Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata: A Perceptive Satire, But Not | Book Review

Convenience Store Woman has the insight and oddity of a satirical piece while still not making a joking of itself — and eliciting a few chuckles at the dire truth in that, though not uproariously funny or even intrinsically comedic like the blurbs and reviews suggest.

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Started Reading – May 2, 2022

Finished Reading – May 4, 2022

Rating: 3.5 stars.

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I’ve always wanted to consume “weird” art, books, movies, and music. However, the most out there I’ve gotten is Fiona Apple, Pink Floyd, Tim Burton, and a few Charlie Kaufman films (I watched I’m Thinking of Ending Things at the Wrong Time), which is to say, the most basic “weird” one can get. However, since hearing of Earthlings and only finding this title (Convenience Store Woman) at my local library, I decided to start my kooky endeavors with this one — and it didn’t disappoint!

Convenience Store Woman centers Keiko Furukura, a thirty-six-year-old woman who has held a part-time position at the Smile Mart since she was eighteen years old. Her voice is unique and obliviously astute, and for all of its being heralded as “weird”, I found it far more reasonable than not.

An outcast since childhood, Keiko has struggled to adapt to the intricacies that social norms require. She treats situations objectively, applying what she’s learned of elegancies over time. In this straightforward reasoning and blunt conclusions, she recognizes deep insights into the people around her without realizing that’s what’s happening at all.

This story explores not only belonging and, in contrast, being a “foreign object”, but also the imminent influence people have on us and vice versa, “infecting” one another with our manners and such. It recognizes people, not as one homogenous being, but as a history of alterations as the person they were before flees from what they’ve become.

Alongside these points, Convenience Store Woman explores social expectations beyond niceties and reaching into life paths with marriage and career. It highlights the invasion of our peers and their necessity to behold your life in order to behold you on a personal, even human level. Instead of focusing on what a person needs, and celebrating where they excel, it shows the societal pressures to fit the mold, no matter how illogical and useless it proves to be.

Because of these themes, Miss Furukura’s perspective is stark and refreshing, highlighting not just the mundane, but love and acceptance people may find in places society deems unfit. Overall, it accentuates finding a place for oneself, regardless of impositions, and honors that all while calling into question the general expectations which are far less courteous and sensible than one may understand whilst plunged in it.

Have you read, or do you plan on reading Convenience Store Woman? Did you like it? Why, or why not? Did you get similar insights out of it, or was your experience quite different? Have you read Sayaka Murata’s other work? I’d love to hear your thoughts below!