Latest news with #ConvenienceStoreWoman
Sydney Morning Herald
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
Without pregnancy cravings, the Dubai chocolate bar wouldn't have been born
We fell in love with Sayaka Murata's Convenience Store Woman – the story of Keiko Furukura, a woman in her late 30s who has worked at the same Tokyo store for 18 years – when it was published in English in 2018. In her new novel, Vanishing World (Granta, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori; $30), Murata continues to push boundaries – cultural, narrative and those of her readers. Set in a dystopian Japan where all children are conceived via artificial insemination and sex between married couples is taboo, the story follows Amane as she navigates a society ruled by rigid norms around reproduction and relationships. Fair warning: this novel isn't for the faint-hearted. It's strange, and not as immediately approachable as Convenience Store Woman. But the weirdness serves a purpose – forcing us to question the legitimacy of social structures, and why some vanish while others remain. Melanie Kembrey WEAR / Slide show My first thought on beholding a freshly unboxed pair of Gen-FF Buckle 2 Bar shearling leather slides ($220) was, 'Cute, but how do you wear them?' (Answer: with a wide pant, ideally, and possibly a tonal ankle sock.) My second, a few seconds after placing my tired trotters inside them, was, 'If every shoe had a shearling foot-bed, no one would ever wear anything else.' And so it has come to pass; off-duty, I'm now wearing them with everything. These newcomers feel every bit as magical as they look, and it's not just about the shearling: designed by FitFlop, in consultation with Calgary's Human Performance Lab, their raison d'être is to bestow serious comfort by way of cutting-edge biomechanics. This is probably why they have a little bit of a wedge, too, because wedges make everything comfier. All of which is to say, a slide in midwinter? Hell, yes. In Chocolate Brown or Stone Beige. Sharon Bradley LISTEN / Teen dream When she was a teenager, Shima Oliaee was a contestant in America's Junior Miss pageant. Renamed Distinguished Young Women, it's an annual competition held in Mobile, Alabama, where 50 high-school girls – the best and brightest from each US state – compete to win a $US40,000 ($62,000) scholarship. Two decades later, Oliaee, who's now a journalist, returns as a judge. Her podcast, The Competition, is both a fly-on-the-wall look at the intense pressure-cooker nature of the two-week competition – which includes scholastics, fitness, talent and public speaking – and a reflective journey for Oliaee as she looks at who she was then and who she is now. With Roe v Wade being overturned mid-competition, it also trains a spotlight on what it means to be a young woman in America today. Barry Divola SHOP / Snap chat The Polaroid Flip is a retro-cool, instant film camera packed with sharp smarts and serious style ( $399). Under the flippable lid? Four automatic lenses, sonar autofocus (yep, it uses sound waves to measure the distance between camera and subject) and Polaroid's brightest flash yet. It even lets you know when your shot's overexposed. Pair it with the app for double exposures, timers and manual controls – or just point, shoot and let the magic happen. Compatible with i-Type and 600 film and USB-C-rechargeable, the Flip is built for capturing real life in bold, beautifully imperfect prints. Frances Mocnik WATCH / Friends in high places Some watch the Sex and the City sequel And Just Like That … for the fashion, the friendship and the fellas, but what you should really be keeping an eye on is the real estate. While Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker, below with Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon) and co will always have my heart, season three promises a big change: Carrie is no longer a West Village girl. Yep, she's swapped her one-bed, brownstone apartment with its magical closet for a $US5 million ($7.7 million), four-bed townhouse in Gramercy Park in the heart of Manhattan – a 30-odd-minute walk away (longer in Louboutins). Timing is everything. New York Magazine has lamented the takeover of Carrie's old, once-Bohemian enclave by 'West Village girls', who dress the same, only drink three cocktails a night and spend their time working out. There goes the neighbourhood and there goes our girl – forever ahead of the curve. On Max from May 30. Louise Rugendyke
The Age
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Without pregnancy cravings, the Dubai chocolate bar wouldn't have been born
