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乙女の本棚 #1
Hell in a Bottle: Maiden's Bookshelf
Two young siblings left to survive on a deserted island, waiting for the rescue that may never come.
They find joy in the wonders of their own personal Eden—until "the demon" shakes their faith and leads them down the path of temptation...
Told through a series of letters sealed in bottles and thrown out to sea, Kyusaku Yumeno's classic is just as harrowing and immediate today as when it was first published in 1928.
The Maiden's Bookshelf series combines classic short stories of the early 20th century with gorgeous original artwork to create collectible editions for a contemporary audience.
They find joy in the wonders of their own personal Eden—until "the demon" shakes their faith and leads them down the path of temptation...
Told through a series of letters sealed in bottles and thrown out to sea, Kyusaku Yumeno's classic is just as harrowing and immediate today as when it was first published in 1928.
The Maiden's Bookshelf series combines classic short stories of the early 20th century with gorgeous original artwork to create collectible editions for a contemporary audience.
64 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1928
7 people are currently reading
206 people want to read
About the author
Kyūsaku Yumeno
275 books118 followersYumeno Kyūsaku (native name: 夢野 久作) was the pen name of the early Shōwa period Japanese author Sugiyama Yasumichi. The pen name literally means "a person who always dreams." He wrote detective novels and is known for his avant-gardism and his surrealistic, wildly imaginative and fantastic, even bizarre narratives.
Kyūsaku’s first success was a nursery tale Shiraga Kozō (White Hair Boy, 1922), which was largely ignored by the public. It was not until his first novella, Ayakashi no Tsuzumi (Apparitional Hand Drum, 1924) in the literary magazine Shinseinen that his name became known.
His subsequent works include Binzume jigoku (Hell in the Bottles, 1928), Kori no hate (End of the Ice, 1933) and his most significant novel Dogra Magra (ドグラマグラ, 1935), which is considered a precursor of modern Japanese science fiction and was adapted for a 1988 movie.
Kyūsaku died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1936 while talking with a visitor at home.
Kyūsaku’s first success was a nursery tale Shiraga Kozō (White Hair Boy, 1922), which was largely ignored by the public. It was not until his first novella, Ayakashi no Tsuzumi (Apparitional Hand Drum, 1924) in the literary magazine Shinseinen that his name became known.
His subsequent works include Binzume jigoku (Hell in the Bottles, 1928), Kori no hate (End of the Ice, 1933) and his most significant novel Dogra Magra (ドグラマグラ, 1935), which is considered a precursor of modern Japanese science fiction and was adapted for a 1988 movie.
Kyūsaku died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1936 while talking with a visitor at home.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
May 15, 2024
Pre-review: 'The Maiden’s Bookshelf series' and ton of elegant artwork, plus Hell in a Bottle by Kyusaku Yumeno!!!!!! What more can I ask for!
(1) The artwork is soooooooooooo exquisite!!! It takes my breath away!
(2) Fuck, Mr. Yumeno expressed such sweet, sickening darkness through his writing!!! I like the dark fairytale kind of style!
Review for Nakajima Atsushi's The Moon Over the Mountain (illustrated version).
Review for Dazai Osamu's The Girl Who Becames a Fish
Whenever we looked at each other, our eyes would fill with the growing darkness of a deathly gloom
(1) The artwork is soooooooooooo exquisite!!! It takes my breath away!
(2) Fuck, Mr. Yumeno expressed such sweet, sickening darkness through his writing!!! I like the dark fairytale kind of style!
Review for Nakajima Atsushi's The Moon Over the Mountain (illustrated version).
Review for Dazai Osamu's The Girl Who Becames a Fish
November 24, 2022
I can not even explain how this book made me feel.. ah, it felt like being trapped in a dream full of religious trauma and suicidal idealization. I feel I could read this again just to understand it more. And, the art is so amazingly beautiful.
February 9, 2023
I am confused, but the concept was super cool and the artwork was MESMERIZING.
February 19, 2024
Started reading in September 2023. Read 1/3 and was very confused. Tried reading it today again. Ended up skimming through the book. I understand the plot, but it wasn’t something for me.
The art is pretty though.
The art is pretty though.
June 1, 2024
The art in this book is beautiful.
This is an adaptation of a short story from the 1920s about two castaway siblings on a deserted island, written as three letters in separate bottles. The first bottle (which is the last letter to be written) is a suicide note to their parents who are aboard a rescue boat that has come to save them. They have done something unforgivable and can't live off the island knowing what they have done. Now that rescue is imminent, they must end their lives.
