Books

CONVENIENCE STORE WOMAN

BY SAYAKA MURATA

Sayaka Murata is a bestselling author in Japan, but this is the first of her 10 books to be translated into English. Written in a style that is somehow slightly dislocated from honest emotion – something I quite often think about Japanese novels (a function of the translation, maybe?) – this is the story of 36-year-old Keiko, who only really feels herself able to behave like a real person within the brightly lit embrace of the convenience store where she works.

When her colleague is fired for being too slack, she invites him to live with her, where he carries on slobbingas Keiko was to everyone else.