Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata - 2018







By: Sayaka Murata, Ginny Tapley Takemori - translator

Narrated by: Nancy Wu

Length: 3 hrs and 21 mins

Unabridged Audiobook

Release date: 06-12-18

Language: English

Categories: Literature & Fiction

Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Format: mp3 64/48 stereo







Tokyo resident Keiko Furukara has never fit in - neither in her family, nor in school - but when at the age of 18 she begins working at the Hiiromachi branch of national convenience store chain Smile Mart, she realizes instantly that she has found her purpose in life. Delighted to be able to exist in a place where the rules of social interaction are crystal clear (many are laid out line-by-line in the store's manual), Keiko does her best to copy the dress, mannerisms, and mode of speech of her colleagues, playing the part of a "normal" person excellently, more or less.



Keiko is the perfect employee - never late, always worrying about how to maximize sales, brilliantly conscientious, and highly energetic. Managers come and go but Keiko remains at the store for 18 years. It's almost hard to tell where the store ends and she begins. At 36, Keiko is very happy in her life, but the people close to her, from her family to her coworkers, pressure her to settle down with a man and to find a proper profession. Eventually, she is pushed to make a huge change. The static world of Keiko is upended - but will it be for the better?



A brilliant depiction of an unusual psyche and an extraordinary world, Convenience Store Woman is both 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.



©2018 Sayaka Murata and Ginny Tapley Takemori (P)2018 Blackstone Audio, Inc.



Editor's Pick



Would everyone just quit it!?

"Keiko's reality might not be my preferred reality, but the convenience store where she has worked for 18 years is her home and her happy place…she's very good at her job and feels very satisfied it, if only the rest of the world would quit telling her she's supposed to want a different life. In her mid-30s, Keiko's being pressured to 'get serious,' get a bigger job, get married, etc. And as she hatches a plan to just get the world off her back for a minute, you'll find yourself scratching your head and wondering why we even want all the things we think we want. Short, funny, delightfully subversive, and possibly a little bit genius, this was one of my favorite listens last year."

—Emily C., Audible Editor











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