Woman in the Dunes by Kōbō Abe, Kōbō Abe

3.69 AVERAGE

byeol_dahl's review against another edition

2.75
dark tense slow-paced

mainon's review against another edition

3.0
The best parts of this were disturbing but powerful in a way that reminded me of [b:The Vegetarian|25489025|The Vegetarian|Han Kang|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1439328100s/25489025.jpg|18449744], but ultimately I found it fairly repetitive, although ford with strange little asides. In my opinion, this would have benefited from editorial tightening, and could have made an utterly fantastic short story or novella.

arba56's review against another edition

4.0
adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective 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: Yes
ethanhkelly's profile picture

ethanhkelly's review against another edition

4.0
Well written novel that really ties you to the character's journey; I didn't think he was that crazy at the end until I stepped back and realized what I was saying. Definitely something I'd like to read again, physically.
delph_10's profile picture

delph_10's review against another edition

4.0
challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated

bgudmundr's review against another edition

3.0
A story of madness, told with maddening repetitive detail. I'll give another Kobo Abe book a try as this one didn't quite hit the mark for me. Given the cultural differences and time when this was written I could chalk a lot of disagreeable things up to that. However, the digressions by the narrator really made me struggle mightily to continue reading through this. It was quite a slog in some parts, much like having to shovel sand every single night.

Oh well, could have been worse I guess?

kirsten0123's review against another edition

4.25
mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

tqilamckngbrd's review against another edition

3.75
challenging reflective medium-paced
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

obscuredbytrees's review against another edition

5.0
mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

kevfroe's review against another edition

4.0
mysterious reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes