Convenience Store Woman (2016)

I read this because it was chosen by the reading group I'm part of. An excellent choice! Translated from Japanese, it features Keiko, a mid-thirties woman who has worked for 18 years at the same convenience store.

She has all the hallmarks of autism, but feels that she's found her niche... except that her sister and friends want her to be different. And then she meets someone who is even more of a misfit - a true antihero with nothing likeable about him.

It's light-hearted and poignant, expressing brilliantly the way an autistic mind can work, to the extent that I could begin to see the craziness of so-called 'normal' people's expectations.

Definitely recommended.

Longer review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2020/07/convenience-store-woman-by-sayaka-m... ( )

This is a strange short book about a woman who works in a convenience store. She is hard-working and diligent and should be a perfect employee, but other people have different expectations of her - to get a better job or get married. It's a short read and memorable, but I didn't especially click with it. ( )

Keiko is a bit odd. She’s always been that way. Sometimes her oddity expresses itself in an overly literal take on the world. That caused problems when she was a little girl. So these days she is more careful. She observes her peers closely, watching for how they react to things, how they speak, the clothes they wear, the make-up, and she does her best to mimic their “normal” behaviour. Fortunately she found her niche one day when she was in university. She came upon a convenience store that was about to open for the first time and put in an application for part-time employment. With its manual of operations, standard phrases that must be used in meeting and greeting customers, precise rules about how the stock needs to be refreshed or rearranged and why, Keiko knew she had found precisely the environment that would cater to her peculiarity. She embraced her life as a convenience store worker. Eighteen years pass in this way and now Keiko is wondering whether she needs to make an adjustment in order to once again pass as “normal”. Minor life eruptions ensue.

On the surface this is a quirky novel of a slightly maladjusted individual and how she gets by. It trades on that easy device of the Aspergers spectrum in order to make anything that Keiko says or does instantly explicable. Everything is chalked up to her particular oddity. But of course something that explains everything effectively ends up explaining nothing. The reader’s response is held at bay since even challenging what is presented in such cases is frowned upon. I just find such writing unimaginative and uninsightful. But maybe it’s just me. Perhaps other readers will find this light fare charming.

Alas, for me, not recommended. ( )

A strange, absorbing little book that made me think about how I relate to other people's life choices. I like to think that I live and let live, but it's true that if someone is going off the beaten path in a way that doesn't seem to make any sense to those around them, it is hard to accept. This book takes that experience to extreme conclusions, and I enjoyed the journey. ( )

really charmed to find out the author worked at a convenience store for 18 years ( )