Short but sweet.

I enjoyed these little snapshots into a man's life. The overarching theme is him and his wife's difficulty in having children while their friends manage to have babies, and we get a look at fertility and motherhood in creatures such as fish and weasels. There is a slightly surreal aspect to the book, which I enjoyed, and a nice hopeful ending. I recommend if you enjoy Japanese literature. 3.5 stars.

I'd like to thank the publishers and Netgalley for kindly providing me with an advance copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

Great book. 3 fantastic, linked short stories. Strange and unsettling. Highly recommended to any fans of Japanese literature. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC.

I’m not entirely certain about the full scope of this novella's intentions. Particularly, the role and significance of the weasels remain somewhat unclear to me. However, I found this novella highly readable, and the translation work is seamless. The narrative unfolds through the perspective of a male character in his early forties, married but childless. This character is remarkably observant, picking up on subtle details in his life. Nevertheless, his emotional detachment and lack of social cues appear to shield him from being profoundly affected by these observations.

Throughout the story, the presence of his friend, Saiki, drives the plot forward. Although I would argue that this novella doesn't adhere to the traditional plot structure of introduction, conflict, and resolution. The novella's three chapters offer insight into the narrator's outlook on life and his perceptions of the people around him.

The story begins with "Death in the Family," where the narrator learns about the mysterious death of Saiki's friend, Urabe. The circumstances surrounding Urabe's death remain shrouded in mystery, and it takes time for both Saiki and the narrator to uncover the details post-funeral. This chapter delves into the peculiar aspects of Urabe's life, including his young wife, who is not yet twenty, and their newborn child. Urabe having a family of his own is something puzzling to Saiki, given that he had previously been interested in fish until his forties, which becomes more intriguing when considering that he is married to a woman half his age. The narrator's detached insensitivity becomes evident as he provides minute, albeit dispassionate, descriptions of his brief visit to Urabe's home.

The subsequent chapters, "The Last of the Weasels" and "Yukiko," shift the focus toward the narrator's relationship with Saiki and their respective marriages. These marriages diverge significantly, with Saiki blessed with a daughter while the narrator remains childless, much to the distress of his wife. The novella effectively portrays the societal pressures in Japan surrounding the expectation of having children, a role still traditionally placed on women. Moreover, it sheds light on the portrayal of women as "servants" in households, a norm the narrator seems to accept unquestioningly. Although, at times, he questions his own judgments, as seen when he notices Saiki's continuous omission of his wife's name, Yoko, from conversations, repeatedly referring to her as “the wife.”

I find this novella thought-provoking, but there are elements hidden between the lines, despite its brevity. The main issues often remain unexplained by the narrator, narrated with the detachment of a third person. It may leave us pondering the symbolism of weasels and the meaning of the tale. However, its seamless translation and exploration of social issues make it a compelling read.

Short stories about masculinity and motherhood. The narrating voice is kind of ethereal and detached while oscillating between extremely mundane and surreal details. I found the representation of the female characters incredibly flat which I think was deliberate but was sometimes annoying to read. In the title story, there is one particular heart wrenching description, which made me want to read more of Oyamada’s writing even if I’m not 100% certain about this collection as a whole

Review: Weasels in the Attic by Hiroko Oyamoda

Rating: 3.5 Stars

As a lover of books you can read in one setting and a big fan of Japanese translated fiction i couldn’t wait to pick up this 76 pager!! Also how cute is this cover ☺️ Despite this I didn’t love it 😞 but I am glad I read it. I read this one on my flight to Spain - it was THE perfect plane read because it was super short!

Despite being a short book it packs 3 interconnected stories based in contemporary Japan. In the first story, old friends reconnect in an apartment above a tropical fish shop and talk about relationships. In the second a couple who have moved to a rural mountain side home deal with a weasel infestation in their attic (as the title suggests) and in the final story, a dinner party turns into an overnight stay in a spare room filled with aquariums full of fish.

There were strong themes of motherhood, fertility, family and relationships. What i did find interesting was that these themes were narrated from the perspective of a man which was nice to see.

I would have loved it to be a bit longer - even though I adore books to read in one setting this one did leave space for the reader to fill in the gaps and make assumptions about the characters.

Have you read this one?

I really enjoyed the quirky, unnerving style of storytelling but ultimately I didn't really get what it was going for. Questions were unanswered in a way that felt unsatisfying rather than intriguing and it felt slow despite the very short length. I liked the first story best; I think fish are inherently creepy and weird and so it did a good job building atmosphere with that

"'It's the same for people, though.' Urabe stood up and walked over to the tank with his cup in his hand. 'We meet at school, or work, or maybe a stores. Wherever it is, there's just a random group of individuals, right? Within that group, you find your mate. If you were in a different group, you'd end up with a different mate, right? But we never dwell on that. We live our lives in the groups we have -in our cities, our countries, even though we didn't choose them. Know what I mean? We like to tell ourselves it's love, that we're choosing our own partners. But in reality, we're just playing the cards we've been dealt'".

