Hyping the Writing of Hiroko Oyamada

By the end of this year, English readers will have access to three Hiroko Oyamada novells in four years: 2019’s The Factory, 2020’s The Hole, and the forthcoming Weasels in the Attic (out this October). All released through New Directions and all translated by David Boyd, these novellas (well, I can’t speak on the upcoming) encapsulate mystery and confusion and tradition and politeness and fear.

The Factory is so damn strange and strange and strange! Serious Get Out vibes reminiscent of that scene where the woman says, "No no no no no...you can't leave!" I read The Hole first and this The Factory is just as strong. Both are Lynchian and full of more questions than answers and I loved every page.

While reading the sparse eeriness of The Hole, I found myself thinking of it as a companion piece for Max Porter's Lanny. New family in new countryside with strange folkloric presence sweeping through the area. Elements of Leonora Carrington and Brian Evenson also come to mind. The Hole is a great novella. One that really started to pick up around page 50 and was a speedy page-turner all the way until the chilling end.

While I have yet to read Weasels in the Attic, I anticipate this 96 page novella, one that Goodreads describes “setting its sights on the overlooked aspects of contemporary Japanese society, and does so with a surreal sensibility that is entirely her own.” Will Oyamada be three for three? I’m certain of it.