[Book Review] Convenience Store Woman

Hello everyone. I am Naseka.
I define myself as a philosopher and essayist.

Although I love reading, I don't usually read novels.

In addition to being a slow reader, my brain capacity is smaller than others, so I can't remember what I read previously if I read in my spare time.

The reason I picked up a novel for the first time in a long while is because I came across an article by

a noter I support.

It was surprisingly easy to read, and even my brain was able to finish it. The volume wasn't too long either, which was just right for me.

…However, in contrast to its readability, it is also a work that made me think about various things while reading it and after finishing it.

▷ Audible version for busy people

Factory Human

Whether it's novels or manga, I often empathize with the characters.

In this book, I read it while inevitably superimposing myself on Furukura, but as I read on, I began to think like this.

“If she is a ‘Convenience Store Woman,’ then I suppose I am a ‘Factory Human.’”

I certainly don't have the idea of hitting someone with a shovel to stop a fight, but I feel that I have many parts that are not ‘normal,’ as Furukura and Shiraha put it.

Ever since I was a child, I have always had a longing for what is ‘normal.’

First of all, neither my surname nor my given name is ‘normal.’ In my thirty-some years of life, there has only been one time that my full name was read correctly on the first try without furigana. (By the way, that person was my P.E. teacher.)

It wasn't a trend to celebrate unique names like it is now, so I hated it because I felt like I was an outsider just by existing. (I still can't bring myself to like my real name.)

From my hobbies and tastes to my way of looking at things and thinking, I had a sense that I was somehow out of sync with the people around me who were considered ‘normal.’

Even so, until my student days, I could just choose to associate with friends who got along with me, so I didn't really think about trying to correct myself. I lived my life while remaining out of sync with ‘normal.’

But once I got a job and became a member of an organization called a company, that wasn't the case. What I did then was exactly the same as Furukura: I was reborn as a creature called a ‘company employee.’

Since my workplace was a ‘factory,’ I followed the manuals and procedures taught by the ‘factory-working company employees’ around me, learned their behavior, and corrected myself into a ‘company employee.’

Now that the number of people who knew me when I first joined the company has decreased, I think there must be many people who consider me a ‘normal’ company employee.

The insensitivity of "normal people"

After finishing this book, what left the deepest impression on me was Shiraha's words:
"You see, normal people have a hobby of judging people who aren't normal."

I, too, am a person who is "not normal" to some extent—though I don't know how I compare to Keiko or Shiraha—so these words gave me much to think about.

I, too, am a person who is "not normal" to some extent—though I don't know how I compare to Keiko or Shiraha—so these words gave me much to think about.

During my student days, I didn't belong to the category of so-called "popular" or "socially successful" people, so I never dated anyone.

I met my wife and got married just before I turned thirty. I am approaching forty now, but my wife and I still do not have children.

To someone like me, the "normal people" around me would say things with extreme innocence.

"Don't you have a girlfriend?"
"Are you still a virgin, by any chance?"
"Why aren't you married yet?"
"Aren't you having kids yet?"

When they realized my answer wasn't "normal," they would invariably sneer. Then, the lectures and bragging would follow. This must have been the "judgment" that Shiraha spoke of.

However, while I thought, "How insensitive," I also felt half-exasperated in my heart, thinking, "These people probably don't consider anyone's personal background at all."

If the answer to their intrusive questions had been,
"I am gay," "My wife passed away due to illness," or "My child died in a traffic accident,"

I wonder what would have happened to their smirking faces.

I don't know how many times I've thought about answering that way (even if it were untrue). It wouldn't be out of spite, but out of pure curiosity.

Perhaps such things are beyond the imagination of "normal people." After all, that would be considered "not normal."

However, on the other hand, I also think: "Could I be saying similar things unconsciously?"

Since I wouldn't be able to survive if I were on edge about every single word, I probably make light remarks sometimes too.

I worry whether I might be inflicting the same insensitive comments that I find so tiresome upon others. Unfortunately, I cannot be confident about my own unconscious remarks.

Summary

When I first started reading, I thought, "I worked at a convenience store too. How nostalgic..." and felt relaxed, but there is not a shred of enjoyment in the feeling left after reading.

What remained in my heart was an "interesting" kind of intrigue and the traces of my own self-reflection.

In this book, the convenience store element is merely a medium.

The theme of this book is perhaps the question,
"What is normal?"

In this day and age where "diversity" is shouted everywhere around the world,
this is a work that makes you think enough to be used as a subject in a textbook.
…Though it might be too heavy to handle in class.

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Thank you for reading.

* I am a participant in the Amazon Associates Program.

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