Convenience Store Woman: A Novel

This short, sweet novel manages to be both funny and profoundly respectful of its oddball characters. Keiko, a woman who's never found it easy to decipher society's unspoken rules, has thrived for 18 years working in the practical, predictable environment of a convenience store, much to her family's consternation. A sudden change in her environment reveals, combined with social pressure, leads her to try a different lifestyle for a time, leading her to realize the validity of her own choices for herself, even if society doesn't approve.