A review by reallivejim
The Ruined Map by Kōbō Abe

Did not finish book. Stopped at 33%.

Couldn’t convince myself of any redeeming aspects to this one, then John Barth died and I said to myself—huh, I should finally read a Barth. Was relieved to have an excuse to give up. Much as I enjoyed Woman in the Dunes, I really found The Secret Rendezvous and what I read of this to be stilted, unearned attempts at dream-logic that don’t come close to the adequate emotional or psychological saturation an author needs to effect in order to coax magic from that type of storytelling.