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3.69 AVERAGE
3.69 AVERAGE
From what I understand, existentialism is to consider humanity, what our purpose is, and how to make decisions in an absurd or irrational universe. As I read about the woman and the entire town shoveling sand I wondered how she thought life was worth living, everyday she existed just to shovel and survive and I think the main character thought that too. But that logic can be applied to anything, including his motivation/interest in life which was collecting and discovering new insects. Something that I thought was interesting was the he was declared dead from modern society but we know that he continued to live and established a place for himself in the village with a wife/lover and family. I wondered what that ending meant, does it imply that he no longer exists because he isn't living in a city working as a teacher and interacting with his colleagues? The novel makes you think about what the point is in living which makes it existential. It definitely made me feel a bit sad about life because of the pandemic as I spend most of my days inside interacting only with my partner and my cat going through the motions spending 14 hours in front of a screen. The lack of real human interaction parallels the experiences of the main character and I'm desperate for this to end, but I also winder if going to school/work in person will really be as rewarding as I think and that once I get the opportunity like the main character did I won't take full advantage of it. There will always be something holding me back, for the main character it was his water collecting machine and perhaps his newborn child and lover. Sorry if this is oversharing by the way, but I did enjoy this novel and the way it made me think/consider humanity and our existence!
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
tense
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
Not my ordinary cup of tea but I enjoyed it. It is a short novel and thus there is no need for investing a lot of time in reading it> definitely would recommend it:
I’d say I am generally not fan of books with dark worlds ( or maybe it is the ongoing pandemic which has taken a toll on my mental health ): that being said, I liked the symbolism, the constant character ( woman) and the variable (the man ) and their relationship, amazed by perfect English translation ( don’t know any Japanese so my comment is not that valuable on this matter)
There is also a movie adaptation and some good covers to help with visualizing this world
I’d say I am generally not fan of books with dark worlds ( or maybe it is the ongoing pandemic which has taken a toll on my mental health ): that being said, I liked the symbolism, the constant character ( woman) and the variable (the man ) and their relationship, amazed by perfect English translation ( don’t know any Japanese so my comment is not that valuable on this matter)
There is also a movie adaptation and some good covers to help with visualizing this world
I’m not sure if it was the head space I was in going into it, but I quickly devoured this book. It’s a weird book to love, but I loved it.
Themes around gender, sex and resulting power imbalances made me have visceral reactions while reading. The perpetuating feeling of constant sandiness pervades the read.
What is form to the formless?
All I know is that I will try to brave buying 1 way tickets.
Themes around gender, sex and resulting power imbalances made me have visceral reactions while reading. The perpetuating feeling of constant sandiness pervades the read.
What is form to the formless?
All I know is that I will try to brave buying 1 way tickets.
One thing I'm learning about myself is that I rate highly weird sort of unpleasant characters/books, and this sure as hell is that. The translation is *fantastic*, the imagery is distinct and imaginative while being very well thought out. And there are even illustrations? Short but slow for me because it was so bleak. Definitely far from straightforwardly enjoyable, but so so interesting and so metaphorical. Minus a star for all the discussion of his "member" and the related on page violence
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence
A man travels on vacation to a sandy beach where he encounters a strange village.
Bleah, did not like. Skimmed. This isn't a surreal book, but one of those ham-fisted metaphor books where some guy feels sorry for himself about being trapped in his life and takes his frustration out on the woman next to him. Yay. This was old hat even back when this was written. It was probably old hat in the time of the ancient Greeks.
I liked the writing, but I can't recommend this.
Bleah, did not like. Skimmed. This isn't a surreal book, but one of those ham-fisted metaphor books where some guy feels sorry for himself about being trapped in his life and takes his frustration out on the woman next to him. Yay. This was old hat even back when this was written. It was probably old hat in the time of the ancient Greeks.
I liked the writing, but I can't recommend this.
