Convenience Store Woman ♡ Sayaka Murata

To listen to this post:

If you want to see my review on Goodreads, click here. ♡

A tiny little summary

---

I do not even know where to start; it had been years since I had last been ready to cry for a book. Wow!
For those of you who have never heard of the plot, let me give a very short summary: our main character is working part-time in a convenience store and does not want to either get married or have children. Above all that, she feels that she has a fulfilling life. However, people in her life just can’t seem to understand and want to change her, apparently « for her own good ».

The book is absolutely a masterpiece, I still feel goosebumps thinking about it! I do think anyone can benefit from it, but I must say that if, like me, you have ever worked in a store (for me, a supermarket for three years), it will ring a bell. The book is 130 pages, but it feels like the most complete story it can be.

It is basically, in my opinion, a criticism of our contemporary society, telling us what we must be doing at what age. Mrs. Furukura (our main character) is told what job she should be doing (so, another job), who she must marry and that she must have children. The people in her life all say that they say it all for her own good, but her own good is actually to work in that convenience store!
Her friends and family want to change her so much that she ends up trying to mimic everyone’s reactions and ways of speech in order to look « normal ». That book really criticizes the definition of « normality ». It is particularly heartbreaking to see people telling her that she needs to be « cured »: how can you say such a thing to someone you are supposed to love?

The author has worked at a convenience store and so did I, and let me tell you that people really act that way with you. Obviously, not everyone (fortunately enough), but a lot of people can’t help thinking that there must be something wrong with you, that you must be stupid or something. That book criticizes very well that social pressure to be doing a certain thing at a certain age. I highly recommend!