We fell in love with Sayaka Murata's Convenience Store Woman – the story of Keiko Furukura, a woman in her late 30s who has worked at the same Tokyo store for 18 years – when it was published in English in 2018. In her new novel, Vanishing World (Granta, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori; $30), Murata continues to push boundaries – cultural, narrative and those of her readers. Set in a dystopian Japan where all children are conceived via artificial insemination and sex between married couples is taboo, the story follows Amane as she navigates a society ruled by rigid norms around reproduction and relationships. Fair warning: this novel isn't for the faint-hearted. It's strange, and not as immediately approachable as Convenience Store Woman. But the weirdness serves a purpose – forcing us to question the legitimacy of social structures, and why some vanish while others remain. Melanie Kembrey WEAR / Slide show My first thought on beholding a freshly unboxed pair of Gen-FF Buckle 2 Bar shearling leather slides ($220) was, 'Cute, but how do you wear them?' (Answer: with a wide pant, ideally, and possibly a tonal ankle sock.) My second, a few seconds after placing my tired trotters inside them, was, 'If every shoe had a shearling foot-bed, no one would ever wear anything else.' And so it has come to pass; off-duty, I'm now wearing them with everything. These newcomers feel every bit as magical as they look, and it's not just about the shearling: designed by FitFlop, in consultation with Calgary's Human Performance Lab, their raison d'être is to bestow serious comfort by way of cutting-edge biomechanics. This is probably why they have a little bit of a wedge, too, because wedges make everything comfier. All of which is to say, a slide in midwinter? Hell, yes. In Chocolate Brown or Stone Beige. Sharon Bradley LISTEN / Teen dream When she was a teenager, Shima Oliaee was a contestant in America's Junior Miss pageant. Renamed Distinguished Young Women, it's an annual competition held in Mobile, Alabama, where 50 high-school girls – the best and brightest from each US state – compete to win a $US40,000 ($62,000) scholarship. Two decades later, Oliaee, who's now a journalist, returns as a judge. Her podcast, The Competition, is both a fly-on-the-wall look at the intense pressure-cooker nature of the two-week competition – which includes scholastics, fitness, talent and public speaking – and a reflective journey for Oliaee as she looks at who she was then and who she is now. With Roe v Wade being overturned mid-competition, it also trains a spotlight on what it means to be a young woman in America today. Barry Divola SHOP / Snap chat The Polaroid Flip is a retro-cool, instant film camera packed with sharp smarts and serious style ( $399). Under the flippable lid? Four automatic lenses, sonar autofocus (yep, it uses sound waves to measure the distance between camera and subject) and Polaroid's brightest flash yet. It even lets you know when your shot's overexposed. Pair it with the app for double exposures, timers and manual controls – or just point, shoot and let the magic happen. Compatible with i-Type and 600 film and USB-C-rechargeable, the Flip is built for capturing real life in bold, beautifully imperfect prints. Frances Mocnik WATCH / Friends in high places Some watch the Sex and the City sequel And Just Like That … for the fashion, the friendship and the fellas, but what you should really be keeping an eye on is the real estate. While Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker, below with Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon) and co will always have my heart, season three promises a big change: Carrie is no longer a West Village girl. Yep, she's swapped her one-bed, brownstone apartment with its magical closet for a $US5 million ($7.7 million), four-bed townhouse in Gramercy Park in the heart of Manhattan – a 30-odd-minute walk away (longer in Louboutins). Timing is everything. New York Magazine has lamented the takeover of Carrie's old, once-Bohemian enclave by 'West Village girls', who dress the same, only drink three cocktails a night and spend their time working out. There goes the neighbourhood and there goes our girl – forever ahead of the curve. On Max from May 30. Louise Rugendyke
Daily Mail
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
The best short books to take on your summer holiday, all less than 200 pages long
Daily Mail journalists select and curate the products that feature on our site. If you make a purchase via links on this page we will earn commission - By You know the feeling: your suitcase is packed, your out-of-office is on and you're ready for a week of baking sun. Then comes the all-important question: which book should you take? Ideally, you want something short enough to finish before you land by the pool, but gripping enough to cast aside any haziness from last night's cocktails. Enter the under-200-page wonder: books that are slim in size but pack a punch. Whether you're after sharp satire, lyrical love stories, or gothic gore, these small-but-mighty reads will slip right into your beach bag. Even better? They'll mean no excess baggage charges, even if you're flying budget. The best short books to take on holiday Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata This quirky, wry story follows Keiko, a Japanese convenience store worker who's never fit in anywhere before. But despite her contentment in the role, Keiko's social circle can't understand why an unmarried woman is spending her time stacking shelves. As pressure mounts for her to find a new job, or worse, a husband, she's forced to take drastic action… 178 pages £9.99 Shop McGlue by Ottessa Moshfegh She may be most famous for her shocking and hilarious book My Year of Rest and Relaxation, but Moshfegh's first release, the novella McGlue, is every bit as strange and gripping. Set in 1851 Salem, McGlue is in custody after allegedly killing his best friend in a drunken rage. He's remorseless, however, despite the foggy recollections of the incident in question. 