Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by bc_dittemore
The Woman in the Dunes by Kōbō Abe
5.0
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.