The Hole

When Asa's husband is offered a new job away from the city, the couple end up relocating. Since his new office is very close to his family's home, it makes sense to move in next door to his parents.

Through the long hot summer, Asa does her best to adjust to their new rural lives, to the constant presence of her in-laws, to the emptiness of her existence and the incessant buzz of cicadas. Then, one day, while running an errand for her mother-in-law, she comes across a strange creature, follows it to the embankment of a river, and ends up falling into a hole—a hole that seems to have been made specifically for her.

Thus begins a series of bizarre experiences that drive Asa deeper into the mysteries of this rural landscape and the family she has married into, leading her to question her role in this world and, eventually, who she even is.

The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada is a thought-provoking tale that questions identity and reality, set amidst the eerie allure of the countryside.