Book Buzz: Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa
I wrote it in a month-long spurt, and sent it to the publisher. I didn’t do any research for the book, but I drew upon years of personal experience, and the history of disabled people that I studied at university helped me, too. I was conscious that it was special in the sense that I knew Shaka was a protagonist of a kind that hadn’t been written before.”
There are books whose urgency barely needs to be articulated because it’s so evident within the work itself, and Hunchback seemed to me like one of those: it burns itself right into the mind of the reader. It’s a cinematic work, that conjures up a dense and vivid world with very little, so the language needed a lot of honing, to make sure that it was hitting all of those imagistic notes in the way that they needed to. I’d say the principal narrative voice came to me quite quickly and intuitively, but there are lots of shifts of register within the span of the book, which took quite a lot of time and attention to capture. ”
― Saou Ichikawa and Polly Barton, Interview, The Booker Prize
What booksellers are saying about Hunchback
- In this provocative and unflinching novella, Shaka, a young woman with a congenital muscle disorder, lives a rich inner life fueled by her mischievous mind and digital escapades. When a brazen tweet about a sperm donor is accepted by her new nurse, Shaka sets off on a journey to claim her autonomy and explore the full possibilities of her life. Sharp, funny, and deeply moving, this is a fearless and refreshing look at a woman demanding her right to make choices and live life to the fullest with a major twist.
― Kimberly Todd, Square Books, Oxford, Mississippi | BUY
- I couldn’t stop reading this strange and captivating novella. A perfect example of Japanese feminist literature. Disability visibility, erotic strangeness and a crazy twist!
― Rachel Brewer, Carmichael’s Bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky | BUY
- Hunchback is unexpectedly large for its small size. Saou Ichikawa will leave you in a daze as she reveals the common desire to be seen no matter our limitations or the consequences.
― Jenny Gilroy, E. Shaver, Bookseller, Savannah, Georgia | BUY
About Saou Ichikawa and Polly Barton
Saou Ichikawa graduated from the School of Human Sciences, Waseda University. Her bestselling debut novel, Hunchback, won the Bungakukai Prize for New Writers, and she is the first author with a physical disability to receive the Akutagawa Prize, one of Japan’s top literary awards. She has congenital myopathy and uses a ventilator and an electric wheelchair. Ichikawa lives outside Tokyo.
Polly Barton is an award-winning translator and writer. She lives in Bristol, England.
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I have had relationships with humans, but I’ve also loved a lot of people in stories. I’ve been told by my doctor not to talk about this too much, but ever since I was a child, I’ve had 30 or 40 imaginary friends who live on a different star or planet with whom I have shared love and sexual experiences. ……Some say that the worlds I write about are dystopian, but a lot of people think that actually reality is worse… I’ve often felt love, obsession, desire, friendship, a kind of faith, or almost a prayer-like relationship with these men – and they’ve always been men, so it’s a heterosexual relationship – who live inside stories. With Vanishing World I was trying to create a place where it might be easier for people who find it difficult to live in this world.
