Sayaka Murata’s “Convenience Store Woman” has become the book that has finally gotten me out of the book reviewing rut. Maybe because I got the chance to dive deeper into it during two different book club discussions, one in Paris and one in Barcelona, presenting me with the opportunity to hunt for hidden treasures beyond the storyline. Most importantly though, I think I was intrigued by one sentence on the back cover of the book:

Murata spent eighteen years working part-time in convenience stores before the success of ‘Convenience Store Woman’ afforded her the freedom to leave and write full-time.

Back cover

That shared experience between the author and the main character of the book sent me down a rabbit hole of a quest to find out more about Murata. But a bit on the book first. It was published in 2016 in Japan and was translated to English in 2019. While focusing on quite a simple story, a woman working at a specific type of a supermarket in Tokyo, Japan, it tackles a lot of different themes. The main character deals with questions of what is “normal” and what isn’t, what it means to be human, looking for and having a purpose in life and the imposed structures in society. It’s weird, it’s quirky and it makes for quite a unique reading experience. The style is as simplistic as it gets, which helps shine a spotlight onto all the quirks of Keiko, the woman in the centre of all the events in the book. Strange comparisons, moral dilemmas around why it’s fine to kill flowers but isn’t to kill birds or how an attempt at a relationship rather ends up resembling the adoption of a pet, all this could be found condensed on just about 160 pages:

I stroked my sleeping nephew’s cheek with my forefinger. It felt strangely soft, like stroking a blister.

p. 54

Everyone was crying for the poor bird as they went around murdering flowers, plucking their stalks, exclaiming, ‘What lovely flowers! Little Mr. Budgie will definitely be pleased.’ They looked so bizarre I thought they must all be out of their minds.

p. 8

After I adopted Shiraha, things went even more smoothly for me at the convenience store. But feeding him did cost me more money.

p. 113

‘Oh, sorry. It’s the first time I’ve kept an animal at home, so it feels like having a pet, you see.’

Shiraha looked annoyed at my turn of phrase but said smugly, ‘Well, that should do.’

p. 109

A big part of the charm that made up the atmosphere of the novel to me, was the setting within the convenience store. From the very first lines within the book, the author lets you plunge deep into its universe and there’s something calm and comforting about it. For those that have a bit of an OCD around organisation, this will be honey for your brain, as the main character goes through the routines in her job with a strong sense of dedication.

A convenience store is a world of sound. From the tinkle of the door chime to the voices of TV celebrities advertising new products over the in-store cable network, to the calls of the store workers, the beeps of the bar code scanner, the rustle of customers picking up items and placing them in baskets, and the clacking of heels walking around the store. It all blends into the convenience store sound that ceaselessly caresses my eardrums.

p. 1

It was fun to see all kinds of people – from university students and guys who played in bands to job-hoppers, housewives, and kids studying for their high school diploma at night school – don the same uniform and transform into the homogenous being known as a convenience store worker.

p. 16

An important reason while I really enjoy reading books written by authors who are currently alive, is so that I have easier access to better understand who the composer behind these stories is. In Murata’s case, I marvelled at the details that made up her life as an author. In an interview, she mentions how since childhood people’s emotions were a source of anxiety for her and this has a beautifully illustrated parallel in the “Convenience Store Woman” story:

I find the shape of people’s eyes particularly interesting when they’re being condescending. I see a wariness or a fear of being contradicted or sometimes a belligerent spark ready to jump on any attack. And if they’re unaware of being condescending, their glazed-over eyeballs are steeped in a fluid mix of ecstasy and a sense of superiority.

p. 65-66

The interest for the author as a personality also awakened a curiosity within me to read her other novels such as, “Vanishing World“, “Earthlings” and “Life Ceremony“. For “Convenience Store Woman” itself, I’d suggest it to those readers, who are up for a light, short and weird reading experience. Don’t expect too much from it and you will be pleasantly surprised to be carried off to a little world, which you can inhabit while being able to get through the book in almost a single sitting.

★★★☆☆ (3/5)

_{Edition: ISBN 978-1-84627-684-2
Granta Publications, 2019 (first published in Japanese in 2016)}

Sources:

• “The power of stories saved me.” | Writer Sayaka Murata 村田沙耶香 | Louisiana Channel”. Louisiana Channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_Z9AamH4XM. Last accessed: 07/10/2025.