Hunchback

A Novel

About the Book

LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE • A bombshell bestseller in Japan, a defiant, darkly funny debut novel about a young woman in a care home seeking autonomy and the full possibilities of her life—“not only a major achievement in disability literature but great literature period” (Johanna Hedva)

“A literary phenomenon in Japan, Hunchback is an extraordinary and thrilling debut novel about sex, disability, and power.”—International Booker Prize Judges


“Unforgettable . . . a thriller of the body . . . [a] miracle.”—The New York Times Book Review

Born with a congenital muscle disorder, Shaka spends her days in her room in a care home outside Tokyo, relying on an electric wheelchair to get around and a ventilator to breathe. But if Shaka’s physical life is limited, her quick, mischievous mind has no boundaries: She takes e-learning courses on her iPad, publishes explicit fantasies on websites, and anonymously troll-tweets to see if anyone is paying attention (“In another life, I’d like to work as a high-class prostitute”). One day, she tweets into the void an offer of an enormous sum of money for a sperm donor. To Shaka’s surprise, her new nurse accepts the dare, unleashing a series of events that will forever change Shaka’s sense of herself as a woman in the world.

Hunchback has shaken Japanese literary culture with its skillful depiction of the physical body and its unrepentant humor. Winner of the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, it’s a feminist story about the dignity of an individual who insists on her right to make choices for herself, no matter the consequences. Formally creative and refreshingly unsentimental, Hunchback depicts the joy, anger, and desires of a woman demanding autonomy in a world that doesn’t always grant it to people like her. Full of wit, bite, and heart, this unforgettable novel reminds us all of the full potential of our lives, regardless of the limitations we experience.
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Praise for Hunchback

“A brilliant, riveting book that lets us tune into voices we have long kept suppressed.”—The Sunday Times (UK)

“[A] gloriously transgressive debut.”—The Guardian

“Audacious, insightful, bold, and—with its critique of ableism—necessary . . . an absolutely stunning debut . . . Some readers might be shocked by this brave novel; others might find themselves interrogating their own ableism.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Impossible to forget.”Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Insightful, bold, and provocative . . . Ichikawa’s excellent work is wholly relatable for anyone who has ever felt out of place in society and longed to fit in.”Library Journal, starred review

“A masterpiece . . . Ichikawa asks us to see disability with more equitable eyes.”Booklist

“A funny and feminist story of a woman seeking autonomy, meaning and respect.”—Ms.

“[A] must-read debut.”—BBC

“An important [and] brave book.”World Literature Today

“Told from the perspective of a disabled woman who asserts her sexual autonomy unapologetically, Hunchback is a personal exploration of pleasure and an indictment of the ableism and sexism embedded in society. Hunchback might be considered radical by nondisabled readers because it honestly depicts the innermost thoughts and desires of a disabled woman, which speaks to the lack of disability representation in publishing. . . . Insightful, humorous, and honest.”—Alice Wong, disability activist and author of Year of the Tiger

“A deadpan account of living in a body at war with itself, but this battle does not ask for pity, nor is this narrative, or the body at its center, fragile: It’s full of a force that able bodies can’t fully grasp, written in a language that talks both clinically and sexually. It’s also uproariously funny, unflinching, and merciless.”—Mariana Enriquez, author of Our Share of Night

“Defiant, subversive, sexy, dark, and full of originality, Hunchback breaks like a shard of lightning through a complacent, oppressive world.”—Seán Hewitt, author of Open, Heaven

“Propulsive, sexy, and distilled, Hunchback is the novel on disability and desire I’ve been waiting for. . . . as narratively gripping as it is explosively insightful.”—Daisy Lafarge, author of Paul

“This genre-defying novel plunges us into a world that is so surreal and bizarre and captivating. Filled with dark humor and existential dread, this is a wild ride that teeters on the memorable edge of the absurd.”—Weike Wang, author of Joan Is Okay

“A forceful and original novel which will leave no reader unchanged.”—Nicola Dinan, author of Bellies
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Excerpt

Hunchback

My Steamy Threesome with Super-­Sexy Students in One of Tokyo’s Most Sought-­After Swingers’ Clubs (Part I)

The place in question was just ten minutes’ walk from Shibuya Station.

Spotting the rose slanting across the sign, I knew I’d made it to the Castle of Desire.

But I guess I should introduce myself first, eh? My name’s Mikio, and I’m a freelance writer. The mission I’d been set this time was to report undercover on one of Tokyo’s most legendary swingers’ clubs. So, without further ado . . .

I stepped through the door with S, a college student I’d matched with on a dating app. When she’d locked eyes with me at our appointed meeting place, she’d shot me a smile that reminded me of that new, effortlessly slick female presenter on one of the major TV channels—­in any case, she was super hot. What’s more, the tits jutting out from her black turtleneck jumper were an E-­cup . . . !

I should probably say at this point that I’m already a member of the swingers’ club in question, so there were no problems getting in. Truth is, I used to be a regular, before becoming a writer . . .

