Another Akutagawa prize (2013), and another reflection on conventions and expectations. This time, instead of the usual boxes boxing people in, we get holes from which one can or can't dig themself out. This less industrial and more organic metaphor brings something new: the biological imperative is also questioned, rather than the sole sociological order. Build a family, sacrifice yourself, what for? So you can leave your children to do the same? Asa observes the questions and answers around her, suspending a choice.

The themes are neatly woven, with just the right amount of tranquil suspense (this is more of a novella, behaving as a short story leading to a punchline). The human-sized holes of Junji Ito, and Kobo Abe's Woman in the Dunes are not far, but The Hole is a quiet summer read, way less alarming despite the stakes. It deals with an ordinary and crucial question in a soft languor.

I am starting to think that what looks like a dream-like atmosphere in a lot of contemporary Japanese novels is actually part of the Japanese reality. The convention-led life is maybe always that unreal.

Slightly annoying: the translation assumes the reader as an extensive knowledge of Japanese culture and doesn't bother to translate or explain many elements.