Emi Yagi

A prizewinning, thrillingly subversive debut novel about a woman in Japan who avoids harassment at work by perpetuating, for nine months and beyond, the lie that she’s pregnant When thirty-four-year-old Ms. Shibata gets a new job in Tokyo to escape sexual harassment at her old one, she finds that, as the only woman at her new workplace—a company that manufactures cardboard tubes—she is expected to do all the menial tasks. One day she announces that she can’t clear away her colleagues’ dirty cups—because she’s pregnant and the smell nauseates her. The only thing is . . . Ms. Shibata is not pregnant. Pregnant Ms. Shibata doesn’t have to serve coffee to anyone. Pregnant Ms. Shibata isn’t forced to work overtime. Pregnant Ms. Shibata rests, watches TV, takes long baths, and even joins an aerobics class for expectant mothers. But pregnant Ms. Shibata also has a nine-month ruse to keep up. Helped along by towel-stuffed shirts and a diary app on which she can log every stage of her “pregnancy,” she feels prepared to play the game for the long haul. Before long, though, the hoax becomes all-absorbing, and the boundary between her lie and her life begins to dissolve. A surreal and wryly humorous cultural critique, Diary of a Void is bound to become a landmark in feminist world literature.

A Novel

Diary of a Void

Helen 

“I feel more alone with him than I do when I'm on my own."

"I'm so alone. I'm sorry-this has nothing to do with how hard chings are for you, Hosono. But I'm always so alone. I guess I should be used to it by now. That's the way it is from the moment we come into this world, but I'm still not used to it-how alone we all are."

Klara Hansen 

“My work, however, involved a few additional tasks. They weren’t named, and no one told me that they were mine. It was simply assumed.”

Beneath their colourful shirts and soft skin were little, defenceless babies. 

rachel

There truly must be countless uses in the world for paper cores. That's why the ribbon never stops. Here in this sleepy factory. 

Diary of a Void quotes

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