ALEX'S PICK
Kafkaesque is a term that has undoubtedly entered the pantheon of Overused Descriptors, but if any single word should be used to describe Sayaka Murata's delightfully absurd examination of singular thought being lost amidst social consensus and capitalist clockwork, Kafkaesque is the one. Convenience Store Woman is an indelible modern achievement of a nearly timeless identity crisis, and existential quandary has never been as strangely charming as this.
To celebrate AAPI heritage month, we are happy to announce a delicious collaboration with our go-to lunch spot in the Junction, Tam Restauraunt. We've asked their amazing team to share their fave AAPI authored/illustrated books with us. If you purchase one of their staff picks, keep the receipt so that you can show it next time you swing by for a bite to get 10% off! We highly recommend the thịt kho, a classic bánh mì, or the vegan phở. Offer valid until the end of May.
The English-language debut of one of Japan’s most talented contemporary writers, selling over 650,000 copies there, Convenience Store Woman is the heartwarming and surprising story of thirty-six-year-old Tokyo resident Keiko Furukura. Keiko has never fit in, neither in her family, nor in school, but when at the age of eighteen she begins working at the Hiiromachi branch of “Smile Mart,” she finds peace and purpose in her life. In the store, unlike anywhere else, she understands the rules of social interaction—many are laid out line by line in the store’s manual—and she does her best to copy the dress, mannerisms, and speech of her colleagues, playing the part of a “normal” person excellently, more or less. Managers come and go, but Keiko stays at the store for eighteen years. It’s almost hard to tell where the store ends and she begins. Keiko is very happy, but the people close to her, from her family to her coworkers, increasingly pressure her to find a husband, and to start a proper career, prompting her to take desperate action…
A brilliant depiction of an unusual psyche and a world hidden from view, Convenience Store Woman is an ironic and sharp-eyed look at contemporary work culture and the pressures to conform, as well as a charming and completely fresh portrait of an unforgettable heroine.
Paperback | 176 pages | 5.00" x 7.00"
