Diary of a Void

Shibata, a single woman in her mid twenties works a soulless job at a company that manufactures cardboard tubes.
Although not in her job description, as the only woman in her department, she is expected to do all the menial jobs around the office.

“Coffee….?”
“That’s not my name.”

So Shibata fakes a pregnancy and as she realises that this gives her certain privileges both at work and elsewhere, she keeps her pretense up for the whole nine months.

Diary of a Void is a sad and lonely story. She watches the lives of other workers, other mothers, other commuters and just feels so apart and alone from everyone. Except her growing ‘baby’.

A bleak tale of loneliness in a busy city.

A wry and somewhat surreal portrayal of what it’s like to work as a woman in a predominantly male workplace.

I love Japanese literature and while I think the idea was better than the execution I really enjoyed this book and will look out for future titles by the author!

Powerful read.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read this book in exchange for my review.

This is a pitch-black satire on Japanese office life and the role of women in that society. Shibata hoodwinks her colleagues into believing she’s pregnant, and as events move out from there you are left wondering if she’s even being truthful with you, the reader, as we get towards the end, and the double meaning of the title becomes apparent. Very entertaining.

Diary of a Void will keep you turning the pages to see just how far Ms Shibata will go. What a gorgeous book! The author has a great gift for characterisation - nuanced, interesting, believable people but created with a charming lightness of touch.

I liked the premise and it was interesting how the lie became real life for the character but it was quite dry in general. The message (if you’re pregnant then people are kinder to you) was made clear within the first chapter, with the rest of the narrative not really adding anything to it. A quick read about a lonely woman with no real ending.

Emi Yagi’s novel won the Osamu Dazai Award for best debut fiction. It’s narrated by Shibata, an office worker in her thirties, she lives alone. Her life is overtaken by the demands of work, long hours, and the expectations placed on her as the only woman in her section. Emi Yagi’s talked about Kikuko Tsumura’s <i>There’s no such thing as an easy job</i> as one of the inspirations for her novel but attempting to juggle personal life with work life is something she’s also clearly dealt with – this was written in bursts at the end of 12-hour days at her own job. Her central character Shibata’s consigned to trivial but exhausting everyday tasks, making the coffee, clearing up after meetings, answering the phone, while the men around her benefit from her ability to make their time in the office that much smoother. But, although she doesn’t show it, Shibata’s resentful and increasingly angry, she’s had enough of being put upon and taken for granted, and one day she decides on an unusual method of taking control. She tells everyone she’s pregnant, and suddenly her burden’s lifted, she becomes special, exempt from menial office work, free to leave on time, encouraged to invest in her own health and well-being. But soon that lie becomes fantasy and then fantasy and reality are increasingly blurred.

Emi Yagi’s narrative unfolds in clear, uncluttered prose but it’s also filled with memorable scenes and images, some of which have a slightly uncanny, surreal flavour. Her story slowly develops into a fascinating exploration of urban alienation and loneliness, as well as absurdly all-encompassing work environments, and offers up a moving perspective on gender and Japanese society and the possibility of self-realisation. Shibata’s experiences - which sometimes reminded me of the current obsession with ‘quiet quitting’ - are represented in the form of a weekly diary which are shaped by the information provided by an app which outlines each stage of her supposed pregnancy. At first, I was a little anxious that Shibata’s story would turn out to be an unthinking tale of maternal privilege, but Emi Yagi’s approach is far cleverer and subtler than that. She takes on a critique of the cultural expectations that can shape both men’s and women’s roles in relation to parenthood, but also the ways in which pregnancy can transform women into incubators – or spaces for implantation - not just for future children but as containers for society’s desires and needs: the classificatory systems that can both liberate and oppress, some of which are exposed through Shibata’s gradual incorporation into a small community of pregnant women via a specialist aerobics class. From my point of view the result’s an absorbing, insightful, beautifully-constructed piece.

