I was not able to finish this book. It was selected in our book club. Out of all of the members in the club, one person was able to finish the book. It may have lost a lot of information in translation, however, there seemed to be no clear plot. Scenes in the book changed arbitrarily and made no sense.

Personally, if a selection was between this book and another, I would definitely select the other book. Sorry, was extremely disappointed.

My least favorite of Abe's works. It shouldn't exist as anything more than a short story, and yet it is one of his longest novels. The Ruined Map is proof that surrealism can't simply rely on strangeness and mystery, there has to be substance. Nothing really happens in this book and it doesn't read like a complete idea.

I hated this book at first and the frankly incessant noting of details only insane people would notice, but as it veers away from the traditional detective tropes and becomes more of a psychological examination of the main character, it really picks up. I’m just sad that this quite good and interesting ending requires getting through around 230 pages of pointless dialogue and laborious fact-dumping!

huh

Para ser sincero, no lo pude terminar de leer. Al principio el hecho de que el detective se dedicara a describir y evaluar cada uno de los detalles que veía me parecía curioso, incluso gracioso, pero luego de 180 páginas comienza a cansar.

I have no clue what just happened

"Was this world so unbearable that one had to go on eternally escaping until one could put up with such a life?"

Hits on themes that normally really work for me, but the execution's just not there. I can see an interpretation where the extreme vagueness and disconnectedness of the writing and narration are part of the point, but it didn't work for me. Made for a very laborious and confusing (in a bad way) read at times.

"He used to say licences were the anchor of human life."

I thought I was clever and figured out how it would end. Nope. haha
I enjoyed it, because it reminded me of... don't make me say it... you know, that tv show I love...

El mapa calcinado cuenta la historia de una detective sin nombres que investiga la misteriosa desaparición de un tipo al que parece que la vida le va bien, tiene una esposa beoda un tanto estrafalaria y un cuñado que parece preocuparse por él aunque parezca ocultar algo siniestro. A lo largo de la historia, el detective viajará por el subsuelo de la sociedad japonesa. Encontrándose con prostitutas dispuestas a todo por un precio, un voyeur mentiroso compulsivo, bares con individuos vomitivos y demás parafernalia propia de la novela negra.

La narración es caótica; seguimos en todo momento los pensamientos del detective y pasamos la mayoría del libro dentro de su cabeza, por lo que los saltos entre escenas sin ninguna correlación no son extraños. Sin embargo, Kobo Abe parece tener un don para escribir conversaciones rapidas entre personajes, donde es fácil perderse en la lectura, como si estuvieras observando la conversación entre dos personas con total naturalidad.

El libro es extraño, tan extraño que el final es una completa psicosis donde es imposible determinar quien o que esta contando lo sucedido o el por qué de todo aquello.

Un libro extraño para tiempos extraños.

I finished this book a few days ago and since then been digesting it. Whilst I was reading this it kept making me think of the Lynch film Lost Highway (which is my favourite film). The reason it reminded me of Lost highway is because they both have a slow pace but remain very atmospheric and keeps you hooked to find out what is going on. Reason for 4 stars is it becomes quite 'normal / real' a couple of times which lost its hold over me for a few pages.

Chander akan sumringah sekaligus keki setengah mati kalo baca novel ini.

I really liked the story the end was very similar to that of The Box Man. I don’t get why it ended with the main character smiling at a squashed cat in the street but that’s coo