keiko has worked at a convenience store for 18 years -- exactly half her life -- and it’s the place she’s always best understood herself.  perceived as an odd child, she never quite fit in, and relied on social cues either told to her directly by her sister or coming from intensive study of friends, family, and coworkers to appear “normal.”  a convenience store doesn’t seem to have long-term job options, and under pressure from her family to grow up and settle down, she strikes up a relationship of convenience with a recently-fired coworker to appease them all.

this book is a really incisive commentary on the way capitalism affects our perception of self.  i read Keiko’s character as being autistic, particularly with her reliance on mimicking the way other people talk and act and shifting who she mimics depending on the situation.  her job has been hugely influential in her behavior, but isn’t that true for most people?  she can’t stop thinking about the job when she’s gone, she can’t stop evaluating the health of her body because it’s a tool for her employer -- all of this hits home, particularly in a pandemic when so many people have been forced to work in incredibly dangerous situations, not least of all convenience store employees. 

i think a lot of readers found keiko to be funny and relatable, and i have to say i didn’t.  but what i am really interested in is keiko as an unreliable narrator: did she really fit in? was her former coworker as bad as everyone made him out to be, or another victim of companies looking for profit over people?  for being such a short book, it’s one that’ll stick with me for a while.