Diary of a Void
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Nancy Wu
About this listen
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New Yorker · NPR · WBEZ’s Nerdette · The New York Public Library · Literary Hub
A New York Times Editors’ Choice
“One of the most passionate cases I’ve ever read for female interiority, for women’s creative pulse and rich inner life.”―Katy Waldman, The New Yorker
“Always expect the unexpected when you’re not expecting.”―Sloane Crosley
A woman in Tokyo avoids harassment at work by perpetuating, for nine months and beyond, the lie that she’s pregnant in this prizewinning, thrillingly subversive debut novel about the mother of all deceptions, for fans of Convenience Store Woman and Breasts and Eggs
When thirty-four-year-old Ms. Shibata gets a new job to escape sexual harassment at her old one, she finds that as the only woman at her new workplace—a manufacturer of cardboard tubes—she is expected to do all the menial tasks. One day she announces that she can’t clear away her coworkers’ 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 watches TV, takes long baths, and even joins an aerobics class for expectant mothers. She’s living a year of rest and relaxation, and is finally being treated by her colleagues as more than a hollow core. But she has a ruse to keep up. Before long, it becomes all-absorbing, and with the help of towel-stuffed shirts and a diary app that tracks every stage of her “pregnancy,” the boundary between her lie and her life begins to dissolve.
Surreal and absurdist, and with a winning matter-of-factness, a light touch, and a refreshing sensitivity to mental health, Diary of a Void will keep you listening to see just how far Ms. Shibata will carry her deception for the sake of women, and especially working mothers, everywhere.
©2022 Emi Yagi (P)2022 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
"“Few novels live up to their promise of revelatory social commentary. But a particularly good one can still tempt even the most cynical of readers. . . . Yagi has a light touch for the endless ironies made possible by her premise. There is humor (‘since I got pregnant’ becomes a delightful refrain), but also the realization that the alienation of pregnancy and motherhood is no reprieve from the oppressive office culture that inspires Shibata’s experiment.”―Lauren Oyler, The New York Times Book Review
“Magical . . . Cleverly structured . . . I was initially motivated to keep reading just to see how Shibata pulls off a fake pregnancy, but I quickly became enthralled by the narrator’s deadpan humor and her sharp observations of Japanese society’s treatment of women.”―Yurina Yoshikawa, NPR
“Explosive . . . I binge-read this book in two days and am hungry for more from this debut novelist.”―Chloe Veltman, NPR’s “Books We Love”
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One For The Money
- By DiaRose on 09-25-17
By: Carleen Brice
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Black & White
- By: Dani Shapiro
- Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Clara Brodeur has spent her entire adult life pulling herself away from her famous mother, the renowned and controversial photographer Ruth Dunne, whose towering reputation rests on the unsettling nude portraits she took of her young daughter from the ages of three to 14. As Clara charts a path connecting her childhood with her adult life, Shapiro's novel weaves together past and present in images as stark and intense as the photographs that tore the Dunnes apart.
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It was okay
- By Lucy7 on 02-13-19
By: Dani Shapiro
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Marlena
- A Novel
- By: Julie Buntin
- Narrated by: Emma Galvin
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Everything about 15-year-old Cat's new town in rural Michigan is lonely and off-kilter until she meets her neighbor, the manic, beautiful, pill-popping Marlena. Cat, inexperienced and desperate for connection, is quickly lured into Marlena's orbit by little more than an arched eyebrow and a shake of white-blond hair. As the two girls turn the untamed landscape of their desolate small town into a kind of playground, Cat catalogues a litany of firsts - first drink, first cigarette, first kiss - while Marlena's habits harden and calcify.
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A Brilliant, Agonizing Portrait of a Young Woman
- By Sudi on 06-06-17
By: Julie Buntin
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The Time Traveler's Wife
- By: Audrey Niffenegger
- Narrated by: Fred Berman, Phoebe Strole
- Length: 17 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Clare and Henry have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was 36. They were married when Clare was 23 and Henry was 31. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.
