Convenience store woman
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?
Stats for nerds
8recommend
11mentions
9people
2018–2025years
73% recommend27% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Stasi: The Untold Story Of The East German Secret Police
https://search.worldcat.org/title/39256274
This book going into extreme detail about the East German surveillance state. People tend to hyperfocus on the Nazis due to a morbid fascination with bodycounts, but the GDR was closer in time in both history and comopositions. They had faxes, computers, and many other technologies that made them similar to us, and I worry we forget the lessons of that regime. I read his book during a middle school in school suspension and it was a formative read.
Another good book is "Eichman in Jerusalem", which details the trial of one of the architects of the Holocaust and his claims he was "just following orders... the book examines the "banality of evil".
https://search.worldcat.org/title/385389
Finally, to lighten things up, my most recent new favorite book that's fiction was Convenience Store Woman, about a woman who's been working at a 7/11 for 18 years. I read it during COVID and it's stuck with me as a favorite.
- > Hard-Boiled Wonderland
The English translation of a second book in the same universe (well, one of the two universes) was just released---The City and Its Uncertain Walls. I've only just started reading it, though, so I can't offer any commentary beyond that.
If you like Murakami, you might like Convenience Store Woman or Earthlings, both by Sayaka Murata. Mieko Kawakami is also great. Killing Commendatore (by Murakami, again) is my favorite of his. I have no idea why it's my favorite, though. To be honest I can barely remember the plot of any of his books; it's just a feeling.
- I've been on a Japanese literature kick for a while now.
For me the characters are the main difference from American literature. The article mentions this briefly, but I find that in the novels I've read (admittedly translated), Japanese novel characters have much more depth. They're flawed people often with selfish motivations, and it's much more reflective of real life.
Plot structure is very different as well with most of these novels not having a true setting > rising action > climax > falling action style plot like American literature tends to have. The books often just end without much resolution at all.
Probably the biggest reason I've been reading them though is that I'm just tired of "young adult" books that have so much popularity here in America. It's like a tag you can throw on to shield your bad writing. It feels like everything popular here is written with 6th grade grammar. Maybe this phenomenon exists in Japan too, but we have the filter that translation provides. Presumably most translated novels are at least somewhat successful and well written, or else they wouldn't have been translated.
For reference, of the translated fiction I've read, I'd recommend -
Lady Joker by Takamura
Devotion of Suspect X by Higashino
Out by Kirino
Breasts and Eggs, Ms Ice Sandwich, and Heaven by Kawakami
Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings by Murata
The Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and Kafka By The Shore by Murakami
Snow Country by Kawabata
Strange Weather in Tokyo by Kawakami
No Longer Human by Nazai
I am a Cat by Netsuke
The Memory Police by Ogawa
- This was a big reading year for myself, I got through 25 books. They are not technical books like most listed here. I focused on reading memoirs, literature, fiction stories, primarily women authors. I didn’t read any bad books in my opinion, I guess I picked well.
Standouts,
Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata
Lakota Woman - Mary Crow Dog
Beautiful Country: A Memoir of An Undocumented Childhood - Qian Julie Wang
Gather Around in My Name - Maya Angelou
The entire autobiographical series by Maya is a must read imo, but this one is my favorite. Maybe also my favorite book I read this year.
- I deleted Facebook around 2016 and did a lot of reading.
The Art of Deception and The Art of Intrusion were good, but are outdated and more to be read as historical documents at this point.
If you wish to master disinformation, "The Prince", "The Art of War" and "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" are all required reading.
Also, read the translator's notes prepending the English version Mein Kampf, but the text itself is not very interesting. Skip it and pick up a copy of "The Commandant" by Rudolph Hess, along with "Eichman in Jerusalem" if you want to learn how to influence people at scale.
Oh, and Helter Skelter. Don't forget that one.
(Generals do not face each other in battle... they send their troops to do their bidding.)
Fictionwise, read Lolita, Convenience Store Woman, Post Office, and The Temple of the Golden Pavilion.
- I've just read a nice little contemporary Japanese book about a woman who has a hard time not being "normal": Convenience Store Woman.
