Name: The Ark Sakura
ISBN: 9780241454589

Kobo Abe

The Ark Sakura

Lotus

Kōbō Abe

The author of Woman in the Dunes funny and terrifying novel about an imminentpost-apocalyptic Japan.

jess

not sure i get the hype of this “kafkaesque” or rabid existentialism, alienation and isolation it tries to portray

This Kafkaesque novel is an ambitious work about the lives of outcasts in modern Japan and such troubling themes as ecological destruction, old age, violence, and nuclear war ("New York Times Book Review").

Okay, it's very difficult to talk about the book without entering spoiler territory, but, although the beginning was kind of a drag to go through, i liked it very much. The action takes place in just one day and it's very thought/dialogue based, sprinkled with tints of absurdity here and there. The uncomfortable part of the book concerns the treatment of women where uh...let's just say they're not treated with respect at all times (disgusting both the characters and the viewer), which plays into the surreal and disconcerting view of a "New World".