What a strange book, I loved it. The genius of the story is how plainly it shows that both career women and stay at home mothers are up against unjust demands thrown at them with the same flaccid excuse: because you're the woman. Shiba both subverts sexist pressures in the workplace and escapes the patriarchal expectations of motherhood by pretending to be pregnant. She truly does have her cake and eat it too.

Higashinakono is an interesting counter to Shiba's feminine presence in the workplace. He is looked down on by all his coworkers for being pathetic, incompetent, odd, and even disgusting. He is the one who volunteers for the "woman's work" around the office and doesn't seem to notice why his male colleagues deem it beneath them. He is the most considerate and the most seriously invested in Shiba's pregnancy. An unsuccessful middle aged loser by his peers' judgement, yet the one who displays the most humanity and egality -- what does that say about society's values?

Just the right amount of quirk, and more engaging than it appears on the surface.