Convenience Store Woman

Who it's for

Keiko Furukura, 36, has worked at the same Tokyo convenience store for 18 years; the store's manual, routines and scripts are the first place she has ever felt like a functioning person.

Feelings it meets

• Social Conformity
• Identity
• Neurodivergent Identity
• Gender Expectations
• Masking

What it is

Sayaka Murata's 2016 novel, translated into English by Ginny Tapley Takemori in 2018, follows Keiko Furukura, a 36-year-old woman who has worked part-time at a Tokyo convenience store for 18 years. The store's routines give her a sense of purpose and identity, but people around her press her to explain why she is still single and in the same job.

Where to find it

In print (Grove Press in the US, Granta/Portobello in the UK); widely available from libraries (Libby/Hoopla) and as an audiobook. Not public domain.

Before you start

Heads up: Misogyny and a childhood act of violence.

Age: Ages 14+

I'm Nobody! Who are you? Are you – Nobody – too?Emily Dickinson, “I'm Nobody! Who are you?” (poem 260)