A great and incredibly honest book on disability and desire. It is exactly this (often uncomfortable) honesty that permeates this book that makes it so unforgettable and important. This is one of those books that will stay with you long after you finish it.

What a book! Hilarious, sharp, genius. The author manages to create - in less than 100 pages - a character who I will think about for years to come. Any ideas I had about how this book would go when I started reading were utterly subverted. Unapologetic and fearless. The biggest thanks for the publisher for sending an ARC. I will not shut up about this book for some time.

Absolutely astounding. Written by the first disabled author to win Japan’s most prestigious literary award and acclaimed instantly as one of the most important Japanese novels of the 21st century, this is a powerful novella exploring the relationship between disability and desire. This was incredible. I spent my whole time reading with one hand holding the book open and the other clawing for purchase. Hunchback is unflinching, unapologetic and absolutely confrontational. Wonderful, wonderful work.

I LOVE short weird books like this - bonus points for being translated, bonus points for being written by a woman. More of this please! Very strange but really compelling.

Thank you to the publishers for this review copy. I had heard about this book a little while ago but it didn't sound like something I would want to read. Then it was longlisted for the booker international and I thought maybe I have a wrong impression of the book. It is a very short book only about 100 pages so I decided to give it a read. My verdict this book is more than I first expected, but I can see where the early comments on it that I heard were coming from. I suspect this could be a marmite book for many readers but I am happy to have read it and will absolutely be interested in seeing what Saou writes next. A very different debut.