Thanks to Netgalley and publisher Harvill Secker for an ARC

The premise for Diary of a Void promised a ‘surreal and wryly humorous cultural critique’ and I am afraid that while the commentary within this novel is fairly on point, it was by no means ‘thrillingly subversive’. Sadly, I found the execution to be lacklustre and part of me thinks that I might have found it more effective if this premise had not been stretched out beyond its capacity. Sure, Diary of a Void is a slim novel but I still found myself bored by the writing and the direction of the story. If this premise had been contained within the scope of a smaller medium, such as a short story, I probably would have felt more enthusiastic about it.

“As I wrote in my notebook, I wondered: How many other imaginary children were there in the world? And where were they now? What were they doing? I hoped they were leading happy lives.”


Despite its absurd premise, the storyline is presented in a cohesive manner and the tone of Shibata’s narration remains for the most part casually unadulterated. This last thing is what initially drew me in. Shibata’s blasé attitude towards her ‘fake’ pregnancy. In the office where she works, she is routinely asked and bullied into cleaning up after everyone else or preparing drinks/food for meetings or whatnot purely because she is a woman. To get her lazy and sexist coworkers and superiors off her back, Shibata one day announces that she can’t clean up because she is pregnant and the smell makes her sick. Shibata then proceeds to act as a pregnant person is expected to in contemporary Japan, for example, she gets a maternity badge on her bag (speaking of which i came across an article that mentions a survey in 2016 showing that over 40% of pregnant ppl choose "not wear the badge at all or not to wear it most of the time in Japan" and "roughly 10% of [those who wore them] experienced some sort of harassment"...which is f*cking depressing), starts using a diary app (hence the title), joins a prenatal aerobics class, and uses the time she would have been working over-time to binge-watch films & series on Amazon Prime, and chooses a name for her child (now this last thing funny). There are a few recurring characters, most notably a male colleague of Shibata who becomes far too involved in her pregnancy and proffers unsolicited advice to her all the time. The weeks and months go by and Shibata uses a towel for a baby bump (you can buy fake ones only but if i recall correctly shibata could not procure one).

There was nothing that I actively disliked about this novel, I was just thoroughly bored and rather underwhelmed. Shibata’s voice was monotone and although I usually liked deadpan & listless narrators, hers just didn’t win me over. I also really love slice-of-live stories, detailing the menial activities and generic conversations most people have day-in-day-out, and novels heavy on the navel-gazing, after all, I am a huge fan of Elif Batuman's The Idiot and Either/Or, but Shibata’s life just didn’t interest me, which is curious given that she is faking a pregnancy. I was hoping that the latter half of the story would be more rewarding or bizarre or anything really but it keeps chugging alone at the same pace. I wish the author could have amped up certain absurdist elements in this story, I think this could have been a far campier and strange tale (the premise had potential...it could have given us Lars and the Real Girl by way of Woman Running in the Mountains & Mieko Kawakami with sprinkles of Kevin Wilson, Helen Oyeyemi, and Hiromi Kawakami...maybe even a dash of Han Kang?). Look, I wasn't expecting the pregnancy element to be as out there as Julia Ducournau's Titane but...it could have been presented in a less vanilla way or at least not have given us such a bathetic 'resolution'.

The social commentary highlights the way women are still pigeonholed (as wives/mothers, or as having to choose between family and a career, being seen as inherently domestic), and how some people idolize pregnancy (the good ol’ Madonna/Whore dichotomy i guess). I guess I wish that the story had explored in more depth the realities of being a single parent in a fairly conservative country that still stigmatizes those who do not uphold so-called traditional family values (bleargh).

Anyway, I just didn't get into this book but I can't say I actively disliked it either. It was very much a meh reading experience for me. If you are interested in this novel I recommend you check out some more positive reviews (there are some very well-written ones out there too!).