128 pages £8.99 Shop West by Carys Davies When Cy Bellman, American settler and widowed father of Bess, reads in the newspaper that huge ancient bones have been discovered in a Kentucky swamp, he leaves his small Pennsylvania farm and young daughter to find out if the rumours are true: that the giant monsters are still alive, and roam the uncharted wilderness beyond the Mississippi River. This novella is crisp, poignant and atmospheric, perfect for those who loved Where the Crawdads Sing. 160 pages £9.99 Shop The Passion by Jeanette Winterson Henri has a passion for Napoleon – but Napoleon has a passion for chicken. As the soldier and emperor butcher their way across Europe, glory falls to ruin and love to hate. But, when Henri encounters the red-haired, web-footed Villanelle, he discovers in her an equal. Together, they abandon their pasts and flee to the Venetian canals to meet their singular destiny... 176 pages £9.99 Shop Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote Immortalised by Audrey Hepburn's iconic performance in the 1961 film, Breakfast at Tiffany's is a dazzling portrait of 1940s New York. It follows socialite Holly Golightly, a social climber and stunning heartbreaker, her questionable relationships and her search for a place she belongs. 160 pages £8.99 Shop Absolutely and Forever by Rose Tremain This stunning novella tells the piercing love story between 15-year-old Marianne Clifford and 18-year-old Simon Hurst, destined to go far as a clever, beautiful and privileged teen. But fate intervenes. Simon's plans are blown off course, and Marianne is forced to bury her dreams of a future together. 192 pages £8.99 Shop Foster by Claire Keegan Booker-shortlisted author Claire Keegan's novella tells the story of a girl sent to live with a foster family on a sweltering Irish farm. There, she finds affection she's not known before and begins to blossom – until a secret threatens her fragile new happiness. 96 pages £9.99 Shop So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell This evocative masterpiece by one of America's greatest novelists tells the story of two Illinois farmers who share too much until finally, jealousy leads to murder and suicide. A tenuous friendship between lonely teenagers - the narrator, whose mother has died young, and Cletus Smith, the troubled witness to his parents' misery - is shattered. The boys never speak again, and only fifty years on can the narrator attempt a reconstruction of those devastating events. 176 pages £9.99 Shop This is Pleasure by Mary Gaitskill This nuanced take on #MeToo, power and consent is told from two perspectives. The first is Quin, a male publisher undone by allegations of sexual impropriety; the second his loyal friend Margot, trying to understand and explain his actions. It's an unflinching look at the moral complexities of the 21st-century world, and perfect for anyone after a thought-provoking read. 96 pages £6.99 Shop We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson This cult favourite gothic novella follows Merricat and her sister Constance, who live in isolation after most of their family died of arsenic poisoning. When cousin Charles arrives, armed with overtures of friendship and a desperate need to get into the safe, Merricat must do everything in her power to protect her remaining family. 176 pages £9.99 Shop
Irish Independent
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Author of Convenience Store Woman returns with a nightmare world where sex between married couples is taboo
Vanishing World is another quirky novel by Japanese writer Sayaka Murata, where 'relationships' with anime or manga characters is commonplace and children are raised without their biological family Today at 21:30 Sayaka Murata is the Japanese novelist who made her name here with Convenience Store Woman. The novel follows shop-worker Keiko, who challenges societal norms by showing no interest in having a relationship or moving to a different job. Her character was isolated by society for not wanting to have a husband or start a family. Muraka herself worked in a convenience store, and didn't start writing until she was in her forties. The short novel, her 10th book and first to be translated, was wacky, introspective and, as is Muraka's style, beautifully descriptive.
