Whenever I read Japanese novels, I can feel the prominent sense of uncertainty and isolation as if it haunts the whole Japanese population. Earthquakes, the culture of hikikomori(ひきこもり) and the end of the lifelong employment (しゅうしんこよう) come to my mind for possible culprits.

Hiroko Oyamada's short novel "The Hole" is not an exception. At the beginning of the novel, the narrator, Asa, is talking to her coworker about the sorrow of non-permanent employment. When she moves to a country side as her husband Muneaki gets transferred closer to his mother's house, she needs to quit her job and becomes jobless. Somehow she does not know what her husband does or her mother-in-low does. Hiroko Oaymada's earlier novel "The Factory" tells the reader what each of three main characters does but each character does not know what the company ('the factory') actually does though they work or live in the company town.

In "The Factory," this corporate town has strange animals including a lizard living on lint at the cleaning facilities, and in "The Hole" there is a strange black animal as if now the world itself became a corporation. Asa, without a job and isolated, has to navigate the strange town where cicadas are deafening and a strange black animal is roaming and then she falls into a hole.

I found "The Hole" is more entertaining and mature than experimental "The Factory" where three narrators with similar tones and even timelines get entangled. Both confirm that jobs are holes.

Thank you, NetGalley for the advance copy of the book!

This short novel certainly kept me guessing! One of the reasons this was so is that it was translated from Japanese, and it feels very Japanese. As an American reader, even one who has a fair amount of experience with Japanese people, I was entering a strange world where names and customs were different than those I am familiar with. This gave an extra layer of depth to a story in which the heroine, Asahi, also entered a strange world. Because her husband had gotten a new job, they moved to a house in a place she didn't know anything about, even though it was next to her husband's parents' house. She gave up her own job and now has extra time she doesn't know how to fill. The landscape is weird, people she meets are odd, but the places and people are quite vivid. The novel reminded me a bit of the unreality of Covid quarantine! I can't say I'm entirely sure I understood this work, but I enjoyed it.

Sometimes I love exploring a book without having any notion of what it may be about beforehand. I saw that The Hole was written by Hiroko Oyamada and wasn't a fantasy novel which is a genre I gravitate towards. It's important to step away from habits every now and then. With that little bit of information, I ventured into this novella blindly and came out thinking what the hell did I just read which is a lovely sentiment.


This is a story that will make you think. Asa and her husband relocate to an adjacent house next door to the latter's parents to be closer to his work. Moving from the city to a town, it's inconvenient in the respect that transportation is limited and without a car the options are slim. Asa leaves her job in the city for the move but is unable to acquire work right away due to her husband using their only car for his work. She spends time walking to the grocery store and napping. Sometimes she reads. She explains that she lives from meal to meal as preparing breakfast, lunch, and dinner are the only routine of each day. It's not too far off from how people currently are or were dealing with the quarantine. She's totally relatable. Asa comes across as directionless, trying to find some way to deal with her solitude. Her mother-in-law doesn't seem to like her very much, at least from what I can tell. Her husband's ninety-year-old Grandfather also lives next door with his parents. He spends his time outdoors watering the Garden. Or flooding it, rather.

Asa's life changes when her Mother in Law asks her to run an errand and she comes across a large animal. It's never stated what the animal is. It's big like a dog, but it's not a weasel or a raccoon. She follows it and ends up falling into a Hole. It's not too deep of a hole. Only 5 feet and her head sticks out level with the grass.

From this point on the book becomes highly open to interpretation. She is helped out of the hole by the neighbor that lives on the other side of her In-laws. It's hard to say exactly what is real and what is made up in Asa's head. Are the creature and the hole a metaphor for her own isolation and her interest in it an attempt to give meaning to her stunted life? I would say most likely yes. Later on in the story, the neighbor visits and mentions a name that was not her husband's. She corrects herself but after this slip-up, Asa meets a brother she never knew her husband had. He is not mentioned or referenced by anyone else in the family. I'm convinced he isn't real. I'll leave that for you to decide but the ending with her discovery of the Shed's condition, which is where the brother in law lives, convinces me I'm correct. He is similarly in the same situation as Asa. Someone who lives in isolation due to the decisions they have made.

There's also a pattern relating to children. Asa's coworker before she leaves her job asks her if she's going to be a housewife and get pregnant. She has multiple run-ins with children in situations involving her brother-in-law. Its almost like she's projecting having a child as an excuse to prove she's worthy of existing. Asa has to figure out what is going on with the town, the animals, the mysterious brother in law, and the truth about the family she married into.

Unfortunately, this being a Novella I feel talking more about it would require me to write the whole book here. It was very short. I'm hesitant to even call it a Novella. It took me around an hour to read it so if you are looking for something that is quick and makes you think, then this would work out well. I love how it is open to interpretation.

I'm not sure if the translation is lacking, or if this is just flat over all. The Hole reminds me of my middle school days - assigned a "classic" that I couldn't comprehend why it was a classic. I knew there was probably some deeper meaning there, but I couldn't get to it - there was no meat for me to sink my teeth into.

