my first five-star rating in 2024, Murata’s storytelling intrigued me, and I will look up her other works in the future.

Little Flower

Natasha Musa

I’ve just finished reading The Convenience Store Woman, I dont even know how to start with reviewing this book. 

It's odd, its fascinating, it’s funny, it's sad but in the end liberating. As a woman who didnt conform to the norm of getting married and having children at a particular age, my heart went out to Keiko when she faced pressures to conform. There are so many themes in this book that's worth evaluating; society still having “stone age” mentality despite the modern times we’re in, the expectations placed on women, the struggle to fight and stand for individuality. 

My mind is swirling reading this. An absolute must read. Definitely, one of my best read books for this year.

𓆨

Claudia Beneyto

This was a very witty and intriguing way of reflecting on autistic individuals. I really liked it! What i didn’t like was how terribly misogynistic everyone was — especially Shiraha who is a loser lol

Isabella 

interesting read on the pressure of conforming to social norms. kinda sad that this is the society we are in. i really enjoyed reading this.

quite humorous and weirdly relatable at times 

geri chan 

Keiko isn't normal. At school and university people find her odd, and her family worries she will never fit in. To make them happy, she takes a job at a convenience store. But in Keiko's circle it just won't do for an unmarried woman to spend her time stacking shelves and ordering green tea. As the pressure to find a new job - or worse, a husband - increases, Keiko is forced to take desperate action...

kayla 

Athiril Ard

Gatau kenapa ngasih bintang 5, padahal ngga sebagus itu. Tapi instingku bilang kalau aku harus mencet bintang paling kanan.

Nona Ana

"Convenience Store Woman" is a novel written by Sayaka Murata, a Japanese author, and was first published in 2016. The novel has been translated into several languages, including English, and has won several awards.

The story revolves around a 36-year-old woman named Keiko Furukura, who has been working part-time in a convenience store in Tokyo for the past 18 years. Keiko has never felt comfortable in social situations, and working at the convenience store has become a way for her to fit in and be accepted. She is content with her routine and the structure it provides, even though she knows that her family and society expect her to pursue a more "normal" life, such as getting married and having children.

As the novel progresses, Keiko is pressured by her family and friends to conform to their expectations and start living a more conventional life. In an attempt to do so, she enters into a fake marriage with a former coworker who is also struggling to fit in. However, this arrangement quickly falls apart, and Keiko finds herself back at the convenience store, where she feels most at home.

Through Keiko's experiences, the novel explores the themes of social pressure, conformity, and the struggle to find one's place in society. It also provides an insightful look into the culture of convenience stores in Japan, which are more than just places to buy snacks and drinks, but also serve as social hubs and even shelters for some people.

Overall, Convenience Store Woman is a poignant and thought-provoking novel that offers a unique perspective on contemporary Japanese society and the pressures faced by those who don't fit into its narrow mold.

Bagaimana cara agar kita dianggap normal?
Bukankan batas kenormalan seseorang itu relatif?
Tidak ada buku panduan khusus untuk menjadi orang normal, yang ada hanyalah penilaian masing-masing individu terhadap manusia dengan mengklasifikasikan manusia tersebut masuk kedalam kumpulan orang normal atau abnormal. Dan tanpa sadar orang tersebut akan merubah dirinya menjadi 'normal' seperti yang diinginkan masyarakat umum.

Buku ini menceritakan tentang kisah seorang gadis pegawai minimarket bernama Keiko yang mengabdikan dirinya selama 18 tahun menjadi pekerja paruh waktu di sebuah minimarket.
Diumurnya yang menginjak 30 tahun, hidup melajang tanpa pekerjaan tetap, sering dijadikan topik pembicaraan orang sekitar karena dianggap aneh, jauh dari kata normal.
Padahal Keiko sendiri merasa nyaman dengan semua itu, meski harus terus berlatih menjadi orang normal yang mengikuti standard masyarakat umum.

Aku suka dengan tema yang diangkat, sangat relate dengan kehidupan bermasyarakat. Bagaimana kaum minoritas sering dipaksa untuk menjadi bagian dari kaum mayoritas, padahal masing2 individu berhak untuk menentukan kehidupannya sendiri, bukan?

Buku ini menggunakan sudut pandang orang pertama milik Keiko. Jelas, penulis ingin membuat pembaca merasa menjadi Keiko.
Penggambaran karakternya dilakukan sangat baik, terdapat ciri khas mencolok dari masing-masing tokoh. Setting dan latar dituliskan dengan detail, sungguh membuat suasana yang dibangun terasa begitu nyata.

Hanya saja, ada beberapa hal yang masih menjadi pertanyaan. Dan itu blm terjawab hingga akhir cerita. Memang, endingnya dirasa cukup, karena pembaca sudah bisa memetik pesan yang ingin disampaikan penulis.

Buku ini aku rekomendasikan untuk kamu yang ingin membaca cerita ringan, namun sarat makna. Hanya dengan 160 halaman, kita mampu menyelami permasalahan hidup yang sering dialami oleh masyarakat minoritas.

Convenience Store Woman

Reviews

Highlights