July 30, 2023

Brilliantly absurd short stories with only a tiny hint of horror

The book won the 18th Japan Horror Award for the first short story. I should note that the author himself said he was surprised to find himself in the horror category, and I agree. There were some elements that could have been horror if they were treated differently, but the stories were basically brilliantly weird, with only a light touch of the unsettling.

This is the only book by the author as far as I can tell, and it shows in the relatively unpolished writing (although this also means it's quite low on language difficulty). But the ideas behind the five stories in the book more than make up for it. It's been a while since I read anything this crazy, and I enjoyed it immensely.

I'll try to give the basic premise of the stories in just one sentence (these are all revealed in the very beginning of each story, but I'll spoiler in case you want to go in completely blind):

In the first, award-winning story, a man accidentally realizes he can enter holes of any size (like the water hose in his garden), after which he begins to compulsively enter any hole imaginable.

In the second story, a bereaved family finds out their dead relative had bones of pure gold after his cremation.

In the third story, a woman uses all means necessary to never be exposed to sunlight.

In the fourth story, a man wakes up with a mask on his face, and removing it only results in a new mask appearing underneath.

In the fifth story, a couple comes across an old vending machine which gives you a chance to win a baby with your drink.

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omk3 graded
on March 24, 2025
harder than闇祓L29
omk3 graded
on March 24, 2025
omk3 graded
on May 11, 2024
similar in difficulty to蛇にピアスL30
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on April 14, 2024
harder than木になった亜沙L27
omk3 graded
on March 2, 2024
similar in difficulty to黒い森の記憶L31
omk3 graded
on January 29, 2024
similar in difficulty to怪しくゆかいな妖怪穴L31
omk3 graded
on September 23, 2023
similar in difficulty toあんL30
omk3 graded
on August 31, 2023
easier than家庭用安心坑夫L38
omk3 graded
on July 30, 2023
similar in difficulty to夜市L30
omk3 graded
on July 30, 2023
omk3 graded
on July 30, 2023
similar in difficulty to死体は眠らないL28
omk3 graded
on July 30, 2023
harder thanかがみの孤城L27
omk3 graded
on July 30, 2023
similar in difficulty toコンビニ人間L29
omk3 graded
on July 30, 2023
similar in difficulty to水たまりで息をするL29