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One of my favorite books
- By Joey on 01-13-08
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When You Call My Name
- By: Tucker Shaw
- Narrated by: Max Meyers
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Film fanatic Adam is 17 and being asked out on his first date—and the guy is cute. Heart racing, Adam accepts, quickly falling in love with Callum like the movies always promised. Fashion-obsessed Ben is 18 and has just left his home upstate after his mother discovers his hidden stash of gay magazines. When he comes to New York City, Ben’s sexuality begins to feel less like a secret and more like a badge of honor. Then Callum disappears, leaving Adam heartbroken, and Ben finds out his new world is more closed-minded than he thought.
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Full impact of a heavy topic while keeping it within the genre.
- By GnomePatronus on 07-31-24
By: Tucker Shaw
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The Miseducation of Cameron Post
- By: Emily M. Danforth
- Narrated by: Beth Laufer
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Cameron Post feels a mix of guilt and relief when her parents die in a car accident. Their deaths mean they will never learn the truth she eventually comes to - that she's gay. Orphaned, Cameron comes to live with her old-fashioned grandmother and ultraconservative aunt Ruth. When she’s eventually outed, her aunt sends her to God’s Promise, a religious conversion camp that is supposed to “cure” her homosexuality. At the camp, Cameron comes face to face with the cost of denying her true identity.
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A very worthwhile Read!
- By TENA on 11-02-14
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Paper Things
- By: Jennifer Richard Jacobson
- Narrated by: Kate Rudd
- Length: 7 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Ari's mother died four years ago, she had two final wishes: that Ari and her older brother, Gage, would stay together always, and that Ari would go to Carter, the middle school for gifted students. So when eighteen-year-old Gage decided he could no longer live with their bossy guardian, Janna, Ari knew she had to go with him - even though she'd miss baking cookies with Janna and curling up to watch HGTV. What Ari didn't realize was that Gage didn't have an apartment yet.
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It's all right…
- By Bill on 04-25-16
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Tryin' To Sleep In the Bed You Made
- By: Virginia DeBerry, Donna Grant
- Narrated by: Fran L. Washington
- Length: 16 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
Gayle was the beauty who believed that a man could make her life complete. Patricia was the intellectual who thought that rising to the top of her career would make her happy. And then there is Marcus Carter, who has been linked to both Gayle and Pat since the tragedy that occurred when they were all children. Can either one save him from himself? Can friends survive a love that comes between them? Each of them gets what she wants, but no one counts on the price they have to pay.
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Better with each chapter!
- By Cyn B. on 02-09-16
By: Virginia DeBerry, and others
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True Biz
- A Novel
- By: Sara Novic
- Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan, Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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True biz? The students at the River Valley School for the Deaf just want to hook up, pass their history finals, and have politicians, doctors, and their parents stop telling them what to do with their bodies. This revelatory novel plunges listeners into the halls of a residential school for the deaf, where they’ll meet Charlie, a rebellious transfer student who’s never met another deaf person before; Austin, the school’s golden boy, whose world is rocked when his baby sister is born hearing; and February, the hearing headmistress.
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A good story with added features both intriguing and informational
- By A Signing Mom on 05-15-22
By: Sara Novic
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The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things (15th Anniversary Edition)
- By: Carolyn Mackler
- Narrated by: Laura Knight Keating
- Length: 6 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Carolyn Mackler's Printz Honor book - starring the unforgettably funny, body-conscious Virginia Shreves - returns in this 15th anniversary edition featuring text updates and never-before-heard material from the author. Fifteen-year-old Virginia feels like a plus-sized black sheep in her family, especially next to her perfect big brother Byron. Not to mention her best friend has moved, leaving Virginia to navigate an awkward relationship with a boy alone. In order to survive, Virginia decides to follow a "Fat Girl Code of Conduct", which works, until the unthinkable causes her family's facade to crumble.
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LOVE this
- By carrie sanabria on 11-26-18
By: Carolyn Mackler
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Trading Dreams at Midnight
- By: Diane McKinney-Whetstone
- Narrated by: Shari Peele
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Diane McKinney-Whetstone, the award-winning and best-selling author of Tumbling, presents Trading Dreams at Midnight - - an Essence Book Club Recommended Read. Back in 1984, 15-year-old Neena's mother left and never came back. And now Neena is following in her footsteps.
