A Review of Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

 

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Japan done.

Weird but good book.

A few of the notes I jotted down while reading this: Furkura is like a trained chameleon who has had to learn how to fit into her society. She had to wear a mask in order to fit it (ie changing her way of speaking to match the person she is around and basing her clothing off of what she sees her peers wearing). She has had to conform to the social contract in order to not be ostracized by those around her and her sister is a great help in managing these affairs. Furkura is reluctant to become a normal memeber of society and wants to work at the convenience store and be left alone to live her life in support of the store.

Furukura's sister loves her and wants the best for her. She doesn't want to see Furkura laughed at or be gossiped about that is why she helps her. When Furukura's sister hears Shiraha's lies about why he was in the bathroom instead of in the living room like any "normal" boyfriend would be hanging out she is relieved. Furukura notes "She's far happier thinking her sister is normal, even if she has a lot of problems, than she is having an abnormal sister for whom everything is fine." Normalcy with problems>abnormal with no problems.

Near the end of the book when Furukura finally comes to terms that she is meant to work at a store and no longer will care about what others think about her she says "For the first time, I could think of the me in the window as a being with meaning." Her life's mission is to work at the convenience store.

Irasshaimase!

A Review of Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-joo

Claustrophobic is the word that keeps on echoing in my mind when thinking about this book.

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 is about the plight of women in South Korea. The modern plight. Kim Jiyoung is a normal woman going about her life who runs into obstacles due to her gender. Weather that is getting her own room as a kid, getting tuition assistance from her family, getting a job post grad, dealing with sexist coworkers, or manuevering the world after having a child. Her gender makes it so people treat her poorly. She ends up taking on other people's personalities in the very beginning of the book and we don't hear about it again until the very end when it turns out this book is written as an almost patient history book from her psychiatrist.

Claustrophobic first popped into my mind when she was at her work dinner with a group of clients. One of the clients is an older man who was very drunk and kept on pressuring Jiyoung to drink. I was worried where it would end up and due to the seating arrangements and the pressue Jiyoung had on her to tow to line at the dinner for her company the whole thing felt claustrophobic and like she couldn't leave. Luckily she made it out of there before anything bad happens.

I see some similarities between Korean culture and American culture is the raising of children. I am not saying that they are 100% alike but there are similarties. The dad with the trope of saying "I'll help out" in regards to the child and the mom being the one to stay at home with the kid.

I feel bad for Korean women. They are more likely to be aborted, less likely to be hired or promoted, and once mothers they are judged when they are out with their child grabbing a coffee and are considered a "mom-roach" aka moocher off their husbands by some.

Very good book. The prose was simple and easy to follow and the book didn't contain anything that wasn't required for the story. Reccomend.

A Word to my Younger Self

 There are going to be hard days. A lot of them. But they will get better. 

Strange Dreams

 Recently I have had strange dreams. 

Two days ago I had a bad dream. I was skateboarding near my old highschool. I was with my cousin. We were attempting to ollie down a set of stairs. About 8 or 9 stairs in length. I wasn't able to. Just like in all my years of skateboarding I bailed out. I would start the ollie but mid air bail out of the trick and land on my feet at the bottom of the staircase. During our time at the starcaise some younger kids showed up on skateboards. Beginners it looked like. They were impressed that my cousin and I would even attempt to ollie down such a large set of stairs. I went up to the stairs and was able to ollie up, grab a tree branch, and boardslide down the handrail. With the assistant of the tree branch. 

During our time at the staircase I texted my two ex-girlfriends. I do not know why. The most recent ex I know why. It is because I often times think of her and sometimes miss her. The old ex I rarely think about and when I do I think "hope she is doing well" and that is it. I had texted both of them something along the lines of "I miss you. Can we give us another shot?" While I waited for a reply we skated. Starting the ollie and then bailing out mid air. Never completing the trick. I checked my phone and there was a reply waiting for me. I message from my ex saying that we should. But it was the wrong ex. The one that I think about often didn't think about. I was dissapointed and wondered to myself why I had texted her in the first place. 

A little while later my highschool's cross country team jogged by a took a rest by where we were skating. Tired and panting they greeted us and asked how we were going. I never ran cross country. A little while later my old wresting coach called and I do not remember what he said.

Strange dreams. 

A review of The Good Life Elsewhere by Vladimir Lorchenkov

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Moldova done.

Brilliant book. The premise is simple: Moldovans wanting out of their country. Serafim Botezatu wants out of Larga Moldova and wants to go to Italy. He dreams of Italy, yearns for Italy, studies Italy, is infactuated by Italy. And so are many other Moldovans. They move to Italy in search of higher paying jobs and so they can send money back home to poorest country in Europe. Throughout this book we meet strange and funny characters who come from different backgrounds and have different goals and ambitions. Vasily Lungu, Old Man Tudor, Stella, Father Paasi. All characters that make this book so enjoyable. And it turns out that the Italy that Serafim is so earnestly searching for can be found within each of us. We just need to look for it.

Moldova is Europe's poorest country and we often hear only negative things about this small country of four million but there is something to be said about it. Yes, its standards of living is drastically lower than the EU or USA but it is filled with people with hard working people with strong character. We could all use a little but of Moldovan energy when going through out daily lives. These people do not have as much as we do but are still happy and able to find joy in life.