The Woman in the Dunes

Rating:
Summary: Contemporary existential myth
Review: While the back cover blurb refers the reader to Beckett or Kafka, I find myself thinking more of Sisyphus. The "work" of existence in this novel is digging sand - generally digging sand at the same rate nature blows it in. It is this role of "nature" which leads me to a more mythic view of the book than I would have, for example, for Kafka's work.

The strength of the story comes from the tracing the change of values, the psychological evolution in the single, teacher/amateur insect collector - both the changes in himself and the changes in his understanding of the villagers with whom/by whom he is trapped.

Only once in the novel did I feel for a page or two that the author was telling us of the psychological changes rather than showing us. For a book of this complexity where the mind-set of the characters is crucial to the novel plot, this is an amazing feat.

Well written, thought-provoking, an enjoyable read - what more would I ask for?