The second bottle containing the second letter is an account of their life on the island by the older brother. At first he believes he is in paradise, using the bible that washed ashore with him to guide and educate himself and his younger sister and the bounty of the island for food and shelter. When the siblings bodies start to mature, the older brother begins to have incestuous thoughts and believes his sister to feel the same way. He knows this is sinful, but the thoughts, which he refers to as the demon, don't go away. His paradise has become hell and the temptation never ends. Eventually he decides to stop fighting and give in to his preverse desires. He destroys the marker they put up to signal to on coming ships, figuring if he never rejoins society, his sin won't matter. He also burns the bible, knowing he can't read it anymore if he goes through with his desires. He then searches the island for his sister and drags her back to their makeshift home to presumably do the deed. (It should be noted here that she does not go willingly, so the claims of her also desiring it and having similar thoughts indicate an unreliable narrator). When he gets back to the home, he finds it in ashes. The burning bible had taken the home with it. Being punished so swiftly for giving up the fight against the demon, he loses the resolve to go through with the act. The letter ends with them shivering in the cold and unwilling to hold each other for warmth because of what almost occurred. (Because of the previous bottle, we know it does eventually occur, but I'm happy I didn't have to read about it.)
The third bottle and first letter is short. It is simply a wish to be rescued from the island they just landed on, signed by both siblings.
Despite the troubling subject matter of this story, I did find it compelling. The thing they wished for when they were younger and innocent, a rescue boat, becomes the trigger for their last note and impending suicide. The relationship between sin and punishment also plays out interestingly throughout the narrative. His first sin is arguably having the incestuous thoughts. As punishment, his paradise where he has lived so happily and healthily with his sister before, becomes a living hell. His second sin is giving up the fight against those thoughts. When the mental shift tales hold, he destroys their hope of salvation by destroying the marker for rescue AND the bible. Without society and without God, is the act even a sin? (Yes. Obviously). As punishment, their shelter is destroyed and even though he didn't commit the act, the willingness to go through with it is sin enough. The final sin is of course committing the act, and this is punished with death. All three punishments can be seen as both self-inflicted and an act of God depending on perspective. He in theory could have had the thought and let it pass without being tormented, he could have destroyed the bible without it burning down his home, and the boat could have never come, meaning he would have felt he could have continued to live.
I feel I have written too much about a disturbing story about suicide, incest, and religious trauma, but I suppose I was able to discuss Game of Thrones at length and it had a similar overlap of themes while wasting a lot more of my time.
This is an adaptation of a short story from the 1920s about two castaway siblings on a deserted island, written as three letters in separate bottles. The first bottle (which is the last letter to be written) is a suicide note to their parents who are aboard a rescue boat that has come to save them. They have done something unforgivable and can't live off the island knowing what they have done. Now that rescue is imminent, they must end their lives.
The second bottle containing the second letter is an account of their life on the island by the older brother. At first he believes he is in paradise, using the bible that washed ashore with him to guide and educate himself and his younger sister and the bounty of the island for food and shelter. When the siblings bodies start to mature, the older brother begins to have incestuous thoughts and believes his sister to feel the same way. He knows this is sinful, but the thoughts, which he refers to as the demon, don't go away. His paradise has become hell and the temptation never ends. Eventually he decides to stop fighting and give in to his preverse desires. He destroys the marker they put up to signal to on coming ships, figuring if he never rejoins society, his sin won't matter. He also burns the bible, knowing he can't read it anymore if he goes through with his desires. He then searches the island for his sister and drags her back to their makeshift home to presumably do the deed. (It should be noted here that she does not go willingly, so the claims of her also desiring it and having similar thoughts indicate an unreliable narrator). When he gets back to the home, he finds it in ashes. The burning bible had taken the home with it. Being punished so swiftly for giving up the fight against the demon, he loses the resolve to go through with the act. The letter ends with them shivering in the cold and unwilling to hold each other for warmth because of what almost occurred. (Because of the previous bottle, we know it does eventually occur, but I'm happy I didn't have to read about it.)
The third bottle and first letter is short. It is simply a wish to be rescued from the island they just landed on, signed by both siblings.
