Keiko has difficulty fitting in. She doesn’t inherently know which emotions to express, or how to express them - taking her cues off the ‘normal people’ around her. But she finds comfort and belonging in the Convenience Store, where rules and procedures make sense to her.
This is a story of how Keiko navigates this world, trying to balance her own inner life and comfort with the expectations of her friends and family - most of whom don’t understand her, and want to ‘cure’ her.
I found Keiko’s character very sensitively written, and I really felt for her. Her ‘differences’ (which, to my untrained understanding, seem like they might be somewhere on the autism spectrum) are kindly written, giving Keiko a coherent and self-consistent inner life.
I found the fact that she felt the need to change her behaviour, to ‘conform’, to meet the expectations of many of those around her, to be utterly heartbreaking - although I was satisfied by the ending, which I thought was appropriate and warm. I loved this book, despite how sad it made me - and I finished it within 24 hours (which, although it is a short book, is still rare for me).
My rating: ★★★★★
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