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| Convenience Store Woman |
Convenience Store Woman is the heartwarming and surprising story
of thirty-six-year-old Tokyo resident Keiko Furukura. Keiko has never
fit in, neither in her family, nor in school, but when at the age of
eighteen she begins working at the Hiiromachi branch of “Smile Mart,”
she finds peace and purpose in her life. In the store, unlike anywhere
else, she understands the rules of social interaction―many are laid out
line by line in the store’s manual―and she does her best to copy the
dress, mannerisms, and speech of her colleagues, playing the part of a
“normal” person excellently, more or less. Managers come and go, but
Keiko stays at the store for eighteen years. It’s almost hard to tell
where the store ends and she begins. Keiko is very happy, but the people
close to her, from her family to her coworkers, increasingly pressure
her to find a husband, and to start a proper career, prompting her to
take desperate action…
***
Author : Sayaka Murata
Original Language : Japanese
Language : English
Genre : Contemporary, Novella
Year Published : 2016
Publisher : Granta
Pages : 163
How if you always feel didn't belong to the society? Society always seek the similarity between humans to be belong to a group of social function, but how if we didn't function same to the 'standard'.
Well, I read this book only for one and half good hour during my flight from Nagoya to Seoul. I saw this book several times at Kinokuniya, but I guess the new cover draw me to pick it, yellow bright just like my bubbles.
Keiko is ordinary woman, 36 years old who work at convenience store, since the day she work as part timer until 19 years later. Keiko has good educational background, university graduated but she never want to leave the Smile Mart, convenience store she work at.
Thus, made her family and friends concern to her. Why Keiko didn't work at big company just like everyone else? They don't know that in Smile Mart, she feels reborn. She belong to there. She know the order in the convenience store, from smiling, minimum interactions with customer, until what should she prepare at specific hour.
Her life revolving around convenience store, she eats meals from convenience store since breakfast to dinner. She never take a leave, even she willing fully working overtime when needed.
Her colleague know she's odd, but as long as she can 'function' orderly, they don't raise a complain.
As for Keiko, she knows she need to imitate other person in order to be not seen as
'odd'. She looked up for her colleague, the way they talk, what brand they use, diction and behavior. It's not that she doesnt want to be herself, but the thing is no one like her if she just being herself. She doesn't want to be questioned.
The problem arise when everyone keep ask her to change job and start to look for husband. Keiko didn't want both, but she thought that's the way how society work. At certain age, you should have stable job or at least married (if you are a woman).
But the only thing Keiko knows well in this world is how the convenience store work. She excelled it, more than anything. And then Keiko meet a man, Shiraha, an outsider also, but he chose to get mad to the society. He's chose to not working, and live from other person's money.
This book is hilarious! How Keiko's mind work is like a robot yet witty. Meanwhile Shihara is an asshole and keep saying about stone age, but his thought is plausible.
Moreover, the detail about how convenience store work is marvelous. I never thought that working at convenience store has lot of challenge and strategy. But no wonder! since the author itself working 18 years at convenience store!! She's like goddess of konbini!
I don't know how many times i already told you why I love Japanese book, among other literature, because they can capture human essence wholly.
In this book, we will question what we've done to the society. Do we the ordinary person that put pressure on other person to be socially standard? You know, Shihara think this social justice has been started since stone age and haven't changed up until now, even we claimed we made revolution, change.
Super bravo Sayaka-san!!!
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