Hello, hello. I hope you are well.
If you feel a constant fear that society is going to banish you because you just do not fit the standards of what they believe is the right way to live or what might seem normal to them...if you really hate the corporate ladder that everyone is forcing you to climb...you should read Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata.
Keiko Furutura, a woman in her thirties has been working at a convenient store for the past eighteen years. She is content, however the people around her find this deeply alarming and consistently push her into changing her ways and to lead a life they consider to be ‘normal and right’.
“The normal world has no room for exceptions and always quietly eliminates foreign objects. Anyone who is lacking is disposed of. So that’s why I need to be cured. Unless I’m cured, normal people will expurgate me. Finally, I understood why my family had tried so hard to fix me.” - Sayaka Murata
Why you should read this novel:
The themes are so relevant
Nothing truly happens in this novel, no big action or climax except for the constant tension of choosing between your heart versus the desire to fit in, as to not get ‘expelled’ or shunned by society. This lends itself to another theme of this novel: the unspoken dysfunctionality of modern society and how it is believed that we are progressive in our ways. In reality, we just swapped out the old unfairness and unacceptable ideologies to a completely new set.
The characters feel so real
Keiko’s perception and interaction with the people around her will make you laugh; however she is a character of much depth, expressing fears many of us have; the idea that if you are not useful to the world, you will be cast out of it. After not being able to fit into the profile of what has been deemed normal, Keiko forces herself to be shaped by everyone around her, mimicking the behavior of others.
The side characters have a very clear purpose and that is to represent modern society: the people who constantly feel the need to ‘fix’ someone if they do not fit the idea of what they think is the ‘right way to live.’
“And so I realised. This society hasn’t changed one bit. People who don’t fit into the village are expelled: men who don’t hunt, woman who don’t give birth to children. For all we talk about modern society and individualism, anyone who doesn’t try to fit in can expect to be meddled with, coerced and ultimately banished from the village.” - Sayaka Murata
I will forever hold the message of this novel in my heart
This novel leans towards the slice of life genre where nothing really happens, but it is still so impactful. A beautiful novel about the pleasures of a simple life. No need for promotions. No need to climb the corporate ladder. Just doing what you love, because it’s fulfilling. I would love to thank Murata for writing what has now become my comfort read and a novel I will constantly re-visit for the rest of my life.
‘That’s all.’ (The Devil Wears Prada, 2006)
Thank you for reading, you beautiful soul.
Yours sincerely,
Elena D. Willow
The Nocturnal Journal
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