Convenience Store by the Sea

eBook, 304 pages

English language

Published 2024 by Orion Publishing Group, Limited.

ISBN:: 978-1-3987-2277-4

No rating (1 review)

'If you loved Before The Coffee Gets Cold you will love this!'

'A perfect, feel-good story about finding joy in unexpected connections, ideal for those who love a cosy, heartwarming escape!'

'Bubble bath fiction' The Herald

'A delightful tale of community and connection' My Weekly

Welcome to Tenderness!

A quaint seaside town in Kitakyushu, Mojiko is full of hidden delights. And one unexpected treasure is the 24/7 convenience store, Tenderness.

At first glance, it's a store like any other.

Sure, it's a bit odd 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 strong hot coffee to sweet parfaits, egg sandos to ramen, crispy fried chicken to refreshing soba.

After a while, …

'If you loved Before The Coffee Gets Cold you will love this!'

'A perfect, feel-good story about finding joy in unexpected connections, ideal for those who love a cosy, heartwarming escape!'

'Bubble bath fiction' The Herald

'A delightful tale of community and connection' My Weekly

Welcome to Tenderness!

A quaint seaside town in Kitakyushu, Mojiko is full of hidden delights. And one unexpected treasure is the 24/7 convenience store, Tenderness.

At first glance, it's a store like any other.

Sure, it's a bit odd 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 strong hot coffee to sweet parfaits, egg sandos to ramen, crispy fried chicken to refreshing soba.

After a while, you get the feeling that whatever you need might just be waiting for you here...

The Convenience Store by the Sea is the heartwarming international bestseller from award-winning Japanese author Sonoko Machida. A a series of interconnected vignettes set in a 24/7 Japanese convenience store, the novel tells the delightfully quirky and heartfelt stories of the store's customers and employees, offering us all a unique recipe for a good, fulfilling life. Translated by Bruno Navasky.

2 editions

Andrew Gartzea (Bookwyrm) reviewed Convenience Store by the Sea by Sonoko Machida

not what i was expecting [boring, superfitial and artificial]

No rating

Content warning i kinda spoil some of the stories of this book

I found this book while working as a cleaner in a residency and brought it back home (with three more other books, hehe). Summarising it, because my beloved Car has been listening to my audios rambling about it: I did not like it.

I decided to give it a go because I know this kind of books are trendy now due to its (supposedly) cosiness. Idk for other people, but for me it has been quite boring and also didn't give me a "something" to think about. I feel it was just a book to consume while losing the sense of time ("yay, it is better to read than to be with the phone, so we are just going to give you these books: easily digestible, quite basic narratives and a story that seems to never reach a proper end").

"Why? Why did you read this?" -you may ask-. Well... I saw it in bookshops before. I know people who have read books like this. I found it and I gave it a go. The introduction was written as a first-person story of a girl who drives and ends in this small village, goes to the shop and see the handsome manager. After reading it I was like "wow, maybe this is be a romance story or smth" (which is fine). Then the next chapter was about a guy who worked in the shop. And I was like "ohh, maybe this is one of these stories where the narrative is written from different pov's, like the boy pov and the girl pov" but nope, because the next chapter was about another character. In this way, the author keeps introducing us character that help the reader to understand the personality and particularity of the little cutie shop by the sea. And all... for what? I mean, I continue reading the book because I was expecting something more than just one story after another one of people whose life was changed by the presence of the store in one way or another.

Also, given how short the stories and characters are developed, you never really grow fond of them. They feel (or at least I find them) quite artificial and forced. "The aspiring manga artist who is not that good at doing manga", "the girl who gets bullied and the fat girl that is not that fat but is a friend of the mean girl", "the grandfather from another generation who doesn't understand his wife or his children" lol.