Keiko sees herself as an essential part of her community; someone who makes sure everyone has what they need whenever they need it, and someone who keeps everything organized for their convenience. Her work is very important to her, she is very dedicated to her job to the point where it's her central focus in life. Work has been the only thing in her life that's made sense, it gives her purpose and she feels safe in that. Keiko is a convenience store woman. Obviously, her family and friends find it very concerning that she's happy working at a convenience store for seventeen years, and that she's never had a partner, which makes her an "other" in their eyes. The thing is, Keiko knows how she is perceived and she doesn't care. She continues happily working at the store until Shiraha, a new hire at the store, moves into her apartment. "Convenience Store Woman" explores the idea of relationships viewed by society, and how society can make you feel forced to make decisions you never wanted to make.
The novel, written by the national bestseller Sayaka Murata, follows the journey of Keiko Furukura and her passion for working as a convenience store clerk in Tokyo city. Being trained on how to smile, how to greet customers, how to clean the store, what to say to people, and how to dress gave her a comforting feeling because she was finally being told exactly what she needed to do. As a child she struggled to understand how to properly respond to difficult situations; she would either get too violent or unempathetic because she thought she was doing what she was told. After several misdemeanors, Keiko decided she would remain quiet, follow instructions, and try to mimic what everyone around her was doing, which lead her to be distant and recluse. She felt purposeless until she found a job that told her exactly how to act, talk, and dress in order to succeed. Even though her family did not understand her decision to continue working as a convenience store clerk after graduating from university, they tried their best to be supportive. However, as Keiko approached thirty-six, her family became concerned. Keiko was stuck in a dead-end job, she didn't have any real friends, and she had never even dated anyone. All that changed when she met Shiraha; a middle-aged, sexist, lonely, hateful man who constantly belittled people and wondered why no one liked him.
From the first moment we as readers are introduced to Shiraha, we understand who he is. He started working at Smile Mart to find a wife, he is rude to everyone he meets, and he expects people do to his bidding simply because he is a man. In fact, he was constantly annoyed with people because they didn't comply with his demands. Basically, Shiraha is a very outdated version of what a man "should be", which is why everyone, including Keiko, kept themselves distant from him.
Shiraha is a very interesting character in the sense that he embodies how toxic and manipulative society can be. Perception of success is his priority as a character; he wants to be seen as someone who succeeded well in life despite ever trying. Moreover, he always saw himself as deserving of unearned respect because of his gender. Why shouldn't he be respected? He is a man, after all. Shiraha became a central figure in Keiko's life after he essentially invited himself to move in before he was forced to sleep in the streets, and since Keiko pitied him she let him stay. However, Shiraha living in her house started to become a problem once her family noticed, so to cover up Shiraha made up the story that they were together. At first Keiko didn't want to go along with it, but it wasn't difficult to notice how happy people were to see she was finally dating someone, even if that someone was Shiraha.
The novel does a great job of showing Keiko's utter shock and disbelief that people were happy with her new relationship, and Shiraha's complete disregard for it. For Shiraha, the situation was perfect. Since he had been fired from all his jobs and was almost homeless when Keiko found him, he was perfectly happy sitting at home doing nothing and pretending to be the knight in shining armor that started dating someone who was considered an outcast in society. For him the job was easy; all he had to do was pretend to be a boyfriend that lost his job. He knew that since Keiko was never expected to date anyone, the fact that she even found someone would be considered a huge success. No one would stop to consider what kind of person he really is, or even if he's good enough for her. Keiko, on the other hand, was now in a situation where the people in her life were finally happy for her. She had not expected this fake relationship to be so successful, and once she noticed how well Shiraha's ruse was received, she started to take his suggestions seriously. Eventually, Keiko quit her job at Smile Mart after seventeen years to look for office work in Tokyo.
For Keiko, working at Smile Mart was something that gave her purpose. She felt like she was a normal cog in society, doing her small part just like everyone else. Of course, even though her job was fulfilling for her, it was never enough for the people that cared about her. They never asked themselves why Keiko stayed at Smile Mart for so long, nor did they take her seriously when she shared her honest opinion about her work. In everyone's eyes, a successful career is something in an office, that earns a lot of money, and requires minimal effort. It doesn't really matter what kind of purpose a job has other than money, and more importantly, status. Keiko had never understood this way of thinking and was happily working at the convenience store. She was so connected to the store that could feel it breathing; it was an entity that had needs, and Keiko happily fulfilled those needs. It needed to be cleaned, taken care of, and organized. She felt calm working there because she knew she was contributing to society in her own way. She made the coffee for the early risers, prepared breakfast, arranged the lunch sandwiches in time, and even kept them stalked during peak hours. Reading about Keiko working at the store was really calming for me as the reader too; it was like I was getting a glimpse into someone's passion. You know that moment when someone is talking about something they're passionate about, and they look so bright and happy just to talk about it. That's what it felt like reading about Keiko's passion for her work. It didn't matter what kind of job she had, for me I loved how much she loved her work. As children, we are always taught to find a job we love, and Keiko had done that.
I really enjoyed reading this book, I highly recommend it. I enjoyed hating such a hatable character like Shiraha. It was difficult to read how much control he started to gain over Keiko just by convincing her that the perception of success is the most important thing in life, even if it's a lie. In the end, however, the lie is not enough to hold the perception together. If you're looking for a new page-turner, check out Convenience Store Woman.
To end the review, here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:
"I basically spent my free time alone, and didn't talk to anyone in private at all. I never repeated the kind of trouble I'd caused in primary school, but still my parents worried that I wouldn't survive in the real world. And so, believing that I had to be cured, I grew into adulthood."
"My present self is formed almost completely of the people around me. I am currently made up of 30 percent Mrs. Izumi, 30 percent Sugawara, 20 percent the manager, and the rest absorbed from past colleagues such as Saski, who left six months ago, and Okasaki, who was our supervisor until a year ago,"
"I'd noticed soon after starting the job that whenever I got angry at the same thing as everyone else, they all seemed happy. If I went along with the manager when he was annoyed or joined in the general irritation at someone skiving off the night shift, there was a strange sense of solidarity as everyone seemed pleased that I was angry too."
"I couldn't stop hearing the store telling me the way it wanted to be, what it needed. It was all flowing into me. It wasn't me speaking. It was the store. I was just channeling its revelations from on high."
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