Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Hollow Inside

Hollow Inside

Takemori, Ginny Tapley
Otani, Asako

Paperback

Series: Japanese Novellas

HumorGeneral Fiction

Publisher Price: $16.95

ISBN10: 1805680013
ISBN13: 9781805680017
Publisher: Pushkin Press
Published: May 5 2026
Pages: 112
Weight: 0.22
Height: 0.56 Width: 5.05 Depth: 7.65
Language: English
A witty, deadpan novel about modern relationships, pets, and living as a single woman; for fans of Sayaka Murata, offbeat humor, and sharp social observation

In this skewed, mordantly funny Japanese novel, two women navigate aging and relationships in divergent ways.

Hirai, 38, has recently started living with her colleague Suganuma, 42. Both women are single and feel ambivalent at best about the prospect of marriage. Stuck in bland jobs that don't pay enough for them to afford one-bedroom apartments in the city, they defy social expectation and create their own domestic routines, allowing space for Suganuma's side-hustle--3D-printing figurines of beloved dead pets for their grieving owners.

Though initially united by their resistance to romantic love, the pair begin tentative forays toward partnership. Suganuma strikes up a secret affair, which shocks Hirai into action and back into the world of dating apps. As she drifts through painfully adequate dates and endures intrusive questions at office socials, Hirai frets over whether she really needs to freeze her eggs again. In a dating world sapped of genuine connection, where can she turn to feel less hollow?

The debut novel by a bright new voice in Japanese fiction, Hollow Inside won the prestigious Subaru Prize. With a dark, deadpan tone and sharply witty observation, Asako Otani satirizes the myths and pressures of contemporary romantic love, as Hirai and Suganuma try to chart their own paths in a precarious world.

Also in

Humor

View All