Hollow Inside by Asako Otani: Book Review

 

Japanese Literature Challenge 19 

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Hollow Inside by Asako Otani, publication Feb. 12, 2026; Pushkin Press, NetGalley copy

Genre: Humor and satire, Japanese literature, translated

This review may contain spoilers 

This novel tells me that there are some social attitudes in Japan that reflect ambivalence towards women in their late 30s or 40s who are single, especially if they decide to become roommates, even if they are not partners.

Suganuma, 40, earns a living making hollow plastic dogs to order, for people who have lost their pets and want a replacement for the dogs.  She does however, have an outside life, though with a married man. Hirai, 38, on the other hand, has been unlucky in the dating scene, and longs for a child but is strangely happy to have the hollow plastic baby that roommate Suganuma makes for her on her 3D printing machine.  

The lives of the two women seem to be hollow, however, as they make do with replacements for a full life with a fake child and  making fake dogs for people who have lost real pets. Hirai, however, comes to accept that the future of a real child or family is not in the cards for her at this point.

I thought this was a sad but somewhat satiric novel on single women living as outliers in their society. An unusual but very interesting novel.

I hope others in the challenge will read this book. I would love to have other opinions and discussions on the novel. 

For The Japanese Literature Challenge 19

2026 Reading Challenges: Immigration, Japanese Reading

Immigration Reading Challenge, hosted by introvertedreader.com is a challenge I just discovered. After having reviewed/featured many immigrant authors and their books over the years, I was happy to see this challenge by Introverted Reader! Please visit her site to sign up and/or to read the book reviews of those participating! 

Publication: May 12, 2026; Atria Books, NetGalley

Memoir in essays about life across two borders, illuminating the immigrant experience

Published Nov. 4, 2025

Memoir by an ex-journalist on his experience as a man of color in Canada. Written as a series of letters to his daughter. explaining what he learned that could help her in the future

I will add more books later on.

Japanese Literature Challenge 19 

 

Snow at the Shrine Entrance by Kawase Hasui 

The Japanese Literature Challenge 19 is hosted by Dolce Bellezza. All Japanese works in translation are eligible for this reading challenge, which runs January through February 2026. Leave a link to your reviews on the challenge review site. 

I hope to read a few of the following books, some of which may not yet have been published but are available on NetGalley. Book descriptions are also from the publisher and/or NetGalley.

From the author of the international bestseller Butter comes a chilling and perceptive novel about obsession, female friendship, and the slow unraveling of two lives.

A witty, deadpan novel about modern relationships, pets, and living as a single woman; for fans of Sayaka Murata, offbeat humor, and sharp social observation.

In the second book in the Ancestor Memories historical fantasy series, a young woman finds herself back in 1920s Tokyo as Japan enters a new and dangerous era—and a deadly tragedy awaits her city.

Follow the seashell path along Tokyo Bay until you get to the Chibineko Kitchen, where a traditional Japanese meal can summon anyone you choose from your past, but only for as long as it continues to steam . . . —for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, The Midnight Library, and Studio Ghibli films like Spirited Away.

The original Japanese Cat classic by Natsume Soseki, now in a vibrant new translation. 

'I am a Cat. But I still don't have a name...'

Once a stray kitten, I Am a Cat’s narrator finds himself adopted by a local scholar and thrown headfirst into the absurd upper middle-class world of Meiji-era Japan. Now a noble but somewhat world-weary observer, he has ample opportunity to dissect the strange ways and convoluted conversations of the human race.

Published September 9, 2025.

FROM ONE OF JAPAN'S GREATEST CRIME WRITERS—THE AUTHOR OF THE HONJIN MURDERS: Nothing at The Black Cat Café is as it seems. . .

In order to solve this sensational stand-alone murder mystery, scruffy detective Kosuke Kindaichi will have to untangle a complex web of love, jealousy, and betrayal

A woman inherits a pawnshop where you can sell your regrets, and then embarks on a magical quest when a charming young physicist wanders into the shop, in this dreamlike fantasy novel.

A story of enduring friendship and deep betrayal, Sisters in Yellow is a masterpiece of teenage dreams and adult cruelties that confirms Mieko Kawakami as one of the great writers of her generation.

TO GO ALONG WITH THE JAPANESE READING CHALLENGE, and other books originally in French I plan on reading, I'M ALSO LINKING TO

THIS IS HOSTED BY introvertedreader.com

What books are on your reading list now? 

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves 

HOLIDAY Reading : Gillian McAllister and Nayantara Roy

 I've been reading thrillers by Gillian McAllister over the holidays, having finished several of Shari Lapena's mysteries. 

Also, a marvelous literary novel, family drama by Nayantara Roy

That Night: Frannie is the youngest of three siblings and has been coddled by them as the baby of the family. When Frannie hits and kills someone in a car accident in Italy, the siblings fly to her rescue, to bury and hide the body.  As time goes by, family ties and loyalties are tested when the cadaver is discovered in the forest where they had buried it.

What will close family members do for each other? How far will they cover up for each other? These and other questions are posed in this novel of death and blame. The questions multiply when a blackmailer is added to the list of people who know about the accident. I found this a suspenseful and gripping plot with very good character development. 

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC

Wrong Place, Wrong Time is about a woman who sees her teenage son stab someone one night. When she wakes the next morning, she finds it's yesterday, similar to the setting of Groundhog Day, so she plans to stop the stabbing from happening, by fixing the problem with her son before he commits the murder. 

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ebook

 

Famous Last Words: Literary agent Camilla is confused when she finds a strange note from her husband Luke who shows up later on television as a kidnapper who has killed two hostages in a warehouse and then disappeared. Cam tells herself and everyone else that Luke is a good man, in spite of what he seems to have done.

I had expected twists in the plot but was surprised at what they turned out to be. The story keeps the reader going, as we learn whether or not Luke is a "good man." An enjoyable plot with interesting characters and plot.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC

Now ReaAn enjoyable plot with interesting characters and plot.

Caller Unknown:  When Simone's daughter Lucy is kidnapped from their rental cabin in Texas, Simone decides to follow the kidnapper's demands in order to get Lucy back home safe. Even if means driving into Mexico to pick up an unknown package for the kidnappers. 

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC

Just Another Missing Person:  Julia, a detective, is being blackmailed by a kidnapper into framing someone else for the kidnaping and murder of the missing teen, Olivia.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review ebook

Finished reading -Literary Fiction

Sisters of a Halved Heart will be published June 2, 2026. Algonquin Books. 

It's available now as an advance reader copy on NetGalley. 

About: a masterful story of rivalry and conflict between two Indian-American sisters and the strength of family love in the face of heartbreaking betrayal.

My review: This story of betrayal in a family of two Indian-American sisters is heartbreaking, especially since the sisters grew up close and responsible for and to each other. When Joy, the younger sister and a successful lawyer, "takes" what her sister Mira, a poetry editor, values most in life, Mira feels betrayed and there is estrangement between the two for some time.

Determined to get back together in spite of her heartbreak, Mira mentions the sacrifices she has made for her sister Joy, but does not get into the details. This sacrifice is revealed at the end of the book, but only to the reader and not to Joy. It came as a shock, leaving the reader with a feeling that there was deserved though unintended "retribution" that one sister secretly has over the other.

A masterful story of family betrayal mixed with family love and unity, well told.

What books are on your reading list now? 

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves