Imprint: Penguin Classics
Published: 03/06/2021
ISBN: 9780241454589
Length: 384 Pages
Dimensions: 181mm x 35mm x 111mm
Weight: 350g
RRP: £8.99
In anticipation of a coming nuclear apocalypse, Mole has converted a huge underground quarry into an 'ark'. While searching for his crew, he falls for the tricks of a wily insect dealer and his friends. In the surreal drama that ensues, the ark is invaded by first a gang of youths and then a sinister group of elderly people, before Mole himself becomes trapped in the ark's central piece of equipment - a giant toilet powerful enough to flush almost anything out to sea . . .
A science-fiction classic from acclaimed Japanese novelist Kobe Abe, The Ark Sakura's Kafkaesque embrace of nuclear disaster and ecological catastrophe is at turns both hilarious and desperate.
Imprint: Penguin Classics
Published: 03/06/2021
ISBN: 9780241454589
Length: 384 Pages
Dimensions: 181mm x 35mm x 111mm
Weight: 350g
RRP: £8.99
A large, ambitious work about the lives of outcasts in modern Japan and such troubling themes as ecological destruction, old age, violence and nuclear war
Abe's depiction of the deadly game of survival is hilarious but at the same time leaves us with a chilling sense of apprehension about the brave new world that awaits us
As is true of Poe and Kafka - two writers whose influence does seem apparent - Abe creates on the page an unexpected impulsion. One continues reading, on and on