The Hole
A woman moves to the countryside with her husband and encounters strange, unsettling phenomena.
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When her husband is transferred to his rural hometown, Asa quits her job and moves into a house his parents have arranged next door. On an errand to pay a bill, she follows a strange black animal along the riverbank and falls into a hole that fits her body almost exactly.
The Hole was written by Hiroko Oyamada and originally published in Japanese in 2014. The English translation by David Boyd was released in 2020. Oyamada also wrote The Factory and Weasels in the Attic.
The Hole is short and stylistically clear, but the eerie, dreamlike events take adjustment. Hiroko Oyamada writes deadpan magical realism. Most readers find it propulsive once they accept the rural Japanese unease.
The Hole is 112 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Hole takes most readers about 2 hours to finish.
The Hole is a standalone novel by Hiroko Oyamada, not part of a series.
The Hole is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
