Book: The Woman in the Dunes
Author: Kobe Abe
The name of this book is intriguing and caught my eye right away. Kobe Abe is a fine psychologist who follows his characters with patience throughout their story. His style is in a way similar to that of Kawabata. Both like to focus on few characters and to take these to the extremes. Abe is not a poet like Kawabata, he has more strength, more power in his voice. Kawabata makes everything beautiful, smooth. And Abe makes it real, alive but brings more drama.
This story is unusual: a professor is kept against his will in a Japanese village in the dunes. He goes through all the states of mind from disarray, panic, distress, loneliness reaching in the end acceptance. But the road is difficult since his new life is forced on him too rough and sudden.
At first though it even seems to be a nightmare. But in the morning nothing changes and he’s forced to deal with his sudden situation … He hopes in vain that somebody will search for him, but it seems that nobody does it.
The survival of the village is the essence and this can only be done by work. People have to work at night to stop the sand from destroying their homes and lives.
Do you shovel to survive, or survive to shovel?
He fights with himself and the villagers by trying to escape. But his little knowledge of the surroundings impedes him to reach the light, the freedom.
I have really failed!
But there hasn’t been a single person who made it … not one.
His only relief is the woman with whom he shares the new house. She is also a kind of prisoner in the world where the sand destroys everything.
Is there a reason why he should be a prisoner when all the laws are against it?
Oh, illegal detention … But there’s no end to human greed, don’t you see? You’re a valuable possession for the villagers …
Other reviews or resources:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/oct/07/featuresreviews.guardianreview26
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9998.The_Woman_in_the_Dunes