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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
dark
mysterious
reflective
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
It's unnecessary long and in some points even confused. The main character is really annoying and I hated the dynamics between him and the woman. I get it what the author wanted to express with this book, but I didn't enjoy it.
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was extremely tedious for most of the book but I get the sense it’s just a case of bad translation? Also it had (intentionally) such an intense feeling of suffocation and powerlessness which was completely unrelenting. It was so unpleasant to read and I had to force myself to finish this. The ending was abrupt and unsatisfying. The narrator is extremely dislikable and I don’t believe he was intended to be dislikable (brutish, rapey man who has no idea he is brutish and rapey). But also there were some good lines in there, I have to admit. Conflicted on this one
challenging
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Unfortunately for kobo abé this was my third book about detention of people in a row. I’ve had it. My friend mark who I volunteered for at his house and garden in japan really loved this book so I made it through the end but gosh it made me feel just uncomfortable. I’m just not the right fit as a reader, I’d rather read something that makes me feel inspired and joyful and loving and this book is just really disgusting where you have to imagine all the San in all your crevices at all times, hurting you, dusting your lungs, your water… and no real reason for the capturing similar to “I who have never known men”. But well it showed that yes at some point even people who are captured against their will, are gonna make do with it, having gotten accustomed to their new life…..
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Kidnapping
As a lover of Japanese literature, Kobo Abe has been on my radar for some time. I saw Hiroshi Teshigahara’s film adaptation ages ago, but remembered little about it, besides the exquisite black and white cinematography. So going into the novel was essentially like experiencing this existential story for the first time.
Everything about The Woman in the Dunes is absurd. Yet, simultaneously, nothing about it is. Which makes absolute sense, given that the novel is, at its most basic, a metaphor for human existence. We are all of us stuck in a metaphorical hole trying to get out. Dealing with our inadequacies, our strengths, our sexuality. Attempting to understand that which is the hardest to comprehend — the motives of other human beings. The point of suffering. The idea of freedom through toil. And ultimately the realization that free will is maybe not what we think it is.
I listened to this on Audible and Julian Cihi narrated it perfectly, further enriching Kobo Abe’s bleak and haunting take on the human condition.
Everything about The Woman in the Dunes is absurd. Yet, simultaneously, nothing about it is. Which makes absolute sense, given that the novel is, at its most basic, a metaphor for human existence. We are all of us stuck in a metaphorical hole trying to get out. Dealing with our inadequacies, our strengths, our sexuality. Attempting to understand that which is the hardest to comprehend — the motives of other human beings. The point of suffering. The idea of freedom through toil. And ultimately the realization that free will is maybe not what we think it is.
I listened to this on Audible and Julian Cihi narrated it perfectly, further enriching Kobo Abe’s bleak and haunting take on the human condition.