Fantasy

The Box Man

by Kobo Abe
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Description

In this eerie and evocative masterpiece, the nameless protagonist gives up his identity and the trappings of a normal life to live in a large cardboard box he wears over his head. Wandering the streets of Tokyo and scribbling madly on the interior walls of his box, he describes the world outside as he sees or perhaps imagines it, a tenuous reality that seems to include a mysterious rifleman determined to shoot him, a seductive young nurse, and a doctor who wants to become a box man himself. The Box Man is a marvel of sheer originality and a bizarrely fascinating fable about the very nature of identity.

What it’s like

ViolenceStandard
HorrorChilling

Details

First published
1973
Pages
178
Reading time
About 4 hours
Format
Novel
Audience
Adult
Series
Standalone

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