Review: Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

4 stars for Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata.

This book has been on my reading list since the middle of last year. If not for my book club's upcoming discussion in February, I doubt I will read it any time soon. For that, I am glad. This is a good story.

The book is a darkly comic look at society expectations, social pressure and conformity. The story revolves around a 36-year-old woman, Keiko Furukura, who works in a convenience store. Through Keiko, readers are told what is acceptable and what is not in the so-called normal world where there is no room for exceptions and where exceptions get eliminated quietly. From page one to the last, we see how Keiko absorbs the world around her and morphs from the person she is to one that the society expects her of. It is both amusing and sad to see the world through Keiko - amusing because she lives in her own world where black means black and white means white, and sad because she tries so hard to try to blend in with society that she loses sight of who she is.

As the author is a Japanese, the book very much reflects the Japanese culture and way of thinking. A good example is how Keiko views herself as not just an individual responsible for herself but to society as well, for the reason that she works in the convenience store. To quote "Sixteen years ago I learned from manager #2 that my pay covers the basic requirement to manage my life so that I’m fit for work. I must get enough sleep before going to work.”

There are also truths of life to learn from this book even if some of them are what I already know all along. The thing is, seeing them put in words, elevate it to a different level. One good example is on the theme of change. A customer commented that the convenience store never changes. Yes, the store is the same but yet to Keiko, it is not. To quote "The same items had always been in their places, but they were continually being replaced. Maybe it made sense to say the store never changes." Another example is people are continually changing according to the world around them. The changes may be subtle but they are there. To quote "I absorb the world around me, and that’s changing all the time. Just as all the water that was in my body last time we met has now been replaced with new water, the things that make up me have changed too. When we last met a few years ago, most of the store workers were laid-back university students, so of course my way of speaking was different then."

This book is well written and easy to read. There is pretty much nothing to dislike. My only gripe is, reading a novel that is originally written in Japanese and subsequently translated to English, something or many somethings - be it culture, mannerism or way of expression - are bound to be lost through the translation. Interestingly as well as ironically, the translator chooses not to translate the Japanese way of saying I-understand-what-you-are-saying from "Hai" in Japanese to "Yes" in English. For people who are not familiar with the language difference, it will have been a disaster in understanding, as "Hai" in English is used to express grief, horror or regret.

Truth be told, I have never paid much attention to convenience stores or the people who work in them. Having read the book, I now see these stores in a different light. This book offers not only a bird's eye view on convenience stores, but also the finer details of how a worker of one such store can gain vital information - about customers in the store and expected business volume - simply through listening to sounds, observing behaviors and checking the weather. The detailed descriptions and observations offered in the book are so realistic and practical that I wonder if the author is writing from own experience, having worked long term in one such convenience store before.

Though it is never explicitly mentioned in the book, the protagonist, Keiko, clearly displays the symptoms of autism - finding it hard to understand what others are thinking or feeling, getting very anxious about social situations, and finding it hard to make friends or preferring to be on her own. As such, it makes me really curious as to how the story will pan out, especially when Keiko increasingly is in dire need of assistance. In the end, I feel that the author does a brilliant job in concluding the story. Its ending is one which I am sure sits well with Keiko, the Convenience Store Woman.

Review: Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

5 stars for Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome.

My first book of the year is a random book that I chose to read on a whim. It is one of five books that I purchased from POPULAR bookstore chain during my December vacation to Melaka. Prior to this, I have no idea who Jerome K. Jerome is as I have never come across any of his books before. I bought this book for two reasons. One, priced at MYR15.00, the book is a steal. Two, the book jacket broadcast that this is a book that has never gone out of print since it was first printed in 1889!

The book is about three men (to say nothing of the dog), Jerome, George and Harris, taking a two-week boat holiday on River Thames from Kingston to Oxford. The story starts off as any other book can be expected to - uneventful. But as I read on, I begin to understand why this book is so widely touted despite its seemingly simple plot. The more I read, the more I enjoy the story. It is simple. It is funny. It is entertaining. It is hilarious. It is a joy to read.

At the beginning of each chapter, there is always a short paragraph that summarizes the happenings for that chapter. Interestingly, it is a summary that tells the reader everything yet nothing. As such, it makes a great chapter synopsis especially for readers like me who is ever wary of spoiler.

The thing to be enjoyed while reading this book is not in the narration of the main story about the three men in a boat, but rather the many side stories that branch out in the course of the protagonist telling his main story, as his thoughts wander and drift in and out. It is these side stories that make this book so wonderfully entertaining. This is as the saying goes "It is not the destination but the journey that matters."

I share the same sentiments with regard to the little everyday topics that are mentioned in the book. One such is the weather forecast that is never accurate. To quote "It forecasts precisely what happened yesterday or the day before, and precisely the opposite of what is going to happpen today." As a result, no one likes to be foretold the weather. To quote "It is bad enough when it comes, without our having the misery of knowing about it beforehand."

Another example is empty cabs do not appear when you are waiting to hail one. To quote "it is a street where, as a rule, and when they are not wanted, empty cabs pass at the rate of three a minute, and hang about, and get in your way."

Then there is an amusing case about the protagonist's view on the value of art treasures of his time versus the past and future. To quote "Why, all our art treasures of today are only the dug up commonplaces of three or four hundred years ago.... Will it be the same in future? Will the prized treasures of today always be the cheap trifles of the day before?" What follows next is the protagonist's take on the value of a china dog ornament in two hundred years' time; it is so comically worded that it sends me into fits of laughter.

Another excellent example is the maze incident at Hampton Court. I will not quote anything here for it is too long a many pages to quote. But I will say, it is definitely a hilarious maze experience by Harris, one of the three men in the boat. It is a must-read near the end of chapter six. I shall stop with this last example as there are simply too many to bring out here. Well, the few examples I listed down may not seem funny to some of you here because they aren't read in context. So, what I am trying to say is, you have got to read the book.

Besides the entertaining narratives of the river adventure, there are also history to be learned as well as additional knowledge on some quaint, old-world inns up the River Thames. This book is, after all, written with the original purpose of advertising travel by describing the journey and scenery on the River Thames. In the end, the author's lighthearted narratives took over the descriptions to become a slice of life.

I cannot be more glad to have bought Three Men in a Boat and even more so, kickstart the New Year with this delightful book that says a lot without really saying a lot. I hope this first book of the year is an indication of what the Year 2023 has in store for me - all things lighthearted, smooth sailing and easy-going.