I am soooooo in love with this little gem!!!
It hit the right spot with me .... like a perfectly delicious flavorful meal.... when hungry...eating exactly what you’re in the mood for.

Most readers can easily and effortlessly read this in one or two sittings. This was a ‘treat’ book for me.

It’s soooo tempting to write a descriptive review...
.....share my thoughts about the layers below the surface...
But....
I feel it’s best not to share too much.
I don’t want to influence other readers —it’s best to ‘discover’ what YOU THINK - WHAT YOU FEEL....( be prepared to contemplate several aspects of the story and it’s characters).

I talked my husband’s ear to death over this story.
I love him for it. He took a wild ride with me down the rabbit hole.

NOTE: this book seems simple on the surface. It’s not!

....If you’re willing to go in blind...
....if you love Japanese stories....
....If you are open to a little odd....have appreciation for simplicity, ( covering up complexity), an ‘Alice-In-Wonderland’ spirit, don’t mind getting a little muddy, your feet dirty, and have a desire for a cup of miso soup....then you’re in the right mood for “The Hole”.

One of my ‘Little GEM’ favorites, this year!!! I LOVE IT!!!
It’s the FEELING...... I’m SOOOO IN LOVE WITH.....

*Asa*.... is a character after my own heart!

I’ll leave a few teaser quotes....rather than a summary of the book.
The blurb does a great job with the summary.

“As I started to walk, it seemed like nothing around me was moving. The trees were as still as a photograph, and the windows in all the houses were shut tight. There were no people around. No cats, no dogs, no crows. There wasn’t a single sparrow in the sky. My eyes were tingling from the heat”.

The heat was too much to take.
“The Lack of breeze wasn’t helping, either. The cries of the cicadas made the air feel even stickier. To the right of the path was the river, and to the left was a row of houses, each with its own rich green garden and walls covered in goya and other vegetables.
Beyond the leaves and vines, no signs of life. No one was making a sound—No TVs, no vacuums, no children. The riverbank was full of grass, and so we’re parts of the river. There were a few birds on the water. They looked like herons, large and gray. The place was overgrown with susuki, kudzu, and other kinds of grass I’d seen before, but couldn’t name. Part of the river were murky blue, stagnant green, or totally black from the blinding sunlight. The dry grass almost smelled baked. There was a big, wet pile of brown excrement on the path in front of me, probably left by a dog. On top of it or a couple of silvery flies. For them it was the top of a mountain of food.

“I fell into a hole. It was probably four or five feet deep, but I’d managed to land on my feet. I looked around the grass— now at eye level— but the animal was nowhere to be found. I heard the grass rustling nearby, but before long the sound stopped”.

“I realized how narrow the hole really was. It almost felt as though the hole was exactly my size—a trap made just for me. The bottom of the hole was covered with something dry, maybe did grass or straw”.

“You okay? I heard a voice behind me. The sound of the cicadas receded into the distance. I turned around and saw the lace hem of a long white skirt. Under it unpainted toenails peeking out of a pair of brown sandals”.

“People always fail to notice things. Animals, cicadas, patches of melted ice cream on the ground, the neighborhood shutin.
But what would you expect? It seems like most folks don’t see what they don’t want to see”.

Thank you ....with my sincerest heart....for the advance enjoyment to
read Oyamada’s new book ( I’ve read others - have bought others still to read).

So, a big thank you Hiroko Oyamada....( I love her writing - her stories).
Pure enjoyment for my mind, heart, soul.

Thank you Netgalley!

Thank you ‘New Directions’ publishing. 📚😊

The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada was an enjoyable novella that most readers could probably finish in a single sitting. Some of the themes reminded me of Convenience Store Woman by Sayata Murata, but The Hole is a much more spare and dreamlike book. I particularly liked the ending. Thank you to Netgalley for providing an advance copy.

The first half of the story made me like this book a lot. Then from middle to end the narrator fades a little for me as it loses touch with the flow of the plot. The book was a very fast read. I read it in two days. Solid 4 stars for writing and good plot.

I absolutely adored The Factory by Hiroko Oyamada, so I was excited to read this novella as well. It's a lovely, lyrical, magical realist work, on the melancholic side. A young woman Asa has to quit her job and follow her husband who is moving back to his childhood neighbourhood due to a promotion. The husband pays no attention to her and, even when at home, is always on the phone. She doesn't have a car and spends her days walking around on foot, eventually falling into a hole (perhaps a real one, perhaps a metaphorical one), meeting monsters, ghosts of children (?), and making a friend who may or may not be imaginary.

The book is very open-ended and definitely not for everyone. It is full of allusions and unexplained situations and encounters. I can see how this novella can frustrate the reader. Personally, I enjoyed it a lot because I have experienced something similar once in my life, when I moved to a small community due to someone else's promotion, and, like Asa, didn't have a car and spent my time walking to the nearest convenience store and encountering strangeness in the mundane. Like Asa, I felt really depressed and abandoned, rather than liberated and free to do anything that I wanted.

As always, a wonderful translation from David Boyd. I think this novella is well worth a read if you enjoy Japanese literature. Not for the beginners, however.