A review by nadir
The Box Man by Kōbō Abe

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);

instead of leaving the box, i shall enclose the world within it. (153)

[coincidentally the perfect follow-up to natsume soseki's the miner]