After reading 'The factory' by the author and feeling rather puzzled, I decided to give her another shot by reading this one. This short book included three interconnected stories that depict different time frames of a greater story. While the story part works out fine, I had my troubles with the authors' writing style, again. It all seemed a bit like jumbled, random thoughts, and I have to admit that this isn't my cup of tea.

There were less Weasels in this book that I had initially suspected there to be.

Now onto the full review:

An interesting collection of concurrent stories, each with its own unexpected element that seems so implausible but you're never able to truely rule it out as a reader as the book just makes it seem so plausible.

I don't particularly like to lump all pieces of Japanese literature together, but this book relishes in that quality of Japanese fiction that lies on the border of reality and the uncanny, for a fan of Murakami whose in need of something to read, this is one short, delightful book.

This book is very difficult to review. Three very short stories all interlinked, they are well written, a bit weird and the author really succeeds in making you feel uneasy. I really enjoyed it (?) and will definitely read more from the author.

Thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC

These stories were very short, but they made me incredibly uneasy. In fact, after the second story, I felt physically ill. A quirky collection of stories, it's perfect if you like Sayaka Murata's Life Ceremony, but for some reason, this short collection didn't work for me and just left me with a creepy feeling, as well as being slightly bored. Perhaps if the stories were longer and the female characters were more at the forefront it would have been more of a win for me? I'm not sure. But I would still read more from the author in the future.

Two friends meet and discuss fish breeding but their topic of conversation turns increasingly strange with the introduction of the topic of weasels.
This was a short but intriguing and slightly strange novel but one which I was enchanted by; it was unlike anything I'd read before but the lives of the friends and the connections between them kept me hooked until the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the novel in exchange for an honest review

'Weasels in the attic' is a three stories novella around a couple with a conflicting desire to have children. I loved how the uneasiness and awkardness in each of the stories slowly creeps up on you. Beautifully translated from the Japanese by David Boyd. Will read more by Hiroko Oyamada.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC

A very uncanny story I honestly don't know how to describe it. Given how short the book was a lot was packed into each pages and we're not given much infomation about the characters except that the main protagonists are a married couple who has not been successful at their attempt to conceive for some time.

There were themes of parenthood and society's expectations for a family (e.g the ripe age to get married, the need for children, how lucky a man was to get a younger wife) but nothing that delve too deep into each one.

The last few pages gave me chills and left me feeling very unsettled as to what could possibly happen. I started the book not knowing what to expect and finished it with not much clarity as to what I actually just read. Definitely enjoyed Oyamada's way of writing though so I'll readily give her other book a read.

Thank you netgalley for providing a free arc and thank you for the netgalley shelf app! Really loved the reading format for epub, the fonts and margins were perfectly suited to my taste

This cover and title got me intrigued… and I loved this!

A lot packed into a little, this very short book divided into three short stories revisiting the protagonist at different stages of his life, is a quiet but accomplished read.
In Weasels in the Attic, the unnamed protagonist and his wife are not having much luck trying to conceive, and in each story they visit friends and acquaintances who have young children.
The weasels in question are haunting the attic of their friend’s country house.
There is a certain surrealism to this novella, at times it borders on a dreamlike strangeness which I really enjoyed and I could imagine it as a film.
Given the briefness of it, the author is able to portray so much, especially about human nature and relationships, in so few pages.
I really liked how not much was given to the reader but I was still able to add my own take on it. A sophisticated simplicity.

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

This short novella follows a married couple as they mull over the decision of whether or not to start a family. The novella is an investigation into the various expectations that men and women have regarding parenthood and infants, and it takes place in Japan. The narrative is told from the point of view of the male partner.

This novella has very little writing in it, and the tone is unsettling the whole way through. There are hints of something sinister in the friends and their homes, but the reader is left wondering what exactly is going on in the story. Although it is an interesting exploration of the theme of parenthood, the narrative is slow and ponderous, and the lack of clarity in the plot and characters makes it difficult to be fully engaged in the story. However, the exploration of the theme of parenthood is interesting.

However, it is difficult for the reader to remain engaged with the story due to the slow and ponderous nature of the narrative (which is remarkable considering how short the book is) as well as the lack of clarity in the plot. This might not be the best option for readers who are looking for something that is simple and straightforward to read.

