Diary of a Void

 

Diary of a Void / Emi Yagi
trans. from the Japanese by David Boyd and Lucy North
NY: Viking, 2022, c2020.
213 p.

Another workplace novel, of sorts - this one is about women's roles in the workplace, maternity, and expectations of all kinds. 

At age 34,  Ms. Shibata leaves one workplace because of sexual harassment, and finds a new role at a cardboard tube manufacturer. She is the only woman in the office and discovers that all the little niceties fall to her, simply because she is a woman. Coffee, keeping the office tidy, distributing any vendor gifts, and so forth -- all just left for her, because she is female. And if these things aren't done, she is directly asked. She has had enough. 

So one day, asked to clear the coffee cups and cigarettes from a meeting, she refuses, saying that she is pregnant and the smell makes her sick. Bang! She no longer has to do so many things. But she is not, in fact, pregnant. 

But one said, this becomes a fact - she is treated differently because of the belief that she is pregnant. She doesn't have to do so many of the tedious chores at work. How is she going to maintain this fiction, though? She comes up with some ideas. Eventually she convinces even herself that she is pregnant, joining a maternity yoga class, finding a doctor, thinking about names...and going on maternity leave. 

It was  a compelling read, one that highlights so many nuances in women's experiences of the workplace, in particular. The way that single women in their thirties are treated differs from mothers, even single mothers like Ms. Shibata. This is key to the book, and while it started getting a little weird for a while, the ending draws everything together. It leaves you thinking.