The place is made up of three floors. On the first floor is the reception and a locker room, the second floor is the lounge bar, and the third floor is where the playrooms are. It was 8 p.m., and the lounge bar had a nice buzz to it. I’d put the guy to girl ratio at about 7:3.

Stripping off and touching in the lounge bar are prohibited, but kissing is okay—­those are the house rules. As S and I were chatting over mojitos at one of the booth seats, another couple came up, also with mojitos in hand, and asked us if they could join us.

The guy introduced himself as a thirty-two-­year-old trader, very much the jock type. Discovering that S was at Waseda, he revealed that he’d been there himself. The two of them talked up a storm about that for a while, then seamlessly progressed to a steamy make-­out session. This dude was clearly no beginner to these kinds of nightspots! In case you’re wondering, Mikio graduated from a slightly less illustrious university . . . (^^;)

Someone suggested that we take things to the playroom, so we made our way upstairs. A member of staff pointed the four of us to a room that just so happened to be empty. Luck was on our side!

The girl the trader had brought with him, twenty-six-year-old Y who hailed from Minato—­only the most affluent district of Tokyo—­said it was her first time at a sex club. She’d had a fivesome in high school, though. Some education that must have been, jeez . . . ! The playroom had red plastic matting underfoot, and glass walls on all sides. At a push of the remote button, the transparent glass clouded over. Y blew me while I stood there sensing the figures clustered around outside like a bunch of garden gnomes. Man, that felt good! I guess it figures that someone who’d had a fivesome in high school would know how to give decent head. Just as she’d gulped down a load of my pre-­cum, we switched places. I’ve got a thing for doing it with clothes on, so I stood behind her and fondled her tits through her blouse as I licked the inside of her ear.

Meanwhile, S was leaning up against the tinted glass while the trader sucked on her E-­cup tits. The black turtleneck hoisted up around her mouth muffled her moans so they sounded super horny. Her enormous white breasts were glistening and bouncy like ripe Japanese pears. You had to hand it to twenty-one-­year-­old college students! Huge but still pert, they really were a flawless set of tits.

No wonder twenty-six-­year-­old Y was hanging her head, her cheeks reddened by the humiliation of defeat. Although, if I’m being totally honest, I’m not that into big-­breasted women. Y’s regular-­sized, slightly saggy tits were actually way more up my alley. Yeah, she was really turning me on. I stuck a hand into her panties to find she was already dripping wet. “Can I f*** you?” I groaned into her ear. “Sure ”! she replied. I grabbed one of the condom packets that had come pirouetting down from the ceiling at just the right moment, and so began Round One. I took her first in the missionary position and she started moaning like the bit in that Matsuken Samba song where Ken’s voice flicks up weirdly high at the end of his words. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the trader f***ing S from behind, her palms pressed up against the smoked glass, making her orgasm over and over. Thinking that this crazy samba of ours needed an audience, I reached out a hand for the remote. Beyond the panes of glass that turned clear in an instant stood a whole cluster of garden gnomes doing their one-­handed jig.

I saved the document and closed the WordPress editing screen, then set the iPad mini I’d been holding in both hands down onto the toweling blanket drawn across my stomach. While I’d been concentrating on getting to the end of the article, mucus had built up in my windpipe, and the alarm on my Trilogy ventilator was chirruping furiously. I inserted the suction catheter to drain off the mucus—­the air entering through the ventilator tube for the best part of twenty minutes had whipped it up to a foamy texture—­reconnected the ventilator to my tracheostomy tube, then picked up my iPhone from beside my bed and opened the chat app that I used for work.

I’ve just submitted the first half of the Swingers’ Club piece. Do let me know your thoughts when you have a moment.

Once again I suctioned off the mucus rising up, and this time, immediately felt the oxygen moving to my brain. Yeah, that felt—­good.

Thanks very much. Can I ask you to deliver the second half by the end of the week, along with both the Fukuoka and Nagasaki editions of the Top 20 Pickup Spots?

Yes, that’s no problem. I’ll have all three of them to you by Saturday.

I picked up the iPad mini and once again logged in to WordPress. Among the list of articles created by the editorial department, which were so far just a bunch of titles inserted into templates, I tapped on the words reading “Fukuoka Edition” in order to assign Buddha as editor. That was my account name—­Buddha. For twenty-­nine years now, I have been residing in Nirvana. Ever since the day that my under­developed muscles had prevented my heart and lungs from maintaining a normal level of oxygen saturation, and I’d grown faint and passed out by the classroom window in my second year of middle school.

About the Author

Saou Ichikawa
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. More by Saou Ichikawa
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About the Author

Polly Barton
Polly Barton is a translator of Japanese literature and nonfiction. She studied philosophy at the University of Cambridge before travelling with the JET Programme to teach English in Sado Island, Japan. She won the 2019 Fitzcarraldo Editions Essay Prize for Fifty Sounds. More by Polly Barton
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