Reviews

Kutu Adam by Kōbō Abe

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alexmaskill's review against another edition

4.0

A banger, as many Abe books are.

A translation note for the E Dale Saunders version though - at roughly the halfway point, there is a repeated phrase from the beginning. In the translation the second passage is phrased slightly differently to at the beginning. This is an inconsistency that is unique to the translation, and might seem to be conspicuously different but is, I'd dare to say, a translation error. In the original Japanese the two passages are identical. If you notice and think there's something to the paraphrase, know that it's just that the same words in Japanese were translated two different ways.

nadir's review against another edition

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challenging funny mysterious reflective tense

4.25

i haven't been this confused by a book since i tried to read YA in russian in 4th grade? kafka would be kinder on the brain. fascinating/disturbing/disorienting/funny/gross/constrictive/freeing/need to reread this in 3-5 business years

some highlights:

in seeing there is love, in being seen there is abhorrence. one grins, trying to bear the pain of being seen. but not just anyone can be someone who only looks. if the one who is looked at looks back, then the person who was looking becomes the one who is looked at. (73);

the entire rumination on news (pp 66-68);