Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi (Women in Translation Month)

Posted On August 8, 2023

Hi Reader! I read the third book for Women in Translation Month. Yes, I agree that I am kind of on a roll this month. I read Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi, translated from the Japanese by David Boyd and Lucy North and narrated by Nancy Wu. My first audiobook for the year, and I will stick to my review that it’s my least preferable way of reading or listening. Nevertheless, the book was quite short with about 5 hours of listening time so it went by quickly. So, this review is also going to be short.

~~GOODREADS DESCRIPTION~~

A prizewinning, thrillingly subversive debut novel about a woman in Japan who avoids harassment at work by perpetuating, for nine months and beyond, the lie that she’s pregnant

When thirty-four-year-old Ms. Shibata gets a new job in Tokyo to escape sexual harassment at her old one, she finds that, as the only woman at her new workplace–a company that manufactures cardboard tubes–she is expected to do all the menial tasks. One day she announces that she can’t clear away her colleagues’ 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 rests, watches TV, takes long baths, and even joins an aerobics class for expectant mothers. But pregnant Ms. Shibata also has a nine-month ruse to keep up. Helped along by towel-stuffed shirts and a diary app on which she can log every stage of her “pregnancy,” she feels prepared to play the game for the long haul. Before long, though, the hoax becomes all-absorbing, and the boundary between her lie and her life begins to dissolve.

A surreal and wryly humorous cultural critique, Diary of a Void is bound to become a landmark in feminist world literature.

~~THOUGHTS~~

Diary of a Void is a 213-page book packed with a sparkly gift paper sheet with fancy ribbons. But when you open it, you realize that the packaging was better than what’s inside. Yes, the book has the right idea. But, it’s not written very well, either from a societal aspect or from a story aspect.

From the societal aspect, it talks boldly about sexism in the workplace in Japan. It doesn’t shy away from stating how women are given menial jobs such as preparing coffee for a meeting when her male counterparts have the same job title. It talks about the society’s perception towards women who have children and women who are child-free. It clearly makes the difference between how a father works a job and how a mother works a job and is also solely left to raise the children and responsible for endless household chores. It felt like a poor imitation of Cho Nam-ju’s Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982.

Another aspect was about urban loneliness, which I felt had no place being in this book. A single pregnant woman in a metropolitan city with no partner or family or friends was a perfect setup to portray urban loneliness. But it did not naturally ease into the fake pregnancy story and certainly did not make the point it wanted to. It felt like a poor imitation of Haruki Murakami’s Men Without Women.

From a story perspective, it was supposed to be absurdist dark humour with a life lesson. But aside from Shibata deciding to fake a pregnancy, nothing else was absurdly humorous. Achieving the combination of humour and story telling and societal impact was tricky. If it had been done perfectly, this book would’ve been a masterpiece. But, unfortunately it failed on all the three parameters making it an average read for me.

There was a part in the book where out of nowhere there is a part where Shibata goes to the doctor and there appears a baby in the ultrasound. I felt that it was a red herring. Perhaps she got so absorbed into the lie of the pregnancy that she imagined a whole other alternate life where she was actually pregnant. So, that’s the ending explained. But, I also feel that it is also left to readers’ interpretation. So, read the book and come up with your own ending. I bet it will still be better than whatever was supposed to happen if it were blatantly mentioned in the book. I have rated Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi at 3/5 stars.

Until next time,