[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

View post   
File: 754 KB, 1556x2400, 91Whl6nPuTL.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
19259208 No.19259208 [Reply] [Original]

Just finished this. It was pretty great. I'd highly recommend.

People told me this was "horror" and that it gave them an existential crisis, but I found it quite pleasant. Sure there is drama but it is effectively an "enemies-to-lovers" romance story. I also like that it is short (256 pages). Abe is a great storysmith who is able to communicate a lot with a small scope.

>> No.19259335

Yeah it's great. Be sure to watch the Teshigahara film

>> No.19260454

>>19259208
This book is excellent, but calling it romance is profoundly retarded

>> No.19260465

>>19259335
fpbp

>> No.19260830

>>19259208
>"enemies-to-lovers" romance story
You were either filtered or hopelessly optimistic about life (possibly sheltered).

Man is trapped in a giant pit that constantly fills with sand (which is monotonously rotting the only shelter and also eats away at flesh). His entire purpose of existence is now to clear away the sand but it is known that it will eventually consume everything (it has already taken the lion share of the village).

His only direct human contact is a broken woman who is also trapped in the pit. Add that her husband and child were swallowed by the sand (she's hopelessly resigned to her fate); the faceless pit managers captured the man to throw him in there with her to help her work.

The man is slowly worn down. Along the way there was some token Japanese eroticism (bondage) and the man is reduced to a pathetic futile attempt to create something (water-source, a (literal/symbolic) mirage of self-sufficiency).

The end is literally him acclimatizing to futile existence. The overseers leave him outside the pit because he has been thoroughly broken and worn down.

The ending is an anticlimax. We're all trapped. The sand is surely coming. Even if you form a bond with someone (it's questionable how much of the bond he has formed is based on true fulfillment or fatalistic convenience) they're going to be taken away too (motif back to the husband/child being consumed).

It isn't an enemies-to-lovers story. The woman is broken to the point of total passivity from the start and the irony of the story is that the only escape, if it can be called that, is to also resign yourself to fate.

>> No.19260879

>>19260830
I should have been clear that the fact she escapes through presumed death and the man is resigned to stay, although romantic, is the final pessimistic note of irony.

Existential crisis for sure.

>> No.19261316

>>19260454
Be nice. Maybe he was filtered due to youth. It's naive but if he maintains that into middle age, just let him think he beat the game. It's his water trap (be like the woman).

>> No.19261361

>>19259335
Does the film change aspects of the protagonist's character to make the story less pessimistic and more the type of romance OP read into it? So much of it takes place in the protagonist's head it seems like it would be the thing to do in terms of a film (i.e. give it more plot). The fact the director managed not only to put the story on film but also have it acclaimed a masterpiece seems like quite an accomplishment. (Should I moderate expectations...is it mostly considered great because of its cinematography?) I read he directed multiple adaptations of Abe, and also worked closely with him, so the writer must have been satisfied and/or impressed with how he handled his work.

>> No.19261667

>>19259208
yea its not a romance story
if you want better japanese literature I suggest Kokoro.

>> No.19262571

>>19261667
Soseki isn't better than Abe; just different.

>> No.19262725

>IT ISN'T A ROMANCE!!!!11111 u got filtered hehehehe *tips fedora*

Of course the guy doesn't "love" her even at the end, but it is a romance in so far as it is in large part an exploration of the relationship between a man and a woman who fuck. Yes it is also about other things but their relationship one of the moat important concepts in the book. The title is literally "The Woman in the Dunes"

>>19260830
>wahhhhh my edgy interpretation is the only correct perspective

You are completely retarded if you didn't pick up that the reader is supposed to determine for themselves if the finale is a good ending or a bad ending.

>> No.19262782

>>19262725
>you didn't pick up that the reader is supposed to determine for themselves
Check the spoiler text next time retard. (it's questionable how much of the bond he has formed is based on true fulfillment or fatalistic convenience).

I'm sorry you were filtered so hard OP. Try paying attention to smarter people's takes instead of getting triggered next time you start a thread.

>> No.19262795

>>19262725
P.S. The symbolism involving the protagonist channelling his will and intellect into collecting a mirage was pretty on the nose and obvious. You should feel like a true retard for not picking up on it.

>> No.19263799

>>19259208
>I found it quite pleasant. Sure there is drama but it is effectively an "enemies-to-lovers" romance story.
Imagine being this completely filtered. I guess its a credit to Abe Kobo that even a retard will still enjoy his story.

>> No.19263812

>>19262725
>good ending or a bad ending
go back to playing videogames op

>> No.19264108

>>19262571
its been a while since I took my Japanese literature class in tokyo, but yes they are completely different.
If my memory serves me correct Abe and a lot of authors during the time were advocating for communism. which you should be able to find in The Woman in the Dunes.
While Soseki was advocating for Japan to return to traditional Japan pre-meiji era, which is easy to pick up in Kokoro.
Though these authors were 50 years a part and a product of their time.