Hello fans of ‘Convenience Store Woman,’ do we ever have a little gem for you! Ms. Shibata is sick of the way she is treated in the office. She is one of the only women at her work, so it is always assumed she will clean up after everyone and make the coffees for meetings. One morning without much thought, she tells her supervisor she can’t clean up the coffee mugs with cigarettes in them because she is pregnant and the smell gives her morning sickness. This is of course a lie. But immediately her life gets better now that everyone thinks she’s pregnant. She has shorter work days, and no one is too demanding of her, and she is promised maternity leave at the end of all this. So she keeps up the act. The book has a certain dry humour that is charming. Emi Yagi makes us fall in love with Ms. Shibata and her absurd and astute observations, and her odd decision making skills. We watch the lie consume Ms. Shibata’s life as we root for her, even though we all know this can’t possibly end well. . . . #bookstagram #bookreview #bookrecommendations #bookreader #igreads #booklover #diaryofavoid