Why have I read this 3 times? People always say it is inscrutable, though must it be scrutable, what is valuable about scrutability anyhow?

Yes, Abe is using a lot of modern fiction devices--compression of time, faulty narrators, plot hiccups, and even some of my personal fiction peeves. But he is sort of a prankster, a rug-puller, a juggler, a humorist, and I appreciate that, especially some of the more wanton chapters towards the end. "The Box Man" is dimensional, there is something spatial about the way he put it together; when you read it straight through it comes out crooked, and the crooks are never to the left or right, but (forgive me for this) on the Z-axis somehow. Dimensional. Does that make any sense? ...Yet, I do not think it is inscrutable, or random.

I wonder if females take an interest in this book because I find it intensely male, all wrapped up in the problems seemingly specific to men and the construction of their identities, so-called careers, flights from responsibility, sexual objectifications, social personas, formative embarassments, fatherhood issues, relation to women, wasteful fantasy, general ineptitude, violent solutions, guilt and so forth. The female characters,despite some background rounding, exist primarily to give the male narrators an excuse to chew themselves up... perhaps for pity. Selfishness is a word that pops into my mind.

Good grief! If possible, I would have given this thing a negative rating ... What an atrociously boring book .. His "the woman in the dunes" was equally boring, but at least it had a story line that you could decipher in between the lines ... "The box man" has nothing ... If I ask you to write 170 pages of whatever comes to your mind about yourself wandering around with an oversized box on your head, you would probably write a far more entertaining book than this... I guess this is what Kobo Abe did when he pinned down his thoughts in this book, which I would not dare call a novel .. It is not even social commentary ... Just a babbling about nothing ... If you enjoy reading other peoples' rambling thoughts about whatever, then you probably would enjoy this ... However, if you are looking to read something fun, entertaining, educational, or just to kill time then by all means ... skip this one ... I have four other of his novels on my list to read and I am already feeling the pain ...

"Instead of leaving the box, I shall enclose the world within it."

Although it is hard to see someone for who they are, it is way harder being seen.

The Box Man is a narrative about a man who chooses to lose his individuality by observing the world (inner and outer) from behind a box. The story keeps taking bizarre turns and leaves you perplexed and guessing about the authenticity of the narration. You wonder if it really is happening or if it is all just an imagination of the protagonist.

Since this story offers several interpretations, every reader would pick elements which would appeal to them the most.

Even though this has a difficult to follow plot, it is still worth the read considering its take on existentialism and absurdism. It also brushes by the concept of choices we make due to trauma or a difficult past and what it makes us into.

«دروغ نوعی فریب‌کاری‌ست و حقیقت را از فرد پنهان می‌کند ولی خیال‌پردازی میان‌بری به سوی حقیقت است.»

"Benim ben olamamam gibi bir ihtimal varken, bu denli çaba sarf edip beni yaşatmaya çalışmanın ne gereği var ki?"

Baştan sona kadar kutuadamın varlığını sorgulattığı gibi kendimizin de kim olduğunu sorgulattı durdu sağ olsun Kobo Abe. Çok uzunca bir süre buna benzer başka bir metinle karşılaşmayacağımdan emin olduracak kadar şahsına münhasır bir metin.

Evet yoğun ve zordu kimi zaman. Kimi zaman tam bulduğumu sandığım izleğimi kaybettirip kaybettirip tekrar buldurdu. Bazen vazgeçtim alt metni bulmaya çalışmaktan çok akıllılıktan delirmiş bir adamın bana anlattıklarını dinlemeye çalışır gibi okudum. Yine de en sonunda müthiş bir finalle, kendi kutumun içine hapsolarak bitirdim Kutu Adam'ı.

Tüm kutuadamlara selam olsun :)

Keyifli okumalar.

At the onset, I was charmed. I thought I was going to enjoy this book, but then something happened. While in a fugue state, I took a hit of acid or od'd on hallucinogenic shrooms because I seriously don't know what the fug else happened in the book. (Let's set aside the fact that it's seriously sad that whilst in said fugue state, rather than going out and accidentally killing a hooker, I read instead.)

