And for someone who’s never fully grasped the rules governing social interactions, she finds a ready-made set of behaviors and speech patterns by copying her fellow employees. From the nails she fastidiously trims to better work the cash register to her zeal in greeting customers with store manual–approved phrases to her preternatural awareness of its subtle signals-the clink of jangling coins, the rattle of a plastic water bottle-the store has both formed her and provided a purpose. Keiko Furukura, a 36-year-old resident of Tokyo, is so finely attuned to the daily rhythms of Hiiromachi Station Smile Mart-where she’s worked since age 18-that she’s nearly become one with the store. She says she is a convenience store worker, cancels her interview, and decides to find a job at another convenience store.A sly take on modern work culture and social conformism, told through one woman’s 18-year tenure as a convenience store employee.
When Shiraha confronts her, she tells him that she doesn’t care about trying to fit into society with him anymore. Immediately, Keiko starts to do tasks at the store.
Keiko manages to get a job interview, but she and Shiraha stop at a convenience store on the way to it. But once she does, she feels disconnected from Smile Mart’s music and the sense of belonging it gave her. To escape this pressure, Keiko agrees to quit her job to financially support Shiraha. However, they still face pressure from Keiko’s sister and Shiraha’s sister-in-law. After Shiraha gets fired, Keiko asks him to move in with her so they can fool others into thinking they are a couple and discourage questions about their lifestyles. When Smile Mart hires a part-time employee named Shiraha who is around Keiko’s age and shares similar life experiences, Keiko’s coworkers note that he is “weird.” He unintentionally frightens women and claims the world is the same as it was during the Stone Age. While Keiko’s friends comment on her mannerisms as always changing, she herself notices the subtle ways in which those around her change.
Keiko models her speech patterns and style of dress on those of her coworkers. Smile Mart offers Keiko a manual to live by, guidelines outlined by corporate policy.
Keiko’s sister is supportive of her and offers excuses she can use to justify her life as an asexual 36-year-old with no “real” career, but Keiko knows her parents and friends are disappointed in her. Since Keiko was a child, she has felt different, separate, from others she feels that the only way she can prevent others from being uncomfortable around her is by mimicking them and keeping her views about the world to herself. Keiko Furukura is a 36-year-old woman who has been working at a convenience store, the Smile Mart, her entire adult life. This guide is based on the Kindle edition of the novel (translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori) published in 2018.
0 kommentar(er)