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Hard to follow
- By Nevada on 08-13-10
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The Name of the Star
- Shades of London, Book 1
- By: Maureen Johnson
- Narrated by: Nicola Barber
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it’s the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city - gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific work of Jack the Ripper in the autumn of 1888. Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect.
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Paranormal Ripper-Related YA
- By Amy on 08-05-14
By: Maureen Johnson
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Little Earthquakes
- By: Jennifer Weiner
- Narrated by: Johanna Parker
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Rebecca Rothstein Rabinowitz is a plump, sexy chef who has a wonderful husband, a restaurant that's received citywide acclaim, a beautiful baby girl and the mother-in-law from hell. Kelly Day's life looks picture-perfect. But behind the doors, she's struggling to balance work, motherhood, and marriage, while dealing with an unemployed husband who seems content to channel-surf for eight hours a day....
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More than your average "chick lit"
- By Tricia on 11-13-11
By: Jennifer Weiner
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Tokyo resident Keiko Furukara has never fit in - neither in her family, nor in school - but when at the age of 18 she begins working at the Hiiromachi branch of national convenience store chain Smile Mart, she realizes instantly that she has found her purpose in life. Delighted to be able to exist in a place where the rules of social interaction are crystal clear (many are laid out line-by-line in the store's manual), Keiko does her best to copy the dress, mannerisms, and mode of speech of her colleagues, playing the part of a "normal" person excellently, more or less.
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Sentaro has failed. He has a criminal record, drinks too much, and his dream of becoming a writer is just a distant memory. With only the blossoming of the cherry trees to mark the passing of time, he spends his days in a tiny confectionery shop selling dorayaki, a type of pancake filled with sweet bean paste. Into his life comes Tokue, an elderly woman with disfigured hands and a troubled past. Tokue makes the best sweet bean paste Sentaro has ever tasted. She begins to teach him her craft, but as their friendship flourishes, social pressures become impossible to escape.
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The story is good but the performance is lacking
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Based on real-life events in Meiji-era Japan, award-winning and critically acclaimed veteran writer Kiyoko Murata re-creates in stunning detail the brutal yet vibrant lives of women in the red-light district at the turn of the twentieth century—the bond they share, the survival skills they pass down, and the power of owning one's language.
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Dead-End Memories
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First published in Japan in 2003, Dead-End Memories collects the stories of five women who, following sudden and painful events, quietly discover their ways back to recovery. Yoshimoto's gentle, effortless prose reminds us that one true miracle can be as simple as having someone to share a meal with, and that happiness is always within us if only we take a moment to pause and reflect. Discover this collection of what Yoshimoto herself calls the "most precious work of my writing career."
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Chapter Six Mostly Missing?
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I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki
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Woe is me
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She Would Be King
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Overall
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Performance
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Wayétu Moore’s powerful debut novel, She Would Be King, reimagines the dramatic story of Liberia’s early years through three unforgettable characters who share an uncommon bond. Gbessa, exiled from the West African village of Lai, is starved, bitten by a viper, and left for dead, but still she survives. June Dey, raised on a plantation in Virginia, hides his unusual strength until a confrontation with the overseer forces him to flee. Norman Aragon, the child of a white British colonizer and a Maroon slave from Jamaica, can fade from sight when the earth calls him.
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Beautiful example of magical realism.
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By: Wayétu Moore
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Almond
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Overall
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Yunjae was born with a brain condition called alexithymia that makes it hard for him to feel emotions like fear or anger. He does not have friends - the two almond-shaped neurons located deep in his brain have seen to that - but his devoted mother and grandmother aren’t fazed by his condition. Their little home above his mother’s used bookstore is decorated with colorful Post-it notes that remind him when to smile, when to say "thank you", and when to laugh. Yunjae grows up content, even happy, with his small family in this quiet, peaceful space.
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So many quotes to choose from...
