I’ve recently got into a bit of a rut with my reading, after picking up a few longer reads I struggled to get into. So, when I had Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman, a short bright yellow oddball novel, recommended to me at least 3 times by The New York Times I had high hopes that it would be the remedy. I raced through it’s 163 pages in two hungry sittings so you could say it did the trick.
Translated from Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori, Convenience Store Woman is Sayaka Murata’s debut English-language novel. Despite being one of the most exciting voices in fiction at the minute, Murata still works part time in a convenience store, which was where she found her inspiration for her latest novel.
The story follows a self-defined peculiar woman named Keiko as she struggles to learn how to fit in. The core of her attempts to conform is a convenience store, the Hiiromachi Station Smile Mart, where she’s worked for 18 years. She develops a deep, and almost romantic, relationship with the store which has given her life structure. But pressures from her friends and family push her to reconsider that relationship.
This is my alternative cover design for Convenience Store Woman, it’s a new more illustrated take on that bright yellow background.
Convenience Store Woman is certainly not a thriller but it’s surprisingly difficult to put down. Every small twist has you wanting to know more and Murata/Takemori’s prose has a real rhythm to it. It’s also absurdly deadpan funny. While the narrative bobs and weaves, Keiko’s narration stay ramrod straight and stuck to her tone. So you’re left with a story that’s at once unflinchingly unemotional and self-aware, and has the off-beat charm of an Amelie or Shopgirl.
Instead of my normal “I’d recommend this book if…” conclusion, I’ll just leave you with this review so you can decide for yourself:
SOME QUESTIONS TO PONDER AS YOU READ
- Keiko picks up characteristics from those around her very directly. Have you ever picked up behaviours from those around you? Did you know you were doing it?
- If Keiko doesn’t see herself as having a stable personality, does she have a stable narrating voice?
- There’s a lot discussion in the novel about societal structures and expectations, to what extent do you feel these are real or perceived by the characters?
- Convenience Store Woman might takes the idea of being defined by your work to an extreme, have you ever felt defined by your job? How?
IF YOU WANT SOME FURTHER READING TRY…
- The Guardian explains how this deadpan Japanese tale of an oddball shop assistant possesses a strange beauty.
- Dwight Garner’s review for The New York Times is the reason I picked up Convenience Store Woman, which I think is the highest praise I can give a review.
- Grove Atlantic doesn’t have a review of the book, but it does have a great introduction as well as a collection of all of the praise Sayaka Murata’s novel has received
- Zachary Houle calls Convenience Store Woman a short but captivating read in his short but captivating review
IF YOU WANT MORE BOOKS LIKE THIS HAVE A LOOK AT…
- Miranda July’s The First Bad Man
- Gail Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
- Yang Huang’s My Old Faithful
