The man, mostly referred to as "the man" in the entire book, except perhaps a couple of times by his real name, gets caught by a pack of villagers living in these sand dunes and is made to live with a single woman whose work seems to be collecting sand every night. The purpose is for him to work alongside her and may be, in time, get together with her. Read "sleep together, have babies, make a family, etc." From the beginning the whole sham seemed a little too absurd, and it seemed like the man himself thought so as well. But as unreal as it may have seemed, with time, the villagers proved that they meant business. First of all, the house he was a captive at, like all the other houses in the village, was at the bottom of a pit surrounded by sand. The only way up was by a rope ladder which the villagers took away as soon as he was lured inside, like an insect.
In this hellish land of coarse sand, the man, with the woman, lives, day after day, while trying to devise a plan of escape. A couple of times he comes close, only to fail miserably. The woman is quite another mystery. She is like a child at times, and other times she appears to be a cunning seductress herself. Which she truly is, is a mystery. In time, to me it seemed like she is simply a lonely soul thirsty for some form of human connection and intimacy.
The pace of the story was, at first, quite fast, and then, on the second half, not so much. To be honest, I sort of lost interest in the second half of the book and kind of rushed the reading process. The Woman in the Dunes is the second book I have read by Kobo Abe, the first being, The Face of Another (review here), and that book was quite something else. I think my expectations were set quite high for this book since I loved The Face of Another so much. Compared to that, The Woman in the Dunes kind of fell short. If I had read this book first, I might have enjoyed it more. Kobo Abe portrays a very vivid picture in this book as well. The frustration of the man trapped in this sand hell is captured perfectly, enough to make the reader feel some of his frustration and desperation. And yet, the story simply wasn't as captivating for me as the other one.
I wouldn't not recommend this book, and if ratings on Goodreads is any indication, many seem to have liked this book a lot. Personally, I think it was OK. I would definitely suggest reading The Face of Another though. For me, that book was more emotionally unsettling, as well as captivating. Truth be told, The Face of Another can easily be placed on one of my top 10 book list. If you are trying Kobo Abe for the first time, may be you should start off with The Woman in the Dunes, and then move on to The Face of Another. This way, may be you will enjoy this book too, and then enjoy the other one a lot more... if your taste in books is anything like mine, that is.
Title: The Woman in the Dunes (Buy on Amazon)
Author: Kobo Abe (Translated from Japanese by E. Dale Saunders)
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Inc., 1964.
Format: Hardcover, 239 pages.
Genre: Literary Fiction, Japanese Literature
Source: University of Denver Library