During my days in Bombay, every week brought on a trip to Bon-Bon supermarket. Yes, the name’s quite funny but the store was really close by and really put effort into serving customers well. Now, I’m your classic rookie shopper, who could perhaps be confused between arhar and toor dal if it came down to it. But the entire experience of traipsing the aisles at Bon-Bon, judging the prices at which imported cookies were selling, or being choosy about the mosquito repellent and shower gel I was picking up, was extremely therapeutic for me. It was a periodic event that brought some form of semblance and comfort to me, apart from the occasional splurge where I picked up far too many snackable items than needed.
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata revolves around a similar sense of comfort as well. Lending on the author’s own experience of having worked at a Japanese convenience store, the protagonist Keiko Furukura is a societal misfit whose existence banks on the store she works at. These stores, konbini in the native language, are meant to provide for consumer’s necessities and wants, mostly operating on 24x7x365 schedules. Keiko, who’s been working at the store for close to 18 years, is one with the store. Managers, employees, and customers have changed but she remains a constant with her circadian rhythm, mind space, and behavioral instincts all directed towards the upkeep of the store. She’s always conscious about her outlook towards customers, practicing various inflections in her tone. She also revels in working with colleagues and managers who are genuinely motivated, unlike people who would shake their head at the thought of a dead-end job like this. Keiko has well-framed excuses about why she’s never moved beyond working at the store and she’s also at peace with her existence as a spinster who enjoys the extent of her work as-is. Her kith and kin have issues with her not fitting into the traditional settings of a well-established job and marriage, but have given up on her in general. All of this takes a helluva twist on the day that Keiko decides to let Shirihara, an unemployed and rude dead-ender to live with her. Their basis for living together is not one for the romantics, but an evasion of ‘the village’, referring to people in the society who seem to have everything and are constantly judging misfits like the two of them. Shirihara’s move-in is transactional, he pays her small amounts in lieu of the food she puts out for him and sleeps on a futon placed in the bathroom. This upheaval brings out some enforced changes in Keiko’s life and her usual rhythm is disrupted.
The read: This is a quirky read, if I may say so politely. It keeps the konbini in focus at all times and I like the detailing that went into describing Keiko’s love affair with the place. It puts the small things in life into perspective and helps you understand her unusual passion for the store and her job. The ending was quite predictable but I would recommend picking this up simply for the offbeat narrative and the light-hearted tone in which the entire text is written. There’s no stress, it’s simply just a convenient read.
19/365.
Trivia: Here’s an interesting article about the origins of the traditional usage of futons and tatami in Japan, both of which are frequent occurrences in scenes based in Keiko’s houses.
Documentation:
Book: Convenience Store Woman
Author: Sayaka Murata, Ginny Tapley Takemori (Translator)
Year of Release: 2018
Publisher: Portobello books