An unusual and enigmatic short novel which raises interesting questions about gender roles, societal expectations of women/motherhood, work life balance and beyond. I enjoyed the slightly unpredictable nature of the story, wondering how the protagonist would resolve their unusual situation and their decisions were a thought-provoking kind of empowerment. The insight into how the minutiae of the lead's day-to-day life were affected by her lie (supermarket shopping, leisure time, baths, movies etc) was intimate, gentle, readable, relatable - albeit a touch melancholy and tinged with a loneliness that made for a less than upbeat read. My only real downside of the story was finding the ending somewhat hard to fathom, but I appreciate that playing with what's 'real' can be common in Japanese literature. An intriguing read - thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for the opportunity.

Intrigued by this book's description, via Netgalley, Diary Of A Void pulled me in with an interesting perspective on being a woman in Japanese society as much as one of my favourite 'Convenience Store Woman' does and it does not disappoint as we see how society still creates certain spaces for women.

A slice of life book trapped in the slightly absurd Diary Of A Void really does grab you from the first page. Emi Yagi creates a fascinating story of a woman who via faking a pregnancy gets out of doing the jobs in the office that have been handed to her, starting with the coffee cup cleaning in the meeting room. Interestingly these roles seem to be only given to women or the people who are junior in the office (so no matter your experience, women's job are the same as a juniors).

The characterisation and thought process as Sorato is 'created' is fascinating and intense, and incredibly well written as we see how the gaze shifts as she progresses through the pregnancy but also how she connects to people as she keeps up the lie. I expected so many things and they didn't happen (like being caught out?) but I think that's kinda why you stay gripped by this book until the very last page.

An intriguing read and I want read more from this author for sure.

(I received an arc from Netgalley for honest review).

In the line of Convenience Store Woman and There’s No Such Thing As an Easy Job, Diary of a Void explores the complex relationship of Japanese women with their work culture, womanhood, motherhood and getting old. Edging the absurd it will also be ideal for people who enjoyed the Woman with the Purple Skirt.

I absolutely loved this story. A simple premise; a woman pretends to be pregnant in order to get out of menial, demeaning tasks foisted upon her at her dead-end office job. Simple as it is, it manages to take this story to emotional heights, with an ending that defied my jaded expectations.

I knew this would probably be good based on the synopsis, but I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I loved it. And now you're telling me this razor-sharp and witty novel is a debut? Wow!

Shibata's voice and the book being written as a diary of her psuedo-pregnancy journey made this such an enjoyable read that pulled me right in. I was so invested in the story and Shibata's life that I couldn't help but keep turning the pages to see how everything would play out. Watching Shibata trying to keep up with her lie and how everyone, even herself, bought into it was nothing short of fascinating.

I also really enjoyed how the author explores themes of workplace discrimination, gender inequality and motherhood, particularly in a patriarchal and conservative society like Japan's, with nuance and dark humour.

This is an outstanding and captivating novel that will stay with me for a long time. I highly recommend everyone to pick it up pronto!

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an unbiased review.

The book tells the story of a 34 year old office worker, who, for a variety of reasons (more below), decides to fake a pregnancy at her workplace, and perpetuates it until well after "giving birth".

What I really liked about this book is its potential. The idea at the core of the narrative is potentially explosive. It has the seeds of discussing social inequality at the workplace in Japan, the role of women in Japanese society more broadly, alienation of individuals in modern society (especially in Japan), how Japanese society treats unmarried women, loneliness, and much more.

Rather than exploring these topics with nuance, sensitivity, and emotion, the author gives us malformed glimpses of them. While the benefit is that the reader can reach their own conclusions, the drawback is that the underlying writing talent that could underpin this narrative remains elusive.

Notwithstanding the above, what stands out in the book is the protagonist, and the psychological profile that leads to inventing the pregnancy, and perpetuate it. It is a perverse pleasure to read - on the one hand it is fascinating and engaging, and on the other it chilling and scary. The main dissonance emerges due to the protagonist's initial motivations. While the abstract (and some of the reviews) point to sexual harassment, that is mentioned in a single episode in the narrative. My interpretation is that the reasons are quite a bit more selfish, even sinister, and psychotic. This debate in itself makes it a worthwhile read.

