The Diving Pool

Book - the diving pool

Author- Yoko Ogawa

Pages - 164

Rating - 4.5/5

Review by - Anuska Saha

Horror is a fascinating genre to me, mainly because of its versatility. If you feel exhausted from horrid creatures and malevolent spirits wrecking havoc in abandoned houses and spooky graveyards, you can always turn to blood-curdling, bone-chilling tales of humans hurting each other in the most gruesome ways. But Yoko Ogawa introduced me to a new side of the horror genre, one that I was not acquainted with - the horror of everyday life.

The Diving Pool by Yoko Ogawa was first published in 1990 and was officially translated into the English language by Stephen Snyder in 2008. It is a novella consisting of three short stories, each as harrowing as the other. A lonely high school girl is crazy in love with her swimmer foster brother, crazed to the point that she takes out her frustrations and twisted feelings in disturbing ways. A woman keeps a pregnancy record of her sister where she meticulously describes her amusement and disgust and the changes her sister undergoes, while the sister in question may not be as normal as she seems to be. Finally, a lonely wife in the process of showing a relative some new accommodation ends up revisiting her old dormitory run by a triple amputee, who may be hiding secrets about himself and the residents.

What intrigues me about this novella is that Mrs. Ogawa does not use exaggerated expressions to communicate the lives of her characters, nor does she downplay them in any way. Instead, it is stated in simple, impassive language, making it seem like the situations the characters get themselves into are as normal as they can be.

Her blunt, yet lyrical style of writing creates a perpetual unsettling atmosphere in the reader’s mind that would haunt you even after you are done reading. In terms of creativity, it sometimes feels like she is from another planet altogether, because the setting and sequence of events are almost always pleasantly surprising.

No matter how eerie she makes mundane daily life seem, there is still a rather innocent quality to the stories she has concocted in this novella. This makes the worlds of her stories ethereal yet quite superficial. A dream where you find yourself entering willingly but would rather leave it no matter the temptation.

A satisfying psychological horror for those interested in bending their minds, The Diving Pool is a must-read novella. You might be horrified, disgusted, puzzled, or even fascinated, but you will never find it boring. Go ahead, try it for yourself today:))

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Do you like Horror?

• 0%Yes ! love the thrill
• 0%way too heart attack inducing
• 0%only if it's done right !