Review: 'Hollow Inside' by Asako Otani, trans. by Ginny Tapley Takemori

If you enjoy reading about adults trying to figure out what to do with their lives in a way that may not be super-healthy but is the best they can do, then Hollow Inside is for you. It's a novella that raises a lot of questions without giving you answers, but that is in and of itself a valuable reading experience, even if it can also be frustrating. Thanks to Steerforth & Pushkin and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Pub. Date: 05/05/2026
Publisher: Steerforth & Pushkin 

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 this skewed, mordantly funny Japanese novel, two women navigate aging and relationships in divergent ways.

Hirai, 38, has recently started living with her colleague Suganuma, 42. Both women are single and feel ambivalent at best about the prospect of marriage. Stuck in bland jobs that don’t pay enough for them to afford one-bedroom apartments in the city, they defy social expectation and create their own domestic routines, allowing space for Suganuma’s side-hustle—3D-printing figurines of beloved dead pets for their grieving owners.

Though initially united by their resistance to romantic love, the pair begin tentative forays toward partnership. Suganuma strikes up a secret affair, which shocks Hirai into action and back into the world of dating apps. As she drifts through painfully adequate dates and endures intrusive questions at office socials, Hirai frets over whether she really needs to freeze her eggs again. In a dating world sapped of genuine connection, where can she turn to feel less hollow?

The debut novel by a bright new voice in Japanese fiction, Hollow Inside won the prestigious Subaru Prize. With a dark, deadpan tone and sharply witty observation, Asako Otani satirizes the myths and pressures of contemporary romantic love, as Hirai and Suganuma try to chart their own paths in a precarious world.

Sometimes you read a story that leaves you unsure about many things. What is this story about? What am I meant to take away from it? Why are the lives shown here so empty? Is my own life empty? Can we find satisfaction and comfort in a world that is becoming ever emptier of meaning and true connection? As you can see, asking such questions quickly spirals into wondering about yourself and that is most likely the point of stories like Hollow Inside. While this is a Japanese novella and therefore reflects social and cultural attitudes towards single, middle-ages women there, it also speaks more widely to adult life globally, I feel. Our societies are becoming ever more commercial and capitalist, with the pursuit of happiness directly tied to how much you can buy and how much you can show off. This is linked, however, to an ever-increasing loneliness, exacerbated by rising costs and failing social safety nets. Do we take refuge in our favourite bands? Do we band together with our friends? Do we open up and accept less than we want, just to have something? These aren't necessarily fun things to think about, but it is probably good to sit down with these questions every once in a while.

Summarising Hollow Inside is tricky. The novella focuses on Hirai, who is in the last years of her thirties and has just moved in with a female friend and colleague, Suganuma. Neither of them has a relationship, neither of them has a whole lot to look forward to, but they find comfort and companionship in one another. When Suganuma re-enters the dating world, Hirai follows, but there is not a whole lot of excitement or joy to be found there either. The title most directly refers to Suganuma's side job, producing 3D-prints of deceased pets, which are hollow on the inside. It most importantly, however, also refers to the hollowness of Hirai's life, to the absence of something profound and touching that can give her life meaning. The tone of the novel echoes this hollowness in its direct, unflowery language. In part this feels typical of the style of Japanese fiction I have read so far, but there is an added lack of colour and life in Hollow Inside which is impressive. Ginny Tapley Takemori once again provides an excellent translation, from what I can tell. I appreciate that none of this sounds like I'm recommending this novella, and yet I think that I am. Not all reading experiences can or should be fun and I do think Asako Otani puts a feeling into words that is otherwise difficult to discuss and approach. 

I give this novella...

3 Universes!

Hollow Inside sets you up for a complex reading experience, one which is at once empty and full of hidden meaning. If you are willing to meet the novel in that absence, to face your own hollowness, then it can be a very rich, if perhaps sad, encounter.