Hunchback

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

The award-winning, bestselling Japanese phenomenon. An extraordinary, thrilling novel about sex, disability and power 'Without mud, the lotus could not survive.' Born with a congenital muscle disorder, Shaka Isawa has severe spine curvature and uses an electric wheelchair and ventilator. Within the limits of her care home, her life is lived online- she studies, she tweets indignantly, she posts outrageous stories on an erotica website. One day, a new male carer reveals he has read it all - the sex, the provocation, the dirt. Her response An indecent proposal... Written by the first disabled author to win Japan's most prestigious literary award and acclaimed instantly as one of the most important Japanese novels of the 21st century, Hunchback is an extraordinary, thrilling glimpse into the desire and darkness of a woman placed at humanity's edge. 'Filled with unforgettable insight' Sayaka Murata, author of Convenience Store Woman

Reviews

Uproariously funny, unflinching, and merciless. It's not very often you encounter this provocative and yet so refreshingly honest of a read. -- Mariana Enriquez, author of The Dangers of Smoking in Bed
Filled with unforgettable insight -- Sayaka Murata, author of Convenience Store Woman
Brazen in its intensity, radical in its vitality -- Saba Sams, author of Send Nudes
A forceful and original novel which will leave no reader unchanged -- Nicola Dinan, author of Bellies
Propulsive, sexy and distilled, Hunchback is the novel on disability and desire Ive been waiting for. Shifting between the minutiae of physical limits and broader structures of ableism, Saou Ichikawa's writing is as narratively gripping as it is explosively insightful. This is an essential book. -- Daisy Lafarge, author of Paul
Hunchback is an eruption. It dissolves conventional pieties around care. In Saou Ichikawa's world, constraints - both physical and social - can only be overcome by an immense and necessary flourishing of desire. -- Will Harris, author of RENDANG
Defiant, subversive, sexy, dark, and full of originality. Hunchback breaks like a shard of lightning through a complacent, oppressive world. -- Sen Hewitt, author of All Down Darkness Wide
I can honestly say Ive never read anything like it. Its by turns sharp and tender, both shocking and mordantly funny. Its an incredibly generous dispatch from an experience most people simply cant imagine (and choose to avert their eyes from). I loved it so much I could go on and on -- Emmett de Monterey, author of Go the Way Your Blood Beats
Frank and unflinching, this transgressive novel about disability, privilege and desire demands your attention from the very first page. Its a true firecracker and I was absolutely gripped by Ichikawa's bold, fresh voice. -- Alice Slater, author of Death of a Bookseller

Author Bio

Saou Ichikawa (1979-) graduated from the School of Human Sciences, Waseda University. Her bestselling debut novel Hunchback won the 128th Bungakukai Prize for New Writers and the 169th Akutagawa Prize. She is the first author with a physical disability to receive the Akutagawa Prize, Japan's premier literary award. She has congenital myopathy, and uses a ventilator and an electric wheelchair