Despite the troubling subject matter of this story, I did find it compelling. The thing they wished for when they were younger and innocent, a rescue boat, becomes the trigger for their last note and impending suicide. The relationship between sin and punishment also plays out interestingly throughout the narrative. His first sin is arguably having the incestuous thoughts. As punishment, his paradise where he has lived so happily and healthily with his sister before, becomes a living hell. His second sin is giving up the fight against those thoughts. When the mental shift tales hold, he destroys their hope of salvation by destroying the marker for rescue AND the bible. Without society and without God, is the act even a sin? (Yes. Obviously). As punishment, their shelter is destroyed and even though he didn't commit the act, the willingness to go through with it is sin enough. The final sin is of course committing the act, and this is punished with death. All three punishments can be seen as both self-inflicted and an act of God depending on perspective. He in theory could have had the thought and let it pass without being tormented, he could have destroyed the bible without it burning down his home, and the boat could have never come, meaning he would have felt he could have continued to live.
I feel I have written too much about a disturbing story about suicide, incest, and religious trauma, but I suppose I was able to discuss Game of Thrones at length and it had a similar overlap of themes while wasting a lot more of my time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 21, 2023
The illustrations are breathtakingly beautiful... reading this version is a completely different experience.
November 30, 2024
If I may be permitted a snarky review, this (gorgeously illustrated) story is basically "The Blue Lagoon, but Literary."
Read
December 9, 2022'Two young siblings left to survive on a deserted island, waiting for the rescue that may never come. They find joy in the wonders of their own personal Eden- until "the demon" shakes their faith and leads them down the path of temptation...'
Illustrations by Towoji Honojiro.
Hell in a Bottle is rather short (~8 pages) story. Still, it is an effective one.
It starts with the discovery of three bottled letters, and it is through reading these letters that the paranoia and dread unfolds.
I was already familiar with Yumeno's writing thanks to his later work "Dogra Magra", and I find myself even curioser after reading this short story. In particular, I am very intrigued by the themes present here and how they connect with the time period (1928, VERY early Showa period, almost late Taisho). I hope more of his novels get translated into English in the future.
(Also, the illustrations were mesmerasing, although at times a bit too modern for my taste, for ex. I think the story required a more older style of design for the characters' clothes/setting... I guess that adds to the confusion and mystery the story wants to relate? Maybe)
Illustrations by Towoji Honojiro.
Hell in a Bottle is rather short (~8 pages) story. Still, it is an effective one.
It starts with the discovery of three bottled letters, and it is through reading these letters that the paranoia and dread unfolds.
I was already familiar with Yumeno's writing thanks to his later work "Dogra Magra", and I find myself even curioser after reading this short story. In particular, I am very intrigued by the themes present here and how they connect with the time period (1928, VERY early Showa period, almost late Taisho). I hope more of his novels get translated into English in the future.
(Also, the illustrations were mesmerasing, although at times a bit too modern for my taste, for ex. I think the story required a more older style of design for the characters' clothes/setting... I guess that adds to the confusion and mystery the story wants to relate? Maybe)
August 4, 2024
Review of Books 1 to 5 in the Maiden's Bookshelf series here.
Told in reversed chronological order through messages in bottles, Hell in a Bottle follows two siblings who’ve been stranded on a deserted Eden-like island for years. They are surrounded by abundant resources and have a bible for education and guidance. However, their downfall begins when they age and begin to feel tempted by sinful desires.
Suffice it to say, this short story is a tragic one. It loosely parallels the story of Adam and Eve, and focuses on the themes of sin and punishment, religious trauma, suicide and implicit incest.
Told in reversed chronological order through messages in bottles, Hell in a Bottle follows two siblings who’ve been stranded on a deserted Eden-like island for years. They are surrounded by abundant resources and have a bible for education and guidance. However, their downfall begins when they age and begin to feel tempted by sinful desires.
Suffice it to say, this short story is a tragic one. It loosely parallels the story of Adam and Eve, and focuses on the themes of sin and punishment, religious trauma, suicide and implicit incest.
December 27, 2022
Spoiler alert I guess but straight up this was just a story of ?? This is a short story that was published in 1928 and while I can easily imagine this being studied in university or whatever, this whole production seems to me to romanticize the whole thing, which I'm guessing (hoping?) is not the original intent of the work.
May 23, 2025
This is book is a beautiful work of art. As a whole. The artwork itself is something entirely unmatched. But it along side the story, which for some reason my brain keeps wanting to call lyrics, was just hallucinatory. I felt like the story would get somewhere, in fact it really was going somewhere. It had so much going for it. But then it just didn't and that didn't feel right.
