Hunchback Audiobook By Saou Ichikawa cover art

Hunchback

A Novel

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Hunchback

By: Saou Ichikawa
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About this listen

A bombshell bestseller in Japan, a provocative, defiant debut novel about a young woman in a care home seeking autonomy and the full possibilities of her life—"a darkly funny portrait of disability" (Japan Times)

"Uproariously funny, unflinching, and merciless."—Mariana Enriquez, author of
Our Share of Night
“Unforgettable.”—Sayaka Murata, author of
Convenience Store Woman
"A sly whirlwind of madness and brilliance."—Weike Wang, author of
Chemistry

Born with a congenital muscle disorder, Shaka spends her days in her room in a care home outside Tokyo, relying on an electric wheelchair to get around and a ventilator to breathe. But if Shaka’s physical life is limited, her quick, mischievous mind has no boundaries: She takes e-learning courses on her iPad, publishes explicit fantasies on websites, and anonymously troll-tweets to see if anyone is paying attention (“In another life, I’d like to work as a high-class prostitute”). One day, she tweets into the void an offer of an enormous sum of money for a sperm donor. To Shaka’s surprise, her new nurse accepts the dare, unleashing a series of events that will forever change Shaka’s sense of herself as a woman in the world.

Hunchback has shaken Japanese literary culture with its skillful depiction of the physical body and its unrepentant humor. Winner of the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, it’s a feminist story about the dignity of an individual who insists on her right to make choices for herself, no matter the consequences. Formally creative and refreshingly unsentimental, Hunchback depicts the joy, anger, and desires of a woman demanding autonomy in a world that doesn’t aways always grant it to people like her. Full of wit, bite, and heart, this unforgettable novel reminds us all of the full potential of our lives, regardless of the limitations we experience.

©2025 Saou Ichikawa (P)2025 Random House Audio
Literary Fiction Women's Fiction
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Critic reviews

Told from the perspective of a disabled woman who asserts her sexual autonomy unapologetically, Hunchback is a personal exploration of pleasure and an indictment of the ableism and sexism embedded in society. Hunchback might be considered radical by nondisabled readers because it honestly depicts the innermost thoughts and desires of a disabled woman, which speaks to the lack of disability representation in publishing. . . . Insightful, humorous, and honest.”—Alice Wong, disability activist and author of Year of the Tiger: An Activist’s Life

Hunchback is a deadpan account of living in a body at war with itself, but this battle does not ask for pity, nor is this narrative, or the body at its center, fragile: It’s full of a force that able bodies can’t fully grasp, written in a language that talks both clinically and sexually. It’s also uproariously funny, unflinching, and merciless. It’s not very often that you encounter this provocative yet so refreshingly honest of a read.”—Mariana Enriquez, author of A Sunny Place for Shady People and Our Share of Night

“Defiant, subversive, sexy, dark, and full of originality, Hunchback breaks like a shard of lightning through a complacent, oppressive world.”—Seán Hewitt, author of Open, Heaven and All Down Darkness Wide

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