" Abe follows with meticulous precision his hero's constantly shifting physical, emotional and psychological states. He also presents...everyday existence in a sand pit with such compelling realism that these passages serve both to heighten the credibility of the bizarre plot and subtly increase the interior tensions of the novel."
-- The New York Times Book Review
" Some of Kobo Abe's readers will recall Kafka's manipulation of a nightmarish tyranny of the unknown, others Beckett's selection of sites like the sand pit...as a symbol of the undignified human predicament." -- Saturday Review
"Abe follows with meticulous precision his hero's constantly shifting physical, emotional and psychological states. He also presents...everyday existence in a sand pit with such compelling realism that these passages serve both to heighten the credibility of the bizarre plot and subtly increase the interior tensions of the novel."
-- The New York Times Book Review
"Some of Kobo Abe's readers will recall Kafka's manipulation of a nightmarish tyranny of the unknown, others Beckett's selection of sites like the sand pit...as a symbol of the undignified human predicament." -- Saturday Review
Devious, addictive. . . . Never less than compulsive. . . . Abe is an accomplished stylist.
David Mitchell
Abe follows with meticulous precision his hero's constantly shifting physical, emotional and psychological states.
"The New York Times Book Review"
As is true of Poe and Kafka . . . Abe creates on the page an unexpected impulsion. One continues reading, on and on.
"The New Yorker""
"Devious, addictive. . . . Never less than compulsive. . . . Abe is an accomplished stylist."
--David Mitchell
"Abe follows with meticulous precision his hero's constantly shifting physical, emotional and psychological states."
--
The New York Times Book Review "As is true of Poe and Kafka . . . Abe creates on the page an unexpected impulsion. One continues reading, on and on."
--
The New Yorker