This is a really odd novel, hovering between realist critique and surreal symbolism. The premise is that the protagonist, Shibata, fakes pregnancy out of frustration with her colleagues at work and their sexist demands. Although there is initially some attention paid to the logistics of such a hoax, as the novel progresses, it fades into the background in favor of pondering the effects, and what they mean. And so it remains intriguing, though you definitely need to suspend some disbelief (and it shifts more and more into a sort of hazy dream-like register).
Ultimately, it seemed to me, the novel gets a bit stuck between the different possibilities of where the story could go — this is not an infrequent phenomenon; when a novel starts with a really compelling problem posed as a semi-outrageous premise, and then struggles to actually follow it through because considering the different possibilities is so much more appealing than choosing one (which seems inevitably disappointing), but remaining open-ended would be a cop-out. But it’s an engrossing read anyhow.
Kasia Reads 