This has been on my TBR list for a while… I must have heard about it on one of the Facebook reading groups I frequent, and I’m glad I did. I just wish I had gotten to this one sooner.
Translated from Japanese to English, this is the story of 36-year-old Keiko Furukura, who lives alone in Tokyo in a small studio apartment. From the time she was a young girl, much to the consternation of her loving family, she never quite fit in – she can’t read other people’s emotions, takes everything very literally, and doesn’t make friends like others. So when she finds a part-time job working at a “Smile Mart,” a small convenience store like a 7-11, where the corporate rules lay out what she should wear, what she should say, and what emotions she should express, it becomes her dream job. While everyone else in the store comes and goes, she stays… for 18 happy years. And then her family’s nitpicking at her for not being married or for getting a “real” job starts to bother her, and she decides to “fix” her problems to try to make everyone else happy.
It seems fairly apparent that Keiko is probably on the autism spectrum, although this is never explicitly stated. But it doesn’t seem exploitative of her potential diagnosis, but rather, gives an honest look at life from Keiko’s perspective. And while she’s described as not being “normal,” and she is bothered by not conforming to her society, she is basically comfortable and content with her life until others try to push her into their own views of what happiness should look like. She likes the repetitiveness of her job and her home life, she doesn’t have a maternal pull so doesn’t miss becoming a mother, and she likes how everything at the convenience store has very prescribed rules and procedures.
I really enjoyed this book overall. While I didn’t agree with many of Keiko’s decisions in the book – in fact, I was downright frustrated with her through most of the story – it was clear where she was coming from and her actions fit her character well. I think if I had been less frustrated with her trying to make everyone else happy, it would have been to the detriment of the story. This book is definitely quirky – I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like it – but I am happy I read it.