Blog > Kobo Abe's "The Box Man" made me very nervous
Kobo Abe's "The Box Man" made me very nervous
Life
I read The Box Man by Kobo Abe, and I read it hoping to finish it as soon as possible. Then, when I finally wrapped it up, I realized it had made me more nervous than almost any other book; at times, I wanted to hurl it against the wall because the exact moment I thought I understood, I’d instantly realize I didn't get a single thing.
But once I finished it, I sat there thinking for a couple of minutes, did some digging online, asked myself a few questions, and realized that Kobo Abe is a brilliant bastard. Not only did he tell me the story of a man living hidden inside a box, but he actually shocked me with the sheer chaos he managed to create in my head. I couldn't even figure out who the box man actually is, since the narrator keeps shifting constantly. And if I don’t know who the box man is, how on earth am I supposed to figure out who the 'fake box man'—another character in the book—is?
This is a book where it’s simply better not to ask questions. Kobo Abe narrates the isolating life of an average man in such a mind-boggling, dizzying way that it's better to just let it go. At this point, even though I recognize its genius, I don't even know whether to recommend you read it or not. Just know that it's about a man who lives covered by a box—which he has even furnished—through which he spies on the world. Everything else is chaos.
