Weasels in the Attic

by Hiroko Oyamada
Weasels in the Attic cover
Good Books rating 4.0
Literary Fiction
Technical:
  • ID: 424
  • Added: 2025-09-11
  • Updated: 2025-09-11
  • ISBN: 9781783789771
  • Publisher: Granta Books
  • Published: 2022-11-03
  • Formats: 7
  • Reviews: 3
Buy online
Waterstones
Paperback • £9.99

In Hiroko Oyamada's Weasels in the Attic, two friends meet across three dinners in different settings, from a pet shop to a remote mountain home, exploring themes of family, relationships, and the subtle tensions beneath everyday life. Their discussions, often about fish-breeding and dealing with a weasel infestation, unfold with emotional acuity and wry humor, revealing deeper anxieties about fertility and masculinity. The narrative is marked by a surreal sensibility, where the ordinary becomes uncanny, and the characters’ lives intersect with elusive, sometimes sinister undertones. As one friend becomes a father and the other struggles with starting a family, the story probes the complexities of marriage and parenthood in modern Japan without offering clear resolutions, leaving much unsaid and inviting reflection on the unseen pressures shaping contemporary life.

Reviews
Tony's Reading List · 2024-01-07
excellent 4.25

The book is praised as an excellent set of linked stories that thoughtfully examine marriage and parenthood, with a style that blends quiet tension and layered symbolism.

This review appreciates the book's structure as a collection of linked stories that delve deeply into aspects of marriage and parenthood. The reviewer enjoys the genre and notes the author's minimalist but evocative approach, which creates a haunting atmosphere full of symbolic meaning. The stories reveal the complexities and emotional undercurrents of relationships, particularly in the context of Japanese societal expectations. The reviewer finds the book engaging and rewarding for readers who appreciate subtlety and psychological depth in storytelling.

Quick quotes

    Weasels in the Attic is an excellent set of linked stories, a genre I particularly enjoy.

    Oyamada's tales are an exploration of certain aspects of marriage and parenthood.

    A haunting short novel full of quiet tension and layered symbolism.

BookMunch · 2022-11-07
engaging 3.75

The book is described as tremendously readable with a light tone, yet it subtly explores mysterious undercurrents in relationships and life changes.

This review emphasizes the book’s accessibility and engaging narrative style, describing it as tremendously readable despite its seemingly light surface. The reviewer notes the three-part structure and how it gradually reveals mysterious and emotional undercurrents between the characters, particularly the narrator and his wife. They suggest the book serves as a good gateway to exploring the author’s earlier works, appreciating the subtle emotional depth and the quietly unsettling atmosphere that permeates the stories. The review conveys a sense of enjoyment mixed with curiosity about the book’s deeper meanings.

Quick quotes

    Weasels in the Attic is tremendously readable and a great reason to springboard back to those earlier books if you missed them.

    Mysterious undercurrents between the narrator and his wife surface.

    The book tells the story of two friends, one of whom is our narrator and one of whom...

Asian Review of Books · 2022-10-07
intriguing 4.00

The book is an unsettling exploration of fertility, family, and societal expectations in Japan, using subtle, almost surreal encounters between couples to reveal underlying tensions and anxieties.

This review highlights how the book uses three interconnected stories to explore the pressures and complexities of starting a family in contemporary Japan. The encounters between the central couple and their friends, who have successfully started families, are presented with a quiet unease, hinting at something sinister beneath the surface. The reviewer appreciates the author's skill in skirting uncomfortable truths without offering clear resolutions, making the reader feel the weight of societal expectations and personal longing in a nuanced way. The subtle surrealism in the narrative style adds to the disquieting atmosphere, reflecting the emotional ambiguity of parenthood and marriage.

Quick quotes

    Each of Weasels’s three sections are encounters between the central couple and two friends who have been able to start families.

    Oyamada drops hints that something about these friends and their homes is vaguely sinister.

    She never brings readers the relief of looking at a problem straight on—and of course she never resolves a thing.

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