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Hunchback, by Saou Ichikawa (2023, transl. 2025)

Premise: A woman living with myotubular myopathy navigates complex social and parasocial relationships.

Review: This novella is without a doubt one of the most unique and shocking books I‘ve ever read. Cont.

Finished this a few days ago...“Being able to see; being able to hold a book; being able to turn its pages; being able to maintain a reading posture; being able to go to a bookshop to buy a book-I loathed the exclusionary machismo of book culture that demanded that its participants meet these five criteria of able-bodiedness. I loathed, too, the ignorant arrogance of all those self-professed book-lovers so oblivious to their privilege.”

#WeeklyFavorites

The Hunchback is still lingering in my mind. That‘s why it has to be this week‘s favorite book!
March‘s favorite is Wild Dark Shore.

This is a novella about an disabled woman who can‘t go outside the home she lives in. She connects with the world by writing erotica and tweeting obscene things.
Ichikawa describes what it means to live with a severe handicap in an in-your-face way. You can‘t look away. Extreme and graphic, so well done. Yet I am in need of an explanation of the ending. #InternationalBooker25

#WeeklyForecast 13/25

It‘s all about the #WP25 and the #InternationalBooker25 these days. I am reading The Dream Hotel (WP). Next will be the tagged (IB). The Persians is WP again, as is Nesting that I am listening to.

I was very taken aback by how this book starts, but I‘m glad I continued, as it is part of the exploration of the lived reality of a severely disabled woman confined to a group home. It doesn‘t shy away from what she has to contend with daily while also showing her as a whole person with the same needs and desires as anyone. A tiny book that packs a punch.

If you want an uplifting story with positive representation RUN FOR THE HILLS.

This is a powerful and subversive piece of writing that provokes and challenges the reader to examine the ableism around them.

It explores the realities of living with a severe physical disability and the ramifications on sex, self esteem and fulfillment.

I'm not sure why Enriquez described it as 'uproariously funny'. Stunning nonetheless.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A very raw account of a Japanese woman with a rare disability who resides in a group care facility.

This is not an easy read, it will make you uncomfortable, might even gross you out, but I felt it helped get the author‘s message across: How society dismisses the sexual desires of those suffering with a disability. Ending was unexpected.

Loved!

4.5 ⭐️ #arc

US Pub Date: 3/18/25