A review by tom_f
The Ruined Map by Kōbō Abe

4.0

The fussy, unhurried prose underpinning Abe’s claustrophobic characterisation in this existential detective procedural obscures the novel’s insidious entropy for at least its first half. It’s only when a rank sense of desperation creeps in does it become clear that this is a hermeneutic journey in which the one asking questions comes to know less and less about the world around him, rather than gradually uncovering the truth. As the map frays so do the boundaries of individuality and consciousness, until we’re left disoriented, feeble and at the mercy of the text. Some of Abe’s cynical presentations of female heterosexuality and matrimony from Woman In The Dunes also discolour this more enigmatic novel, but it’s at least as strong as an urban and impressionistic counterpart to it.