Kobo Abe

Kangaroo Notebook Kobo Abe

Jacket Description/Flap: In the last novel written before his death in 1993, one of Japan's most distinguished novelists proffered a surreal vision of Japanese society that manages to be simultaneously fearful and jarringly funny. The narrator of Kangaroo Notebook wakes on morning to discover that his legs are growing radish sprouts, an ailment that repulses his doctor but provides the patient with the unusual ability to snack on himself. In short order, Kobo Abe's unraveling protagonist finds himself hurtling in a hospital bed to the very shores of hell. Abe has assembled a cast of oddities into a coherent novel, one imbued with unexpected meaning. Translated from the Japanese by Maryellen Toman Mori. Review Citations:

New York Times 08/24/1997 pg. 24 (EAN 9780679746638, Paperback)

Publishers Weekly 05/05/1997 (EAN 9780679746638, Paperback)

Publishers Weekly 03/11/1996 pg. 44 (EAN 9780679424123, Hardcover) - *Starred Review

Booklist 04/15/1996 pg. 1419 (EAN 9780679424123, Hardcover)

Library Journal 04/01/1996 pg. 114 (EAN 9780679424123, Hardcover)

New York Times 04/28/1996 pg. 31 (EAN 9780679424123, Hardcover)

Kirkus Reviews 03/01/1996 pg. 332 (EAN 9780679424123, Hardcover)

Contributor Bio:  Abe, Kobo Kobo Abe was born in Tokyo in 1924, grew up in Manchuria, and returned to Japan in his early twenties. In 1948 he received a medical degree from Tokyo Imperial University, but he never practiced medicine. Before his death in 1993, Abe was considered his country's foremost living novelist, and was also widely known as a dramatist. His novels have earned many literary awards and prizes, and have all been best sellers in Japan. They include The Woman in the Dunes," "Kangaroo Notebook," "The Ark Sakura," "The Face of Another," "The Box Man," "and The Ruined Map.