The Hole

by Hiroko Oyamada, David Boyd

2020112 pages

New Directions

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4 editions

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anacaSep 20, 2025

“Anyway, no one’s to blame. It’s just, families are strange things, aren’t they? You have this couple: one man, one woman. A male and a female, if you will. They mate, and why? To leave children behind. And what are the children supposed to do? Turn around and do the whole thing over again? Well, what do you do when what you’ve got isn’t worth carrying on?”
—Brother-in-law

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anacaSep 20, 2025

“Me? “Yeah, you. You’re the one who fell into that hole. What would you have done if you got stuck in there? Lived together happily ever after?””
—Brother-in-law

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The Hole

It puts the woman in the hole

Another Akutagawa prize (2013), and another reflection on conventions and expectations. This time, instead of the usual boxes boxing people in, we ...