The story is filled with magical realism, which I’m a big fan of. I’ve found that as the years go on I’ve begun enjoying magical realism much more than pure fantasy – perhaps one day I’ll prefer complete realism. But that day is not today. There are also references to Alice in Wonderland in which a young girl falls through a rabbit-hole and goes on a magical adventure. Much like in Alice in Wonderland the reader is left to interpret which parts of the story are true and which are figments of Asahi’s imagination – especially the brother-in-law who is never referenced by his family and seems to be missing at the end. 

“Cicadas are quiet when it rains. It got me thinking: What would a cicada do if it emerged from the earth and there was nothing but rain for days on end? Would it just die without ever making a sound?”

Hiroko Oyamada, The Hole

The Hole deals with themes such as: gender, family, and isolation. Asahi is referred to as “the bride”, first by Sera who pulls her out of the first hole and later by others in the story. She is also expected to drop everything and move after her husband’s job transfer and when he comes home late at night he doesn’t even thank her for making dinner for him – even when it’s late. Asahi does not enjoy the housewife lifestyle and is very quickly bored by the monotony of keeping a house instead of going to work – but there is nothing she can do with no job opportunities in walking distance. 

“If I were fully awake, I wouldn’t know how I’d get through each day.”

Hiroko Oyamada, The Hole

While the women are seen as homemakers and housewives, the husbands and men in the story are the labourers in a “working to support a family” kind of way. The only man who isn’t doesn’t have a job is grandpa, who is retired, and Asahi’s brother-in-law, who isn’t respected by the community. The only people who seem to even recognise his existence is Asahi and the local children who are happy he has time to play around with them. 

Family is shown as an important part of a person’s life and support system, but also as a burden at times. Her husband’s parents are quick to offer them their second house to live in, but his mother seems to try to control Asahi’s life – in a more manipulative way than the cliché “overbearing mother-in-law” we might be used to. The mother-in-law takes care of her ageing father, which takes its toll on her mental health as well as the family’s finances, showing that family can sometimes be a struggle. When he dies at the end, she is upset and cries, but it seems like she is also a bit relieved – something most everyone can relate to following the death of an old person struggling with their mind.

“It’s just, families are strange things, aren’t they? You have this couple: one man, one woman. A male and a female, if you will. They mate, and why? To leave children behind. And what are the children supposed to do? Turn around and do the whole thing over again? Well, what do you do when what you’ve got isn’t worth carrying on? The things people do for family.”

Hiroko Oyamada, The Hole

The theme of isolation is prevalent throughout the whole novel, perhaps more so than the other themes. The obvious example is Asahi’s isolation from her entire life as they move and she is forced to leave everything behind. She’s becoming more and more isolated from her husband after he began working longer hours. Her brother-in-law is isolated from the village and his own family, living as a hermit in his parents backyard. And Asahi’s mother-in-law has been a housewife all her life. As her husband works long hours, she’s been left alone with her father and his struggling mind, which can’t have been very fun. Therefore it isn’t too hard to understand why she behaves the way she does. 

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed The Hole and I hope to read more of Hiroko Oyamada’s novels in the future. I recommend that you also check it out and let me know what you thought in the comments! 

5/5 strange animals