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A review by rosepoints
Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi
5.0
for me, there's a fine line that magical realism toes. i need that blurring between fantasy and reality to be meaningful, to add something to the conversation, and emi yaga certainly delivered on that in her book, "diary of a void."
the premise itself is a social commentary: an office worker pretends to be pregnant to avoid doing work. but beyond that, yaga manages to expand on themes like motherhood, the valuation of female labor (both in the context of work and giving birth), loneliness, relationships, and cultural expectations of women in japan, and office culture. the mundanity of shibata's life only serves to highlight these cultural critiques yaga interweaves with the progression of shibata's false pregnancy.
i do think there are certain cultural points that might be missed through translation (ex: the title of the book mimicking the japanese pregnancy handbook given to mothers, the tags given to mothers to ease their navigation of public spaces, how motherhood is treated in japan vs other countries, etc). i only picked up on them because they're reflected in my own cultural experiences (albeit korean, not japanese) and i hope that other english readers are still able to benefit from the novel.
an excellent short read, imo.
the premise itself is a social commentary: an office worker pretends to be pregnant to avoid doing work. but beyond that, yaga manages to expand on themes like motherhood, the valuation of female labor (both in the context of work and giving birth), loneliness, relationships, and cultural expectations of women in japan, and office culture. the mundanity of shibata's life only serves to highlight these cultural critiques yaga interweaves with the progression of shibata's false pregnancy.
i do think there are certain cultural points that might be missed through translation (ex: the title of the book mimicking the japanese pregnancy handbook given to mothers, the tags given to mothers to ease their navigation of public spaces, how motherhood is treated in japan vs other countries, etc). i only picked up on them because they're reflected in my own cultural experiences (albeit korean, not japanese) and i hope that other english readers are still able to benefit from the novel.
an excellent short read, imo.