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A prizewinning, thrillingly subversive debut novel about a woman in Japan who avoids harassment at work by perpetuating, for nine months and beyond, the lie that she's pregnant When thirty-four-year-old Ms. Shibata gets a new job in Tokyo to escape sexual harassment at her old on...e, she finds that, as the only woman at her new workplace-a company that manufactures cardboard tubes-she is expected to do all the menial tasks. One day she announces that she can't clear away her colleagues' dirty cups-because she's pregnant and the smell nauseates her. The only thing is . . . Ms. Shibata is not pregnant. Pregnant Ms. Shibata doesn't have to serve coffee to anyone. Pregnant Ms. Shibata isn't forced to work overtime. Pregnant Ms. Shibata rests, watches TV, takes long baths, and even joins an aerobics class for expectant mothers. But pregnant Ms. Shibata also has a nine-month ruse to keep up. Helped along by towel-stuffed shirts and a diary app on which she can log every stage of her pregnancy, she feels prepared to play the game for the long haul. Before long, though, the hoax becomes all-absorbing, and the boundary between her lie and her life begins to dissolve. A surreal and wryly humorous cultural critique, Diary of a Void is bound to become a landmark in feminist world literature.
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Thirty-four-year-old Ms Shibata works for a company manufacturing cardboard tubes and paper cores in Tokyo. Her job is relatively secure- she's a full-time employee, and the company has a better reputation than her previous workplace, where she was subject to sexual harassment by... clients and colleagues. But the job requires working overtime almost every day. Most frustratingly, as the only woman, there's the unspoken expectation that Ms Shibata will handle all the menial chores- serving coffee during meetings, cleaning the kitchenette, coordinating all the gifts sent to the company, emptying the bins. One day, exasperated and fed up, Ms Shibata announces that she can't clear away her colleagues' dirty cups, because she's pregnant. She isn't. But her 'news' brings results- a sudden change in the way she's treated. Immediately a new life begins. Written in diary form, Diary of a Void is an ironic and playful reference to the Japanese 'Maternal and Child Health Handbook' (Boshi Techo; the novel's original title), a notebook issued to all expectant mothers in Japan so they can record the details of their pregnancies and experiences of motherhood until their child is six years old. By turns hilarious and thought-provoking, Ms Shibata's diary of her fake pregnancy not only skewers universal patriarchal attitudes towards maternity and pregnancy, it also challenges the truth of conception on many levels. For fans of Convenience Store Woman, Kim Jiyoung, Born in 1982, and The Vegetarian, this is a wonderfully witty and smart, feminist novel poking fun, but with serious intent, at the sanctity of motherhood, and how society superficially reveres mothers while conversely making actual parenting a sometimes disempowering and isolating experience without the right support.
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From the bestselling author of Breasts and Eggs and international literary sensation Mieko Kawakami comes a deeply moving and magnificently observed story about a young woman searching for meaning.
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Existing in myriad forms, containing multitudes in its reflection, and coursing through each and every one of us, water sustains the world around us-and life itself.
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Poetic and sparse, The Sky Book is a bedtime story told by the elements.
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From the bestselling author of Breasts and Eggs and international literary sensation Mieko Kawakami comes a sharp and illuminating novel about a teenage boy subjected to relentless bullying.
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On her way home, a young girl meets a little figure that only she can see. Join the pair on an afternoon filled with tea and adventures, friendship and magic!
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Written by a distinguished group of Frye experts, this collection of essays begins the process of reassessing Frye's thought and writings in light of extraordinary, unpublished material contained in archives at the Victoria University Library, University of Toronto.
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A strange and beguiling novel about three women struggling to determine their own lives in contemporary Tokyo, from Japan's most exciting young writer, Mieko Kawakami
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On their sixth adventure, Chirri and Chirra bicycle beneath the waves, discovering the beauty of coral and seashells, and the deliciousness of marine edibles.
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