I'm getting visuals of skinny girl legs pumping a bicyle, an empty box under a bridge, two box men staring at each other, a bunch of garbage, and the stench of my own unwashed confusion - scarily similar to the body odor emitted by a box man after a hot August day.

Oh wait, I didn't have any acid or shrooms to take, so the book must have just been a Lynchian nightmare I had after eating too much KFC.

There were some redeeming qualities but mostly this book was just finger-lickin not for me.

Bu, Kutuadam'a dair bir kayıttır.
Şu anda kutunun içinde bu kaydı tutmaya başlıyorum. Kafamdan geçirdiğimde tam belime kadar gelen mukavva kutunun içinde.
Yani, bu şu anlama geliyor ki, şimdilik, Kutuadam bizzat benim.

//

Okurken bir noktadan sonra o tanıdık uzakdoğu rüzgarları esmeye başlayıp ortalık karışsa da kitap epey keyifli bence.
Yazar yine bildiğiniz gibi.
Sıradışı? Sıradışı.

Maybe sıradışı will be our ahahahahaŞAKA.

يمكن النظر إلى هذه الرواية بوصفها رواية جريمة وتحقيق تكشف عن ملابساتها في آخر لحظة على نحو يشطر المخ من هول الصدمة؛ ويمكن النظر إليها على أنها واحدة من عيون الأدب الوجودي في النصف الثاني من القرن العشرين والتي دارت في فلك ثيمة الاغتراب وعن فكرتي الرائي والمرئي والموقف إزاء الذات/الآخر؛ ويمكن قراءتها بوصفها عين/كاميرا على وضع الناس في زمن ما بعد الحرب العالمية الثانية وجهاز صعق كهربائي فكري للنظر إلى ما وراء الأحداث الكبرى وإلى حال الفرد/الجماعة الصغرى وقتها بعيدًا عن رومانسيات "كوكب اليابان الخارق الناهض من الدمار"، ويمكن قراءتها أيضًا بوصفها نصًا تجريبيًا – بل طليعيًا – بكل ما يكتنفها من فصول لا تخضع لمنطق السرد ولا لخطّ زمني (صور – أوصاف – شعر – تعليمات)، لكنها تعضّده بحيث لا يمكن للرواية أن تكون بذات "المتعة" لولاها. لكني، شخصيًا، سأنحاز إلى جمع كل ما ذكرته ودفعها إلى أن تكون توصية من توصيات العام، ومن المؤكد أنها ستكون ضمن أفضل ثلاث قراءات فيه إن لم تكن أفضلها.
توصية لمحبي الروايات المقبضة والمقلقة والعابثة بالعقل وغير التقليدية. من أراد أسلوب غوسبودينوف وعبثية كافكا وبيكيت ومرح خوان خوسيه مياس ووجودية كامو – والأخير على أقل تقدير – فعليه بها.

Not to be dramatic, but this changed my life

Stunning dissection of anyone who’s ever answered “invisibility” to the question of what super power they’d most like to have

Boooooo. Don't even know what to say about it.

It had nuanced questions to ask about isolation and voyeurism and consumerism even, but instead he chose to talk about the nakedness of the naked girl's naked body while she was naked.

This novel messes with your head. Really.

As far as Kobo goes, I prefered Woman in the Dunes for pure entertainment, but the Box Man goes into uncharted territory (whereas Woman in the Dunes grasps at fairly traditional existentialism, albeit from a unique perspective)

Who is the Box Man? Is he one? Two? Three? Everyone? You could read this book a thousand times and still not unravel the mystery. I, of course, have my own opinion, but the beauty of this book is that you just can't stop trying to figure things out. I definitely recommend a read. I can't guarantee you'll enjoy it, but I can guarantee that you'll be either completely befuddled or completely obsessed. And befuddled.