Now there seem to be more on this series with the same wonder and dream. Please give.
Now there seem to be more on this series with the same wonder and dream. Please give.
July 9, 2025
A short story about dark thoughs, innocence that gets corrupted with dark fantasies, which ultimately leads to shame and suicide.
Told in form of three letters that a pair of siblings write to their parents and throw in the sea in a bottle while waiting on a stranded island to be rescued, Hell in a bottle isn't for everyone.
This particular edition comes with beautiful illustrations giving the story an amazing touch.
Told in form of three letters that a pair of siblings write to their parents and throw in the sea in a bottle while waiting on a stranded island to be rescued, Hell in a bottle isn't for everyone.
This particular edition comes with beautiful illustrations giving the story an amazing touch.
March 27, 2023
This was such a deeply compelling read, I wanted to read on and on and yet it was over so soon. It's a short tale told beautifully and with some genuinely excellent illustrations to accompany it. I couldn't recommend this short story enough, and I can't wait for more Maden's Bookshelf entries if they're to this quality.
August 7, 2024
2 stars, mostly for art. I don't know if I just didn't connect with this or if I was too distracted by the parts of the story that made it sound like the brother was lusting after his sister. Either way, I don't think this one was for me which is sad because I liked the art and set up of the book alot.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 27, 2023
A book that I picked up because it was on the new shelf and had interesting art. The art is very nice (though only tangentially related to the story, and a bit too cutely modern, and generic in the sort of anime/manga style in my opinion), but the story did not feel at all interesting. It is
July 2, 2024
Three letters sent inside bottles, telling the story of two siblings stranded in an island. Long story short, it is basically The Blue Lagoon but more bleak. The art is very beautiful but I don't think it matches the period of the story.
November 10, 2024
1 star, barely
What could've been an interesting premise is instead a tired story about incest, conveniently from the POV of the older brother. 😒
The art is pretty if you don't have any of the context of the story, though.
What could've been an interesting premise is instead a tired story about incest, conveniently from the POV of the older brother. 😒
The art is pretty if you don't have any of the context of the story, though.
June 26, 2025
Trigger warnings - incest and suicidal ideation. I picked this up years ago because the art and title were cool and the description on the back was interesting. There are so many other paths this could have taken, but instead it gave me the ick. It’s an absolutely not for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 7, 2023
Scheduling a lobotomy ASAP.
December 9, 2023
What a beautiful book, the illustrations the shift of colour and also the story. The demon I think is lust, not sure will read again
June 9, 2024
the artwork is breathtaking and the story is intriguing
July 23, 2024
It's a short story and I didn't like it.
March 19, 2025
An amazing masterpiece
October 1, 2025
underwhelming af
August 3, 2024
I love love love the idea of taking older short stories and republishing them with artistic illustrations. I will definitely read the others in the series.
This one is told through messages in bottles, of two children stranded on an island of paradise that devolves into torment as they age. Haunting story and impressive corresponding art.
This one is told through messages in bottles, of two children stranded on an island of paradise that devolves into torment as they age. Haunting story and impressive corresponding art.
February 9, 2024
this is the second thing that ive read by kyusaku yumeno and i really liked it!! im a big fan of his writing style. it was a really short story that i just randomly stumbled across online in pdf form and i was SO excited. i enjoyed reading this but i was a little confused what was going on between the siblings? i dont understand what their "sin" was!! it was not very clear at all but i THINK they like fell in love or something. i think the religious connections were really interesting and how similar this was to the garden of eden and the temptation of the snake/demon was REALLY cool. showed themes of religious trauma and suicidal ideation and im always a big fan of those. great short story!!
September 2, 2024
The Maiden’s Bookshelves (乙女の本棚 Otome no Hondana) series can be a hit or a miss depending on the artwork. These illustrations by Honojiro Towoji ホノジロトヲジ lean toward the self-complacent, “I want to draw pretty pictures” side of the spectrum, but they don’t disturb Yumeno Kyusaku’s story, “Hell in a Bottle.”
May 3, 2024
Absolutely stunning art! The writing is beautiful and haunting. Its rather vague, even for this kind of surrealist short story, but still short and enjoyable. I was conflicted between three and four stars but I think ultimately the religious imagery and themes are interesting enough to make this a four star short story.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews