Born with a congenital muscle disorder, Shaka spends her days in her room in a care home outside Tokyo, relying on an electric wheelchair to get around and a ventilator to breathe. But if Shaka's physical life is limited, her quick, mischievous mind has no boundaries: she takes e-learning courses on her iPad, publishes explicit fantasies on websites, and anonymously troll-tweets to see if anyone is paying attention. One day, she tweets into the void an offer of an enormous sum of money for a sperm donor. To her surprise, her new nurse accepts the dare, unleashing a series of events that will forever change Shaka's sense of herself as a woman in the world.
Slim and formidable ... The miracle of this novel is the intellect and spirit of Shaka ... Has been translated with all due edge and verve by Polly Barton. It’s unforgettable.
Short but mighty ... At barely 100 pages, Hunchback is a swift read. But what it lacks in size, it makes up for in sheer power. In just a few short scenes or disarmingly frank interior monologues, Ichikawa delivers a scathing takedown of ableism in modern society and upends the rules about who is allowed the right to desire and to be desired.
Destabilises the notions of what a disabled body can and cannot do, both socially and for herself ... These moments are so delicately balanced between pleasure and lust that they effortlessly merge with the rest of the novella to create a richer story with darkly comic and compelling characters.
