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A review by adamgolden
The Box Man by Kōbō Abe
2.0
(2.5/5★)
The premise of this book was promising, as I love weird and absurdist novels. The first third had me thinking this would be on par with his most famous work, Woman in the Dunes, but it quickly unraveled into a confusing mess. The non-linear style and multiple (?) narrators made reading this unnecessarily difficult at times, despite having some passages that were bizarrely engaging. My guess is this book was a rough one to translate, and some of the magic was lost in the process.
The premise of this book was promising, as I love weird and absurdist novels. The first third had me thinking this would be on par with his most famous work, Woman in the Dunes, but it quickly unraveled into a confusing mess. The non-linear style and multiple (?) narrators made reading this unnecessarily difficult at times, despite having some passages that were bizarrely engaging. My guess is this book was a rough one to translate, and some of the magic was lost in the process.