Kobo Abe

The inhabitants of a remote seaside village imprison a Japanese biologist in a deep sand pit

The Woman in the Dunes

The Woman in the Dunes, by celebrated writer and thinker Kobo Abe, combines the essence of myth, suspense and the existential novel. After missing the last bus home following a day trip to the seashore, an amateur entomologist is offered lodging for the night at the bottom of a vast sand pit. But when he attempts to leave the next morning, he quickly discovers that the locals have other plans. Held captive with seemingly no chance of escape, he is tasked with shoveling back the ever-advancing sand dunes that threaten to destroy the village. His only companion is an odd young woman. Together their fates become intertwined as they work side by side at this Sisyphean task.

Angus Bretherick

B.H. Pitt

haunting and claustrophobic--the nightmare of finding yourself a bug trapped in a jar.

Omar Fernandez

At times I grew restless reading this book. Likely due to growing tiredness of the situation the main character found himself in. Abe's genius is probably reflected on just how extensively I felt for the plight of the main character. 

"Loneliness was an unsatisfied thirst for illusion."

Gabriela Roxana 

4.25

This book fascinated me from the end to the beginning.

Bram Bogaerts

Kōbō Abe

Heurs et malheurs d'un homme qui, parti à la recherche d'un insecte des sables, échoue dans un petit village perdu au fond des dunes. Commence alors un étrange cauchemar... La Femme des sables est incontestablement l'un des plus grands romans de la littérature japonaise contemporaine. Traduit dans le monde entier, il a été couronné, au Japon, par le prix Akutagawa (1962) et, en France, par le pris du Meilleur Livre étranger (1967).

The Woman in the Dunes

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