Scan barcode
jamieleepilk's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
"I couldn't become the Mona Lisa. I was after all, a hunchback monster." Page 85.
Wow. This was nothing like what I expected.
This short novel follows Shaka a disabled woman who lives online, studying, she tweets into the void and writes eroctic fiction.
While this novel is only just over 100 pages it manages to pack in a deep and cutting look at disability, bodily autonomy, the privilege of money and health and sex. It didn't pull any punches with sexual descriptions or the grossness of sex, it was extremely blunt and in parts funny. Part of me wishes it was longer.
That ending took me by surprise and took a turn I did not see coming (lol).
I'm so intrigued what Saou Ichikawa does next.
Fabulous translation by Polly Barton too.
Wow. This was nothing like what I expected.
This short novel follows Shaka a disabled woman who lives online, studying, she tweets into the void and writes eroctic fiction.
While this novel is only just over 100 pages it manages to pack in a deep and cutting look at disability, bodily autonomy, the privilege of money and health and sex. It didn't pull any punches with sexual descriptions or the grossness of sex, it was extremely blunt and in parts funny. Part of me wishes it was longer.
That ending took me by surprise and took a turn I did not see coming (lol).
I'm so intrigued what Saou Ichikawa does next.
Fabulous translation by Polly Barton too.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism and Sexual content
helplesswhilstdrying's review
dark
funny
informative
reflective
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
ARC - Thank you Netgalley, Penguin Books & Viking Books
I’ve been wanting to read more translated fiction, and Saou Ichikawa’s debut Hunchback immediately intrigued me with its unique premise. Winner of the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, it’s also the first by a disabled author.
Shaka Isawa is a middle-aged disabled woman who lives in a care home, bound by severe spine curvature which requires her to have a ventilator to breathe and drain her lungs. She spends her time writing tweets of her seemingly unachievable salacious dreams, and writes articles an erotica website to pass her time. One day a new male carer joins the staff at the care home, and he reveals he’s read everything she has posted online.
While the blurb suggests the plot revolves around a bold offer Shaka makes the carer, this only surfaces late in the book and the interaction between the two characters is minimal and her offer is barely explored and we jump from 0-100 between them very quickly.
The book’s vivid descriptions of Shaka’s disabilities feel authentic, reflecting the author’s own experiences - and take up the majority of the book. Though the dark humor and sharp commentary on ableism, particularly in Japanese culture, are compelling, the story felt too short. I wished it had been a full-length novel with more room to develop the plot and delve deeper into Shaka’s fascinating perspective.
I’ve been wanting to read more translated fiction, and Saou Ichikawa’s debut Hunchback immediately intrigued me with its unique premise. Winner of the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, it’s also the first by a disabled author.
Shaka Isawa is a middle-aged disabled woman who lives in a care home, bound by severe spine curvature which requires her to have a ventilator to breathe and drain her lungs. She spends her time writing tweets of her seemingly unachievable salacious dreams, and writes articles an erotica website to pass her time. One day a new male carer joins the staff at the care home, and he reveals he’s read everything she has posted online.
While the blurb suggests the plot revolves around a bold offer Shaka makes the carer, this only surfaces late in the book and the interaction between the two characters is minimal and her offer is barely explored and we jump from 0-100 between them very quickly.
The book’s vivid descriptions of Shaka’s disabilities feel authentic, reflecting the author’s own experiences - and take up the majority of the book. Though the dark humor and sharp commentary on ableism, particularly in Japanese culture, are compelling, the story felt too short. I wished it had been a full-length novel with more room to develop the plot and delve deeper into Shaka’s fascinating perspective.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Minor: Death of parent
purplemuskogee's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
I had been told it would be very graphic, and it is in its minute descriptions of disability and in the erotica that the narrator writes and publishes online.
The female narrator is a 40-something woman, who is disabled due to a degenerative condition, uses a ventilator and a suction catheter to drain mucus from her windpipe, can speak but rarely does so after a tracheostomy when she was 14, and relies on text to communicate with her carers. She is fabulously wealthy ("a woman whose money has distanced her from friction") and owns the care home in which she lives. She earns addtional income she donates to good causes through writing, mostly erotic stories.
It's very short but very detailed which I rarely see in books, especially with a disabled heroine. She thinks about her body a lot, because she has to, and resents not being able to comfortably read, not having a sexual life, and not being able to experience what other women experience. She dreams of "getting pregnant and having an abortion, like a normal woman". She resents the ableism of Japan; incredibly she mentions France and the US as being more progressive in that regard.
It's a good book, although it is so short that the plot takes very little space. A lot of space is given to the experience of being disabled - I understand this is based on the author's own lived experience - as we follow her through meals, getting up, trying to be comfortable, receiving care. I found it really easy to get interested in, uncomfortable but engrossing.
Free ARC sent by Netgalley.
The female narrator is a 40-something woman, who is disabled due to a degenerative condition, uses a ventilator and a suction catheter to drain mucus from her windpipe, can speak but rarely does so after a tracheostomy when she was 14, and relies on text to communicate with her carers. She is fabulously wealthy ("a woman whose money has distanced her from friction") and owns the care home in which she lives. She earns addtional income she donates to good causes through writing, mostly erotic stories.
It's very short but very detailed which I rarely see in books, especially with a disabled heroine. She thinks about her body a lot, because she has to, and resents not being able to comfortably read, not having a sexual life, and not being able to experience what other women experience. She dreams of "getting pregnant and having an abortion, like a normal woman". She resents the ableism of Japan; incredibly she mentions France and the US as being more progressive in that regard.
It's a good book, although it is so short that the plot takes very little space. A lot of space is given to the experience of being disabled - I understand this is based on the author's own lived experience - as we follow her through meals, getting up, trying to be comfortable, receiving care. I found it really easy to get interested in, uncomfortable but engrossing.
Free ARC sent by Netgalley.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Confinement, Sexual content, and Medical content
whatabbysreading's review against another edition
challenging
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Have to start off by saying, for such a short book, it is wild from start to finish. The opening was really clever and definitely threw me for a loop — I thought I had downloaded the wrong book at first. It was a great way to subvert readers expectations for what is to come, and also contribute to display the protagonists skewed relationship with sexuality. Speaking of sexuality, the story was an interesting insight into the ablest infantilization/de-sexing of people with disabilities; however, this being said, the writing did sometimes veer into overtly graphic sexual descriptions that would maybe make some readers uncomfortable. The book as a whole isn't very linear narrative, but rather more stream of consciousness or even a bunch of diary entries, and while I don't dislike that creative choice, for a book so short it make it seem a bit disjointed. Hunchback definitely pushes the boundaries of what a novel can be; I struggle to assign a starred rating to it. If you're looking for a read that is intriguing, thought-provoking, and a little gross in some places, this book is for you.
Many thanks to Random House Publishing for providing me with an advanced digital copy via NetGalley in an exchange for an honest review.
Many thanks to Random House Publishing for providing me with an advanced digital copy via NetGalley in an exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abortion
Minor: Ableism