I read The Convenience Store by the Sea and here's what I thought

 

So I’m talking about The Convenience Store by the Sea by Sonoko Machida. Apparently, there is a whole genre of this kind of book that the internet seems to think is cozy, or I’ve seen branded as cozy. Like a place where people come and their troubles are either solved, or they’re sent on their way to deal with them.

The blurb says that a quaint little seaside town in Kitakyushu, Mojiko is full of hidden delights. And one unexpected treasure is the 24/7 convenience store, Tenderness. Sure, it’s a bit off that the handsome manager has his own fan club. And perhaps the customers are somewhat eccentric. But there’s a warmth about Tenderness that draws you in. The bright lights are always on. The employees know you by name. And the shelves are stacked with delicious treats from ramen and crispy fried chicken to parfaits. After a while, you get the feeling that whatever you need might just be waiting for you here…

The prologue has a person going on a drive when they stop by Tenderness, the convenience store that’s getting mobbed by fangirls of this one super-hot worker. The first chapter bobs to this diva, Mitsuri, who’s working at one of the branches of Tenderness and I say diva literally, because she draws manga of the manager, Mitsuhiko Shiba, who is the one worker. I don’t know if he got promoted or what but slay. But Mitsuri eats, practically fujosh-ing over her manager. And then this was the point, when I started reading chapter two, that this book doesn’t really follow one particular character. Each chapter seemed to follow a different person who lurked around the one branch of Tenderness for one reason or another. The second chapter followed this man, Yoshiro, who wanted to be a kids’ manga artist and was losing his passion when Shiba and one of his brothers saw some of his drawings and eventually gave him the passion and lust to draw back again, even if it wasn’t in kids’ manga. So, while this book does revolve around one place and have certain characters turning up throughout different chapters, it reads more of a short story collection, rather than a singular novel, which is what I was thinking it was.

The stories hit at different things for me, and there were some that I enjoyed more than others. I really liked the third one, for example, that followed this middle school girl, Azusa, who was basically living under the thumb of another girl, Mizuki, who was super popular and that her mother essentially told her to live in the shadow of. And Tenderness came in when Azusa would sneak off once a week when her mum worked late and she would secretly eat sweets. And her whole story was to basically live life how she wanted to, rather than how society (her mum and Mizuki) want her to, which I personally find a lot of solace in. Whereas on the other hand, the concept of struggling to turn the passion that you really want to be a career into a career, that I hate seeing – not because it’s bad – because it’s something I seriously struggle with myself and the mere concept of it stresses me out. So, while I’m complaining about it stressing me out, I definitely do find the relatability in it, sadly. Sorry, Yoshiro. And I fear this is just a thing with short story collections. It’s just natural that I’ll connect harder with some more than others. It was like when I read The Memory Librarian by Janelle Monae, the exact same outcome happened in that I remember there being one of the stories I’d have happily read an entire novel of, and another where after I read it, I had no desire to read it again.

And saying that, I want an entire novel of Mitsuri’s son, Kosei. I say that because even though it’s never said in his short story, I’m convinced that he’s in love with his best friend, Kozeki. Like, mama? Those two were LGBTQ+ and are in love with each other. And that’s why I need the full novel of the two of them, especially since Kosei’s story was all about learning about love as a concept. Let me read that Sonoko Machida. And is this just me saying that I perhaps want to read a childhood best friends to lovers arc in a Japanese setting? Sure. Do I want to read this specific one? Yes.

When I started reading, I did start wondering whether the stories were going to come together. To be honest, I was at a bit of a loss as to where it was going to go. In a sense, this book followed the same kind of vibe that Links did – a BL manga that’s a single volume following four couples. That followed characters that were all linked together, and it all ended up culminating in a little Christmas get together for them at the end. And while this didn’t do the exact same, most of the characters end up linked together in one way or another, and it’s all because of Tenderness and Shiba, the manager. There was a little part of me that would have liked something from the POV of the manager. It’s one of those things where I’m nosy and think it would have been interesting, but at the same time, I think it makes sense that there wasn’t one for him simply since he’s this strange presence throughout the book. He’s super hot, has a fan club and a weird family so in a way, getting all of that explained to the reader might ruin his mystique.

I thought it was a sweet book to read overall. It was one of those that, like I’ve said, different stories hit me differently, and I cared more about some over others, but at no point did I ever feel like anything bad was going to happen. It was a cozy read like I’ve seen it billed as. I don’t know whether I’m going to be clamouring to read anything else like this immediately. It was nice, but I think that’s where I’d leave it, especially since if I think too much about the deep things this book talked about in parts I’ll end up stressed out about my own life – that’s the main reason I’m not going to read anything else like it soon, for my own sanity. I just know my brain and what’ll happen if I do.

Okay, bye!