Full name: The Ruined Map: A Novel

Author: Kobo Abe Year: 1967 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Fiction, Mystery Culture: Japan Purchase/reserch links: Barns&Noble Amazon eBooks.com LibraryThing Goodreads ISBNs: 9780375726521 0375726527

Of all the great Japanese novelists, Kobe Abe was indubitably the most versatile. With The Ruined Map, he crafted a mesmerizing literary crime novel that combines the narrative suspense of Chandler with the psychological depth of Dostoevsky. Mr. Nemuro, a respected salesman, disappeared over half a year ago, but only now does his alluring yet alcoholic wife hire a private eye. The nameless detective has but two clues: a photo and a matchbook. With these he embarks upon an ever more puzzling pursuit that leads him into the depths of Tokyo's dangerous underworld, where he begins to lose the boundaries of his own identity. Surreal, fast-paced, and hauntingly dreamlike, Abe's masterly novel delves into the unknowable mysteries of the human mind. Translated from the Japanese by E. Dale Saunders. Similar books: The Temple of Dawn by Yukio Mishima The Decay of the Angel by Yukio Mishima Scandal by Shūsaku Endo Forbidden Colors by Yukio Mishima The Box Man by Kobo Abe The Face of Another by Kobo Abe Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima Thirst for Love by Yukio Mishima Secret Rendezvous by Kobo Abe Grass on the Wayside by Natsume Soseki Kangaroo Notebook by Kobo Abe The Silent Cry by Kenzaburo Oe The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima Wonderful Fool by Shusaku Endo The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea by Yukio Mishima Twisted Twenty-Six by Janet Evanovich The Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny The Man in 3B by Carl Weber A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash Red Julie by J. A. Whiting