Review not posted anywhere else

A very short book that's basically three short stories stuck together featuring the same forgettable characters. No idea what the point of this was but basically a guy who likes fish gets married to a younger woman and moves to the country where they're plagued (but not in a terribly inconvenient way) by weasels in the attic. They have a kid. Their friends come to visit. They eat and have a decent time. This is a novel? This counts as publishable? This was nothing. This was the most unremarkable, mundane, duller than dull slice of life pseudo-story I've ever read. Bland prose, even blander characters, and an instantly forgettable story - awful novel.

A very slight little book - it's only 55 pages on my e-reader - around parenthood, friendship and trying to concieve. I think Weasels in the Attic was ill-served by its length - it's three interconnected short stories that centre on the same two friends meeting on different occasions. I felt the stories weren't given room to breathe by the book's length and that another couple of stories would have made this a much stronger collection.
The writing style is lovely, and I would absolutely read more work by Hiroko Oyamada, this just didn't hit the mark for me.

Captivating, gorgeous, gripping. Full of mystery, dread, and revelation. The old people in this novella know what's going on and sometimes the women do, too. The men? They are just trying to hang on and pretend they're in charge. Each moment that passes in this eerie novella is full of happenings just this side of surreal. I love stories like this, the ones that take time to make me appreciate the utter strangeness of our world. The pigs' teeth stuck in the wych-elm in Howard's End. The dead sparrow hanging from a wire in Gombrowicz's Cosmos. The fish that leaps out of its tank in the night and pins a man to his bed in Weasels in the Attic. This kind of fiction captivates me. Fiction that is unexplainably weird and yet also somehow exactly the truth. Fiction that is terrifyingly chaotic and yet at the same time comforting, and I find myself thinking, yes, that's right. That's exactly the way life is.

If you liked the following books then you will probably like this novella, too: Threats by Amelia Gray. Desperate Characters by Paula Fox. Ice by Anna Kavan.

What a quick and quirky read this was! Not a huge amount happens as it is a very, very short read but it was enjoyable all the same. I liked the three sections within, and how they each link up but also hold their own. The writing flowed nicely, telling this tale of parenthood and friendship.

Sometimes quirky is good. Not here, though. I expect a certain oddness in Japanese literature, but this one seemed so pointless (although I see other reviewers have read a lot into the themes) that I was left bewildered and unsatisfied. Three short incidents from the life of a Japanese man with issues of fertility, motherhood, marriage friendship and food running throughout, but all to no perceivable end. I couldn’t relate to or engage with any of the characters, though the last story was more intriguing with its slightly surreal undertones. Think weasels, think babies. Overall, though, not one for me.

Unique unusual three short novellas that kept my interest well written the author definitely writes in a surprising way.Looking forward hopefully longer novels.#netgalley #granata.

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc of this book. Great concept but definitely wish this book had been longer. I did manage to read this over 1 day as it is a collection of short stories.

Great plan, not so good execution. I can see what the author was trying to do but I think she failed short of her goal. Maybe if the book was longer the story would have turned out differently...

Told over three inter-connecting stories, Oyamada's newly translated novel hovers between the natural and the slightly surreal. The plot feels like it's just about the tip into the weird, but then leaves it to the reader to make any connections. Dealing with issues of family, motherhood and friendship, this is a wonderful book, excellently translated to keep the author's sense of style. A must-read for fans of Japanese literature. 4.5 stars.

(With thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this title.)

The issue with this book was that it wasn’t nearly long enough. I really enjoyed it and was all set to swipe to the next chapter when it ended.

I can’t really describe the story very well, the narrator meets with friends and each story seems to be centred around mundane, everyday living, but each intertwined - from fish to marriage to babies.

I’m not doing this book any justice but I really enjoyed it. It’s just the type of book I love reading, everyday existence in Japanese culture.

This was interesting, but not what I thought it was going to be...

Weasels in the Attic centres around three dinners in which two friends - the narrator and Saiki - interact in different ways. At this core, though, this book seems to be about these characters' relationship to motherhood, fatherhood and the general idea of having a family. Whereas the narrator and his wife have been trying to have children, but have been having difficulty, Saiki starts the book quite desensitized to it and ends it with a wife and child of his own. Given the situation they always in dinners during the book, food is a common theme in the book, but it's always the women who do everything, while the men sit back and talk, which bothered me a bit.

It seemed to me that the author wanted to make social commentary on masculinity and fatherhood, but did not actually see it through.