コンビニ人間

Wonderful Thought-Provoking Story

This is a great first book for those looking to bridge the gap at upper level N2. The story is very well written and it challenges you to comprehend what you are reading. There is a lot of vocabulary in the beginning 30 pages or so that I recommend you make flash cards for, as they show up throughout the story. Overall, I enjoyed the twists and learning how each character develops and interacted with one another, and would encourage this for anyone looking for a more philosophical and thought pr

I liked the book but one thing I didn't expect was how much the difficulty of the vocabulary fluctuated when comparing the different sections. Especially in the latter half of the book I found that there were whole paragraphs that were packed with words that I had never seen before (and also with comparatively low frequency), while at other sections in the book I basically flew through the pages. That might just be a personal blind spot tho... :|

I still encourage reading it, as it isn't very l

Definitely not my favorite book

The first 30 pages are quite entertaining as we follow the daily life of 古倉さん, but then the story becomes increasingly boring.

This book tackles the societal problems that women face (getting married, having children...) and it's quite interesting on that front except that it doesn't really become more developed but rather repetitive over and over and over again.

There's a lot of everyday vocabulary which is repeated so it's good for learning. For me, the main problem with the language was

Short and not so sweet

Great book to read for upper-intermediate learners. The author repeatedly uses a lot of the same vocabulary which helps for learning. The story is straightforward and grounded in reality, but entertaining enough to stay engaged. There's a good critique of class-based structures, the pressures of modern life, and mental illness.

Initially I was hesitant to pick it up because how interesting can a convenience store be? However, if you're at all fascinated with Japanese 'conbini' there's a lot to

Thoughts on the Plot

Positives

A few scenes where it really gracefully switched between dramatic, comedic, sad, ...

Subtleties of how other characters acted/spoke translated into what 恵子 took away from an encounter. This I thought was done nicely.

Negative

恵子 views the world in a very different way to others, but even still, I found some of the jumps in logic/plot a bit jarring. This is probably intended in many cases, but I didn't love it.

Language Side

Many good things about th

A glimpse into Japanese culture.

I read this last year on a whim so it's not very fresh in my mind so this review won't be as detailed.

This is a book where nothing... really happens. It follows the life of a young Japanese woman who works in a convenience store, except... she doesn't quite fit in with the norm. She's content working at her job, where every day it's the same thing, the same routine and the same smells and sounds. I weirdly related to the protagonist, though I believe, personally, it's a story of a woman who

• Entertainment: This book just wasn't for me. The author's main point is the pressure society puts on people - especially women - to either have a family or a successful career. And while this sounded generally interesting, I did not think that the book actually added anything interesting beyond simply repeating that premise again and again. At some point through the middle I thought "OK, I get it now! Please tell me something new!". Of course it is not all bad: The characters are great and del

Pros

• Really good for language learning as it contains common day-to-day vocabulary with some harder N2/N1 words here and there
• Easy to follow and understand for someone who's more aware of social norms in general and Japanese norms in particular (how to be a good 社会人, etc.)
• Gives good insights on everyday expectations of the Japanese society and why it's not for everyone
• Contains a post-face from the author, explaining certain aspects of the story

Cons

• Complete lack of acknowledgment

Maybe not the right novel for me

I didn't really find the story very interesting for some reason. Some parts were kind of depressing, but maybe that's just my tendency to be anxious and existential. None of the characters seemed very likable to me though it was fun to laugh at 白羽さん's ridiculous antics.

This book might be a good fit for someone who is more interested in grounded contemporary human stories as opposed to something more fantastical or thrilling. It's a quite short book---even if it didn't end up being such a "page

Interesting analysis of society, simple language, good for ~N3

Although I had to look up a couple of words per page, this was the first novel I read in Japanese and I had no problem understanding what was going on most of the time. For this reason, I would really recommend it as a potential first read.

The story wass a bit slow at the beginning but, towards the middle, it gets more interesting and reading the rest of the book takes much less effort.

お気に入り度：⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

日本語能力試験レベル：~N3

❤️好きな登場人物：古倉恵子・白羽さん

✨好きなところ：分かりやすい・珍しいキャラ・社会の分析・フィミなところ・労働文化を教える

🖋好きなセリ

This was the first Japanese novel I read and I believe it's well suited for that purpose for those who are looking for an entry point into Japanese literature as a learner of the language.

Its modest 200 or so pages make for a well-paced read in part thanks to the relatively straightforward grammar and vocabulary. I'd say it's suited to those who are around or past the JLPT N3 level, which is where I was when I read it.

Outside of its use for learning and practicing Japanese, I found the stor

I have absolutely nothing negative to say about this book from either a literary or language-learning perspective. Whether you are just attempting your first Japanese novel or you're already native-level fluent with hundreds of books under your belt, this needs to be next on your to-read list.

After reading just a few of Murata's works, I've come to regard her as one of my favorite authors (English or Japanese). Her prose is blunt and direct, devoid of flowery language while at the same time br