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By: Won-pyung Sohn
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Motherthing
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When Ralph and Abby Lamb move in with Ralph’s mother, Laura, Abby hopes it’s just what she and her mother-in-law need to finally connect. After a traumatic childhood, Abby is desperate for a mother figure, especially now that she and Ralph are trying to become parents themselves. Abby just has so much love to give—to Ralph, to Laura, and to Mrs. Bondy, her favorite resident at the long-term care home where she works. But Laura isn’t interested in bonding with her daughter-in-law. She’s venomous and cruel, especially to Abby, and life with her is hellish.
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Mixed feelings on this book.
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Days at the Morisaki Bookshop
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Twenty-five-year-old Takako has enjoyed a relatively easy existence—until the day her boyfriend Hideaki, the man she expected to wed, casually announces he’s been cheating on her and is marrying the other woman. Suddenly, Takako’s life is in freefall. She loses her job, her friends, and her acquaintances, and spirals into a deep depression. In the depths of her despair, she receives a call from her distant uncle Satoru.
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Improtance of standing still
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By: Satoshi Yagisawa
What listeners say about Diary of a Void
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
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Performance
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- Barbara S
- 09-15-22
Interesting story of loneliness
“Diary of a Void” is written by Emi Yagi, who is a fashion editor in Japan. Her intention was to write a story about loneliness and the prohibitive rolls that women are expected to do as a result of being a female.
Loneliness is not mentioned, it is a feeling one gets while reading the book. It’s an atmosphere. Shibata, the narrator, is frustrated at work. Because she is a woman, the men expect her to make the coffee, organize birthday parties, cleaning the kitchen, in addition to her other responsibilities. The men are simply pigs. When one colleague smokes a cigarette near her, she’s had enough. She informs everyone she is pregnant. Yes, she fakes a pregnancy to get out of menial tasks and be treated better.
Shibata is single and alone. Her life, as she narrates, is sad. As she continues with her pregnancy farce, the reader picks up clues that she may not be in possession of a healthy mental constitution. She realizes that her tummy needs to grow and finds clever ways of creating her baby bump. She even uses one of those baby apps that is a diary, providing her with information about her growing fetus.
Of course she’s treated better at her all male office. But the reader wonders, how will this end? How can this end well?
I listened to the audio, narrated by Nancy Wu. Her voice is melodious and was the perfect pitch for Shibata’s inner thoughts. Translators David Boyd and Lucy North deserve a big shout out. This is a short novel, only 224 pages, 4 ½ hour listen. It’s a quirky story. I enjoyed it, but I doubt it’s for the mainstream.
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- Amy S. Chappell
- 09-05-22
Be prepared to suspend reality
I enjoyed the book but was perplexed by the obstetrician’s assessment and the ultrasound results.
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- Emily
- 10-11-23
Good Premise but things go a bit wonky
I liked the idea of her faking a pregnancy to avoid the extra work heaped onto her because she is female, but when she started to kinda lose it and the coworker even said he felt a kick it was all very weird. At first I thought hysterical pregnancy but then… the OB? I thought maybe she was suffering ptsd from an SA nope. Just still taking it. The author could have taken this in so many directions.
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- Yuli
- 08-17-23
beautiful, but a bit lacking
This story is beautiful in its simplicity, mundaneness, and sensitivity, evolving in a direction you didn't necessarily expect. I did miss something...
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- BEE
- 08-16-22
Went beyond expectations
Well that definitely wasn't what I expected--I'm saying this in a good way. The summary definitely didn't prepare me for the slew of deep (and definitely well-tackled) themes and the, uh, twist? The book takes on this comedic/playful tone that doesn't make a joke out of Yagi-sensei's effort to wrench out complexities surrounding Shibata's decision & 'experiment'. W/o spoiling, I'm gonna say I like the surreal descriptions, as well as that added layer of magic realism. Wu's narration is also on-point all the way through. My take? Spend your credit on this! A nice, albeit short listen.
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- R. McMullan
- 08-16-23
Ridiculous
This was absolutely ridiculous. I was intrigued by the premise of a girl faking a pregnancy to get out of work. However, the story became ridiculous when the character became delusional actually believing her own lie.
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- Pam Haynes
- 12-01-23
whiny lost woman
no real depth and silly premise of a very personal journey into finding meaning in a world of role expectations and social norms.
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