Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata | Book Review

The translated work of literary fiction is a short, but brilliant depiction of the pressures society put on us, especially women to follow certain paths.

Convenience Store Woman, Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori

Themes: Literary fiction, contemporary, culture – Japan

Reading Format: Paperback

4.5 STARS // 8.7 CAWPILE

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I have been looking to discover more translated novels of late, to contribute towards a long in the planning blog post of recommendations. When I heard about this book and its careful observation of the life of a convenience store worker, I’m sure partially based on the author’s own experiences judging from the author bio, I was very keen to pick it up.

Keiko is our main character, in her mid-thirties, she has worked in the same convenience store for 18 years and is very content. She enjoys her routine, the way her body responds to the store, she is clear what is expected of her. In short. She is happy. But society tells her she shouldn’t be, society says she should be married, looked after by a husband, raising children. I empathise with these expectations, whilst I’m mid-twenties, not thirties, I still find people looking at me funny when I say I’m buying a flat… on my own. Heaven forbid we as women don’t need someone by our side to push us through the hoops of expectation. These pressures are obviously going to be slightly different from those in Western culture as this book is of course set in Japan.

The disturbance of Keiko’s peace comes in the form of fellow – but temporary – store worker, Shiraha. He is the one to question Keiko’s way of life, to disturb her routine and convince her she should change. In short, he is manipulative and going about his wishes to ‘change the system’ in the wrong way.  I’m fairly sure he was meant to be an unlikeable character, and in this, the author succeeded, he is increasingly arrogant and ignorant, but mainly selfish. I really disliked him, but I think he served the purpose of showing Keiko what she really wanted in life and not to question her happiness.

Convenience Store Women is set in Japan and offers a really interesting look into the everyday lives of the characters in a different culture to my own. The expectations from society in Japan will be different from those in Western cultures and the comparisons of this from a modern book was interesting to see.

I really enjoyed the simplicity of this book and how it read as just a conversation with a friend. I was wary this book would be flowery in the description and whilst short, hard to read. But my worries were incorrect. The writing was beautiful, yet simple and the reading experience was really enjoyable. This is the story of a woman and her life and Sayaka writes it so personally that it just reads as perfection.

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