How can you not be charmed by the main character of Convenience Store Woman? She knows what she wants out of life and who is anyone to say she needs anything different. The power of this novel is not in a sweeping landscape or journey, but in its intimacy, humor, and empathy with this very human, knowable woman.
— Tyler
Convenience Store Woman is a treat of a novel. Keiko Furukura is a character more genuine than anyone you have met in real life, yet everyone around her is trying to cure her for being different. In the end, you'll root for Keiko as she realizes the only thing missing from her life is not a husband or a "real job", it's the freedom to shed expectations and declare herself a Convenience Store Worker.
— Christy
“Keiko Furukura has worked at her local convenience store for 18 years. Every day, she ensures that the shelves are tidy, the hot food bar is stocked, and the featured items are adequately displayed. She greets every customer with a cheerful ‘Irasshaimase!’ and no one notices that she’s never fit in anywhere else. Murata draws lush descriptions of the beauty of order and routine out of simple, spare prose, and every page crackles with the life she’s created. Because of the humor, the wit, the almost unbearable loveliness of it all, Convenience Store Woman, a small book about a quiet life, makes an enormous impact on the reader.”
— Lauren Peugh, Powell's Books, Portland, OR
“Rebels tend to be outlandish, extroverted, opinionated, and brassy. Thirty-six-year-old Tokyo resident Keiko Furukura, working half her life in a convenience store, defies expectations, spurns relationships, irritates her family, ignores social pressures, and inadvertently—and joyously—flips rebellion on its head.”
— Mike Hare, Northshire Bookstore, Manchester Center, VT
A sharp-eyed look at contemporary work culture and the pressures we all feel to conform, Convenience Store Woman offers a brilliant depiction of a world hidden from view and a charming and fresh portrait of an unforgettable heroine.