My Rating: ⭐⭐
When I found this book, I placed it in my cart without a doubt because I saw Jack Edwards reviewing this. But I think it was overrated.. 🥲
First of all, let me explain a little bit about how the story goes. This book draws the life of Keiko Furukura, who experienced being isolated from social groups ever since she was young due to her peculiar, awkward personality. But she finds her place in a convenience store, and she ends up working there for 18 years straight. She finds comfort in the fact that it stays constant even after the world has taken many changes as years went by. The customers that constantly come and go, the products that are always arranged neatly in lines, the store that kept its place right there in the spot even after years somehow becomes a source of solace.
Keiko feels satisfied with a life of repetition of strictly-fixed routines, tasks in convenience store, and unchanging manners for the customers. But outside the convenience store, she has to put up with unnecessary advice regarding marriage and "proper" job.
One day, she meets Shiraha who just got hired. Others label him as "weird" because of his unusual behaviors and mindset (ex. thinking that world is the same as it was in Stone Age). To meet the needs that society demands, Keiko moves in with Shiraha to pretend they are a couple and starts applying for jobs. And then she realizes that convenience store itself has a significant meaning and that she belongs there, so the story ends as she goes back to the store.
Honestly, I couldn't really grasp what the message is..? Perhaps that "it's okay to not fit in the society where so many things are demanded"? Also, I could see that the author put a lot of effort into making these main characters' personalities unusual as much as possible, but I think the way the story goes and how these characters interact with each other... was just unrealistic. Maybe I'm missing something, but personally I didn't enjoy reading this 😔. If the author was attempting to portray those who have difficulties conforming to social customs, then it would have been way better if she actually made the settings and characters a bit more realistic.
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