TW: Animal abuse.

I didn't get it. I don't think you're meant to. This translated Japanese to English novel is everything and nothing.

We discover old friends and their struggles - fertility, life, weasels in the attic.

They go into depth about exotic fish, about marriage, about how to successfully get rid of weasels - spoiler - it's gruesome.

The story is split into three short chapters. It's a quick read, but it'll play on your mind like a 5 minute short. Don't let the absence of plot or driving force of the story put you off. Sometimes the story is in the unspoken.

"'Weasels are apparently really, really stupid. You lay a trap and they'll walk into it, over and over'. No matter how hard you try to get rid of them, they keep coming back".

Thank you NetGalley for the Arc.

A strange but fun and very readable, little Japanese novella-in-three-parts.

It is about two 30-something friends who meet at three different occasions: the death of a mutual friend, a housewarming and the birth of a child.

The stories all have something unsettling, tension builds up, but then often they end a little too abruptly (which was somewhat thought-provoking but I suspect it would have been more satisfying if things were a bit more spelled out).

What the point was, I'm not quite sure. I liked the idea of it - three short stories about one man and three different kinds of meals that deal with fertility and masculinity. But it's just that in terms of the execution, it just wasn't there in my opinion. It's too short, too jumpy, with no clear sense of direction.

Two friends meet across three dinners. In the back room of a pet shop, they snack on dried shrimps and discuss fish-breeding. In a remote new home in the mountains, they look for a solution to a weasel infestation. During a dinner party in a blizzard, a mounting claustrophobia makes way for uneasy dreams. Their conversations often take them in surprising directions, but when one of the men becomes a father, more and more is left unsaid.Engaging and exciting from the beginning. A very realistic feel for the reader.

I read Weasels in the Attic by Hiroko Oyamada with high expectations just after reading an excellent novel by another Japanese author but translated by the same David Boyd. It's an extremely short and fast read (took me barely 2 hours) - some have called it a collection of 3 inter-connected stories, but it actually is 3 chapters in a novella. It was an interesting read about the journey of friendships, relationships, fish, and yes - weasels. There was an underlying tension that actually doesn't get resolved as satisfactorily as I hoped. I also feel the surrealism could be amped up but I guess not every author aspires to be a Murakami. A good palate-cleanser book.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Was looking forward to reading this but this was not for me. I found it very sad and not at all satisfying.

Weasels in the attic is a short novel which contains three interlinked short stories which are connected by characters and themes of fertility and animals/fish. I enjoyed these imaginative stories, they were relaxing to read and thought provoking. I think there is a lot 'reading between the lines' happening in these stories and it was interesting to interpret the different meanings that were possibly being addressed. I really liked the writing style and found it flowed very well.

This was a charming little trio of stories which follow an unnamed male character and his wife as they struggle with fertility issues. Each of the three stories see the couple interact with another couple and their newborn babies.

I enjoyed this, especially the second story. However, I can see it being quite forgettable in the future as it was a fairly short and simple book with nothing to completely grab you.

I loved this gentle, yet very emotive slim novella. Following a slew of translated Japanese fiction with female protagonists, it was nice to encounter a more male based storyline. Interestingly, the male characters stemmed to carry all the doubts and insecurities so prevalent in the books that are more female-centric, and found it a refreshing change. Full of pathos, and moments of self realisation that I thoroughly enjoyed.

I had been really looking forward to this novella but ultimately something just fell really flat. I don't know if it was the translation or culture or what but I just felt like there was symbolism with the fish that I was missing and the timeline didn't really flow - I couldn't quite tell when one scene ended and another began at points. I get the gist that our mc's wife (who is never named?) wants a baby.. and then two of his friends have babies.. but it just didn't make a lot of sense to me over all.

Rather dark. I expected a charming tale because of the title but it was more about relationships than weasels. Perhaps the cover might look have misled me.

This one sadly fell flat for me. It was a very short novella and I read it under an hour. Not a lot happens really, and I just didn’t get the depth of character I wanted from such a short book with so little plot? The plot was BIZARRE but there wasn’t a whole lot to it, but equally there was a lot to it but so little of each thing? That will hopefully make sense if you’ve read the book haha!

I don't know if this was an issue of translation, or misunderstanding of cultural symbolism, but I found "Weasels in the Attic" quite confusing. In general, this novella has an interesting plot structure and quite eerie feeling to it, but isn't very memorable or even that pleasurable to read. Maybe a foreword would make reading it clearer?

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.