Is anyone familiar with the author? My brother drew my attention to Murata Sayaka, whose books have been translated into 30 languages. Still relatively young at 43, she has won several of the most prestigious Japanese literary awards (including the Akutagawa Prize, the Mishima Yukio Prize, the Noma Literary New Face Prize, and the Gunzo Prize for New Writers). My brother recommended starting with "Convenience Store Woman" (コンビニ人間, 2016), one of Murata's bestsellers that draws on her experiences of working at a
combini for seventeen years.
“Convenience Store Woman,” a much anticipated English-language debut, captures unconventional thinking in Japan’s conformist society.
The novelist makes the Earthly rituals of sex, marriage, childbirth—and all of human life—appear delightfully outlandish.