The Guardian
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata review – a future without sex
In Japanese writer Sayaka Murata's fiction, characters do perverse things in order to 'play the part of the fictitious creature called 'an ordinary person''. This description comes from Keiko, the 36-year-old narrator of Convenience Store Woman. Keiko's conformist family and friends can't believe she can be happy being single and working a dead-end job at a convenience store. Keiko finds an unexpected way to make it look as though she is normal: she keeps a man in her bathtub, hoping that everyone will simply assume they are a couple. A similar idea appears in Murata's short story Poochie, from the collection Life Ceremony. A young girl takes a friend to a shed in the mountains to meet her pet; the friend is surprised to discover that the pet is a middle-aged man. Murata is interested in the lengths humans will go to in order to domesticate one another. Something in that has touched a nerve – Convenience Store Woman became a surprise bestseller. Vanishing World, Murata's latest novel to be translated into English, is set in a speculative Tokyo where artificial insemination is ubiquitous and sex is considered 'unhygienic'. The narrator, Amane, grows up with a mother who is still attached to the vanishing world of sex within marriage. Although Amane considers it a shameful secret that she was conceived via intercourse, as an adolescent she experiments beyond the passionately imagined relationships with anime characters that are more typical among her friends. Her first experience is disappointing: her friend Mizuuchi has trouble finding 'the mysterious cavity' where he can insert his penis. By the time she gets married, Amane has come round to the view that marital sex is 'incest'. When her husband initiates a kiss, she vomits into his mouth and reports him to the police. Amane marries a second time to a more suitable man. She compares him to 'a beloved pet', and they both like stews. They would have a comfortable domestic life together, if it weren't the norm to have chaste romantic relationships outside marriage. Amane, still holding on to her mother's way of doing things, tries once again to teach one of her lovers how to have physical sex. 'By trial and error,' she says, 'we stimulated our sexual organs, and eventually some liquid came out of Mizuto.' Mizuto tries his best, but never finds pleasure in the 'ritual'. In Murata's fiction, ordinary activities – drinking tea, wearing clothes, making love – seem very strange. Reading Vanishing World, I felt the profound oddness of the heterosexual family unit, with its legal, sexual and child-rearing rituals. Dissatisfied with their domestic arrangement, Amane and her husband are seduced by the promise of the 'Paradise-Eden System' set up in a place called 'Experiment City', where sex does not exist, both men and women are artificially inseminated, and parenthood is a collective responsibility. But the reality of Paradise-Eden freaks Amane out. She is unsettled by the identical outfits, haircuts and smiles of the children raised in the Centre, doted on 'as though they were pets'. Murata dispenses with conventional world-building and incidental detail, focusing on the points where character and society come into conflict. Her writing is compulsive, and she has an uncanny gift for intimate observations that get under the skin. It doesn't matter that I can't tell you how Experiment City looks and feels; I won't forget the description of Amane's husband's pregnant belly as a distended 'testicle' with the outline of a baby inside. At the same time, there is something strangely reassuring about the way this fiction boils down the bewilderingly complex prohibitions and obligations of ordinary social life to clear choices between resistance and assimilation. Vanishing World narrates the creep of a new worldview – that all sex is wrong, unclean, and masturbation the only appropriate way of relieving unwanted urges – radiating out from the scientific and social experiments of Experiment City. As its grip on Amane tightens, her relationship with her stubbornly old-fashioned mother deteriorates. The final stages of the plot rehearse a scenario familiar from Murata's previous books, in which one character takes the urge to control the behaviour of others to its logical extreme. This recycling is evidence, I think, of the strength and singularity of the author's vision. It's also a reminder of how quickly even the strangest ideas can become convention. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori, is published by Granta (£16.99). To support the Guardian order your copy at Delivery charges may apply