In short, while it doesn't live up to its full potential, and the writing is only a notch above mediocre, the brevity of the book makes it a solid and interesting experience.

Diary of a Void is a strange little novel about a woman who pretends to be pregnant, mainly to have an easier life at work, then she (and the reader) almost starts to believe in the pregnancy. There was a tension as I waited for Shibata to either confess or be found out - how long can she keep this going?

A recommended read for lovers of quirky Japanese fiction.

"Late summer was still dragging on - I was bored with being bored with it."

Shibata is bored, tired and annoyed. She spends her days at work, where she is underpaid and unappreciated, being only addressed by the men who work there when they need a coffee, or need something cleaned. Until one day, she tells them she can't clear up, she feels sick - because she's pregnant.

But she isn't. She doesn't even know why she says it, at first, but everything changes. She's allowed to leave work on time, she doesn't have to clean up after fully grown men, she's even expected to relax and enjoy herself. But what will happen as the months go by and a baby isn't born? How long can she tell a lie before it spills into her real life?
One interesting thing to note about this book is that in Japanese, Boshi Techō refers to a mother/baby diary where pregnancy and childhood milestones are recorded, similar to the ones we have in the U.K. The original title of this book is Kūshin Techō, replacing the word for mother and child with an 'empty core', or void.

Shibatas' story starts right away, but then moves slowly, allowing us time with her to explore her relationships and interactions, watching how they develop and change over time - at times it did feel like one of those hot, stifling summers as we waited for something to happen but the characters kept my interest peaked throughout. Her humour, from the moment we meet her, is dry, witty and indescribably relatable. Of course, she isn't without flaw - lying about pregnancy and fertility is a terrible thing to do, but this sits firmly in a grey area, asking the reader to consider that Shibata has only told a lie because the men surrounding her did not acknowledge her as a person before she was pregnant.

It poses an interesting social commentary on the worlds outdated views of unmarried mothers, on working mothers and the societal expectations of women to manage, to mother, to nurture in all situations without complaint.

Featuring fully poetic, lyrical prose that suddenly explodes colour and life into the grey, corporate, suffocating setting that is carefully created by Yagi. Because we experience this story from Shibatas perspective, when the lines between fact and fiction begin to blur, it is difficult for us at times to even distinguish ourselves, as we border into a surreal, dream-like state that left my head spinning.

A sarcastic, satirical take on corporate culture and gender roles in a contemporary setting - this book is full of charm and wit, and definitely anything but empty.

Diary of a Void by Emi Yagi left me a little underwhelmed. I enjoyed the beginning and the main character's quirkiness but it didn't really go where I was expecting.

I found this one a bit confusing in the execution of the story. I did read it quite fas, as it is a short book and I was hooked, but still, I got lost! I don't know if this is because of the story itself or the translation, or both.

Shibata is the only woman in her workplace and she is expected to do other tasks such as tidying and coffee on top of her usual duties. One day she gets fed up and fakes a pregnancy. The workplace then changes some things as a result and she gets away with many things. At some point the story gets quite ridiculous and confusing, you don0't really know whether she is pregnant for real or not.

Anyway, it definitely highlights how sexist society can be. Why does a woman need to be pregnant, fake or not, in order for a workplace to be slightly better? It definitely shows that things need to change and be more equal for everyone.

Diary of a Void is the story of Shibata who pretends to be pregnant and truly commits to being pregnant. It's an interesting novel that looks into how sexist workplaces can be, as well as parenthood and how the traditional roles of mother and father can be unequal.

There's a lot of social and cultural commentary that really gets you thinking. As the only woman in her department, Shibata has to do all the menial tasks — like making coffee, cleaning up in the office kitchen, etc. It also discusses how mothers carry a lot more when it comes to taking care of children, and there was also discussion about postpartum depression.

The writing is quick to read and there's something odd and charming about it that I enjoyed. Shibata, the unreliable narrator, was also quite funny, which I didn't expect. Overall, an enjoyable read.