Service95 Recommends is the home of the books we love and reviews from our contributors. Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata explores the conflict between societal pressures and true contentment.
What We Say: “Sayaka Murata isn’t one to shy away from the bizarreness of human life, and in Convenience Store Woman it is confronted in the most mundane setting ー the corner shop. With observations derived from Murata’s own experiences (she worked in a convenience store herself), Keiko is single, in her thirties, and self-proclaimed ‘different’. This is a book that critiques what is ‘normal’ in a society that devalues retail work, while interrogating marriage, procreation and what a woman of a certain age is ‘supposed’ to be doing. Refreshingly original, moving and darkly amusing, it’s the perfect short novel to dip into between the more harrowing reads.” – Natalie Beecroft
What They Say: “A quiet masterpiece that offers a refreshing perspective on human nature through the disarming observations of a social misfit.” – David Wright
Available on Bookshop.org, Waterstones, and Barnes & Noble
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Natalie Beecroft is a London-based writer and contributing writer for Service95
