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 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 boyfriend, and has only few friends. She feels
comfortable in her life but is aware that she is not living up to
society's expectations and causing her family to worry about her. When a
similarly alienated but cynical and bitter young man comes to work in
the store, he will upset Keiko's contented stasis--but will it be for
the better?
I picked this book up because it was recommended on Anne Bogel's Summer Reading Guide. I had such high hopes for this quirky, little novel. Keiko is a woman who finds herself in basically the exact same place she has been for years. She feels stuck. The setting of a convenience store seemed like the perfect place for this book. I was hoping for a heart-warming story that really endeared me to all the characters. What I found was a day to day picture of Keiko, but just not much else. It just didn't really go anywhere. I just kept waiting for something to happen to shift things in her life or in the store, but it just wasn't there. I closed the book and felt that I just didn't get it.
* I received this book from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review *
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