Keiko Furukura was a strange child, feeling neither sadness for dead animals or remorse for acts of violence. She has lived her life trying to decode the social norms that a girl is expected to adhere to, mimicking the way other people speak or emote in order to avoid the interference of nosy acquaintances seeking to "fix" her. When she discovers the simple, ordered world of the convenience store employee, Keiko finds her calling, throwing herself completely into a world of rules and conditions, where her words and the degree of enthusiasm behind them are both corporate-mandated. But now, eighteen years later, Keiko finds herself entering the years of her life when a woman is not expected to work a part time job anymore, and her family and friends are once again interfering, asking why she's never sought more gainful employment or a husband. So once again Keiko must try to decode the world of expectations to find a way to live her life that will get these nosy interlopers off her back.

What a fuckin' weird book, man. I love it, and I don't know that I would even be able to recommend it to most people. It seems like it's constantly flirting with the idea of turning into a horror story. The protagonist is both emblematic of a woman buckling under societal pressure to be what everyone else wants her to be, and at the same time someone who is genuinely psychologically unwell. The result is a kind of balancing act of uncertainties, where I was never quite sure if I should root for Keiko to seek help, or if I should root for her to go her own way, and that uncertainty is the spice that makes this story sing.

If this were adapted to film, I could easily see it being directed by either David Lynch or Wes Anderson, and with equally impressive results. I don't know if there's another book I can say that about.