Adeline
4 stars
Japanese translated literary fiction following Keiko, a young woman who’s whole life revolves around her job as a convenience store clerk.
As always Japanese fiction excels in portraying real life and its simplicity/ complexity, beauty/ugliness in a realistic and unadorned way. I just love how ‘slice of life’ fiction allows to explore and talk truthfully and profoundly about ourselves and our society. Here the author broaches into themes on social expectations, misogyny, patriarchy, gender equality and work culture.
I read that autistic /on the spectrum people have drawn parallels between their experience and the main character’s. I personally never been diagnosed as neurodivergent so I’m not sure how accurate or unproblematic it was. I agreed with some of her observations and felt empathy towards her. While not everything she did resonated with me but it was certainly eye opening and compelling to read.
The tone was definitely quirky and offbeat, I didn’t feel 100% connected to the story or the characters, something was missing for me. Still the pace was fast and the book short, so this was definitely a page turner, a digestible story readable in one sitting.
I would totally see an Japanese adaptation (film or mini series) for this.
Overall this was a cute quirky fast read, though it wasn’t utterly transcendent experience for me.
4 stars
Japanese translated literary fiction following Keiko, a young woman who’s whole life revolves around her job as a convenience store clerk.
As always Japanese fiction excels in portraying real life and its simplicity/ complexity, beauty/ugliness in a realistic and unadorned way. I just love how ‘slice of life’ fiction allows to explore and talk truthfully and profoundly about ourselves and our society. Here the author broaches into themes on social expectations, misogyny, patriarchy, gender equality and work culture.
I read that autistic /on the spectrum people have drawn parallels between their experience and the main character’s. I personally never been diagnosed as neurodivergent so I’m not sure how accurate or unproblematic it was. I agreed with some of her observations and felt empathy towards her. While not everything she did resonated with me but it was certainly eye opening and compelling to read.
The tone was definitely quirky and offbeat, I didn’t feel 100% connected to the story or the characters, something was missing for me. Still the pace was fast and the book short, so this was definitely a page turner, a digestible story readable in one sitting.
I would totally see an Japanese adaptation (film or mini series) for this.
Overall this was a cute quirky fast read, though it wasn’t utterly transcendent experience for me.