Convenience Store Woman #
Author Sayaka MurataDate September 7, 2026Rating 3/5
Identity is a strong theme across the works of Sayaka Murata, and this novel seems to expound upon it the most. Previously, I recall similar themes in her short story “Hatchling”, apart of the collected short stories, “Life Ceremony”. There someone was attempting to adapt to everyone around her, leading her to always have conflicting characters that would collide in on her when people that have only known one of her characters appear in one place.
Here, the main character, Furukura, appears to have developed a better plan of mixing together the people she meets continuously. This is an interesting idea to bare plainly, as I have likewise heard others joke about how their personalities are just mash-ups of random people and things they like, which to be fair is how I can view my own as well, though it isn’t necessarily thought out, in my case.
I find it sort of difficult to review this book, because I think if I was more understanding of this particular idea I’d probably find it far more intriguing, and while I did like and follow the story, I think this particular theme could have been developed further. Murata does a great job of aligning us with Furukura even if we don’t innately understand her, but I was left feeling like there should have been more. Regardless, I do still think it’s a good story, and it’s likely others might get more out of it than me.