Keiko and her (strange) world

A note about Convenience Store Woman

Absurd. That was my impression after I finished reading Convenience Store Woman (originally titled Konbini Ningen), a novel written by Sayaka Murata. Previously, I never had the intention to read this book, even though some friends of mine already recommended it on social media. Long story short, Kak Hestia made me read it through an online reading challenge that she hosted on Twitter.

Convenience Store Woman revolves around the world of the main character, whose name is Keiko Furukura. Keiko is a 36-year old devoted convenient store worker. There was nothing that made my forehead grin for first time, except knowing that Keiko has been working at the same place for eighteen years, in which the store manager’s position has been filled by the eighth person. It’s definitely a level of loyalty that I can’t myself feel relatable with. Oops.

To Keiko, her attachment towards the konbini — the Japanese word for convenience store — is what makes her feel safe. Since young, she often feel neglected by the people around her. There were some moments in this story where Keiko threw back the moments of her old days that allow the readers to guess the bar of normality. It seemed that anything that she has done doesn’t fit the society’s standard of normality. Working in a convenicence store allows Keiko to be protected by an invisible shield that is in form of a standardized procedure.

“The normal world has no room for exceptions and always quietly eliminates foreign objects. Anyone who is lacking is disposed of. So that’s why I need to be cured. Unless I’m cured, normal people will expurgate me.”

This book left a hard-to-describe after taste, which I tried to figure out through joining on online discussion on Discord. Some participants — who have mostly finished reading the book — agreed that the Sayaka Murata poured a rich debate of the Japanese society, e.g. patriarchy (which is strongly resembled in Shiraha’s character), crossing the line of privacy, and hardworking culture, in a such thin book. As a person who mostly puts a low expectation about a book’s moral value, well, this book has surprised me in a good way.