Convenience store woman
by Cun Tian Sha Ye Xiang, Nancy Wu, Mathilde Tamae-Bouhon, Albert Nolla Cabellos, Marina Bornas Montaña · first published 2018
89% recommend11% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Short, quirky contemporary Japanese novel about a woman who struggles to fit social norms while working at a convenience store; a light, distinctive read that suits fans of Murakami and Japanese fiction.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Keiko Furukura had always been considered a strange child, and her parents always worried how she would get on in the real world, so when she takes on a job in a convenience store while at university, they are delighted for her. For her part, in the convenience store she finds a predictable world mandated by the store manual, which dictates how the workers should act and what they should say, and she copies her coworkers' style of dress and speech patterns so that she can play the part of a normal person. However, eighteen years later, at age 36, she is still in the same job, has never had a b
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Enjoyed: - Chocky - John Wyndham - Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata - The Eight Mountains - Paolo Cognetti - The Executioner Weeps - Frederic Dard - The Invisibility Cloak - Ge Fei - The Midnight Fox - Betsy Byars - Ms Ice Sandwich - Mieko Kawakami…
on “Ask HN: Favorite fiction books of 2018?” ↗…technical books like most listed here. I focused on reading memoirs, literature, fiction stories, primarily women authors. I didn’t read any bad books in my opinion, I guess I picked well. Standouts, Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata Lakota Woman - Mary Crow Dog Beautiful Country: A Memoir of An Undocumented Childhood - Qian Julie Wang Gather Around in My Name - Maya Angelou The entire autobiographical series by…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2022 and recommend for 2023” ↗…when there's a lot of places in SE Asia that have less toxic attitudes about immigrants and women. If you're looking to step outside your comfort zone of anime and cyberpunk, there's a great book by Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata if you want to get a (fictionalized) sense of what actual Japanese people think about late stage capitalism.
on “Japan’s Business Owners Can’t Find Successors. This Man Is Giving His Away” ↗I've just read a nice little contemporary Japanese book about a woman who has a hard time not being "normal": Convenience Store Woman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convenience_Store_Woman
on “Weirdos in the depression” ↗…how to influence people at scale. Oh, and Helter Skelter. Don't forget that one. (Generals do not face each other in battle... they send their troops to do their bidding.) Fictionwise, read Lolita, Convenience Store Woman, Post Office, and The Temple of the Golden Pavilion.
on “Ask HN: Which book/site you learned the most basics of your field?” ↗…For reference, of the translated fiction I've read, I'd recommend - Lady Joker by Takamura Devotion of Suspect X by Higashino Out by Kirino Breasts and Eggs, Ms Ice Sandwich, and Heaven by Kawakami Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings by Murata The Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and Kafka By The Shore by Murakami Snow Country by Kawabata Strange Weather in Tokyo by Kawakami No Longer Human by Nazai I am a Cat by Netsuke…
on “Surrealism, cafes and lots of cats: why Japanese fiction is booming” ↗…of the two universes) was just released---The City and Its Uncertain Walls. I've only just started reading it, though, so I can't offer any commentary beyond that. If you like Murakami, you might like Convenience Store Woman or Earthlings, both by Sayaka Murata. Mieko Kawakami is also great. Killing Commendatore (by Murakami, again) is my favorite of his. I have no idea why it's my favorite, though. To be honest I can barely…
on “Books I Loved Reading in 2024” ↗…he was "just following orders... the book examines the "banality of evil". https://search.worldcat.org/title/385389 Finally, to lighten things up, my most recent new favorite book that's fiction was Convenience Store Woman, about a woman who's been working at a 7/11 for 18 years. I read it during COVID and it's stuck with me as a favorite. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convenience_Store_Woman
on “Ask HN: End of Year Book Recommendations” ↗…thru for me but many seem high on "The Three Body Problem" books by Cixin Liu. Some others that are not scifi but enjoyed this year: "Trick" by Domenico Starnone "Such Small Hands" by Andres Barba "Convenience Store Woman" by Sayaka Murata
on “Ask HN: What are the best Sci-Fi books you've ever read?” ↗…Courage To Be Disliked - Ichiro Kishimi How To Change Your Mind - Michael Pollan Open - Andre Agassi Why We Sleep - Matthew Walker World After Capital - Albert Wenger Fiction: Chocky - John Wyndham Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata The Eight Mountains - Paolo Cognetti The Invisibility Cloak - Ge Fei The Midnight Fox - Betsy Byars Such Small Hands - Andres Barba The Thief - Fuminori Nakamura Ties - Domenico…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2018?” ↗…>Ironically I was reading 1Q84 at the time, which is about a cult in Japan. As I get sadder, my attention span gets shorter -- I've mostly been reading poetry, but one of the last fiction books I read was "Convenience Store Woman" by Sayaka Murata... before that the last piece of Japanese literature had been by Yukio Mishima when I was younger and angrier. One of the things I liked most about Japan was the "Onigiri" -- little…
on “Shinzo Abe's Assassination” ↗