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Friends
An absurdist drama about the gradual destruction of the individual. A family enters the apartment of a young man and announces that they will save him from his loneliness by living with him. Slowly, they destroy everything, in the cheerful psychotic name of "brotherly love".
94 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1967
6 people are currently reading
345 people want to read
About the author
Kōbō Abe
215 books2,060 followersKōbō Abe (安部 公房 Abe Kōbō), pseudonym of Kimifusa Abe, was a Japanese writer, playwright, photographer, and inventor.
He was the son of a doctor and studied medicine at Tokyo University. He never practised however, giving it up to join a literary group that aimed to apply surrealist techniques to Marxist ideology.
Abe has been often compared to Franz Kafka and Alberto Moravia for his surreal, often nightmarish explorations of individuals in contemporary society and his modernist sensibilities.
He was first published as a poet in 1947 with Mumei shishu ("Poems of an unknown poet") and as a novelist the following year with Owarishi michi no shirube ni ("The Road Sign at the End of the Street"), which established his reputation. Though he did much work as an avant-garde novelist and playwright, it was not until the publication of The Woman in the Dunes in 1962 that he won widespread international acclaim.
In the 1960s, he collaborated with Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara in the film adaptations of The Pitfall, Woman in the Dunes, The Face of Another and The Ruined Map. In 1973, he founded an acting studio in Tokyo, where he trained performers and directed plays. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977.
He was the son of a doctor and studied medicine at Tokyo University. He never practised however, giving it up to join a literary group that aimed to apply surrealist techniques to Marxist ideology.
Abe has been often compared to Franz Kafka and Alberto Moravia for his surreal, often nightmarish explorations of individuals in contemporary society and his modernist sensibilities.
He was first published as a poet in 1947 with Mumei shishu ("Poems of an unknown poet") and as a novelist the following year with Owarishi michi no shirube ni ("The Road Sign at the End of the Street"), which established his reputation. Though he did much work as an avant-garde novelist and playwright, it was not until the publication of The Woman in the Dunes in 1962 that he won widespread international acclaim.
In the 1960s, he collaborated with Japanese director Hiroshi Teshigahara in the film adaptations of The Pitfall, Woman in the Dunes, The Face of Another and The Ruined Map. In 1973, he founded an acting studio in Tokyo, where he trained performers and directed plays. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1977.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
May 7, 2021
نمایشنامه سال ۱۹۶۷ اولین بار در تماشاخانهای در توکیو اجرا شده.
چیزی که توی ترجمه من رو ناراحت کرد بومیسازی ضربالمثلها یا تکیه کلامهای مادربزرگ خانواده بود.
ترجیح میدادم اصل لغات رو میخوندم و در پاورقی اگر نیاز بود معادل فارسیش رو. وسط چنین نمایشنامهای یهو دیدن یه بیت شعر فارسی واقعا توی ذوق میزنه.
*کلیت ماجرا رو در ادامه مینویسم - شاید نخواید بخونیدش.*
ورود خانوادهای ۸ نفره به آپارتمان مرد مجردی که از تنهایی خودش راضیه و تحت فشار گذاشتنش با مفاهیم زندگی گروهی و اشتراک عشق و علاقه. علاوه بر هجو زندگی گروهی، نویسنده مفاهیم دیگری رو هم زیر سوال میبره. زندگی اجباری در جامعهای که رای اکثریت رو داره و اقلیت رو بیمعنی جلوه میده. سعی میکنه اقلیت رو «به راه راست» هدایت کنه و «ادعا» میکنه «خشونت» به خیر و صلاح اقلیته. در واقع اکثریتی به صرف تعداد میتونه زندگی اقلیت رو تصاحب کنه و بیاینکه گزندی بهش برسه، آسیب بزنه.
September 1, 2020
جایی خواندم این این نمایشنامه پوچی زندگی مدرن را هدف قرار میدهد و آبه این اثر را با اقتباس از داستان کوتاهی به قلم خودش نوشت.
اما آنچه در انتهای نمایش برای من هولناک بود، نابودی به تمام معنای یک زندگی با همه امیدها، آرزوها، سختی ها و برنامه هایش بود. حضور اشخاص غریبه به مثابه دخالت حکومتهای تمامیت خواه در تمام لایه های انسانی، اعتقادی و اجتماعی مردم یک جامعه بود. جاییکه ابتدا از سوی جامعهدمقاومت میشود، سپس به قانون (!) پناه میبرد، نا توان عجز و لابه میکند، کمک می طلبد و در نهایت ناتوان و مسخ شده میپذیرد و در گور آرزوهایش دفن میشود...
چقدر این وضعیت آشناست ...
اما آنچه در انتهای نمایش برای من هولناک بود، نابودی به تمام معنای یک زندگی با همه امیدها، آرزوها، سختی ها و برنامه هایش بود. حضور اشخاص غریبه به مثابه دخالت حکومتهای تمامیت خواه در تمام لایه های انسانی، اعتقادی و اجتماعی مردم یک جامعه بود. جاییکه ابتدا از سوی جامعهدمقاومت میشود، سپس به قانون (!) پناه میبرد، نا توان عجز و لابه میکند، کمک می طلبد و در نهایت ناتوان و مسخ شده میپذیرد و در گور آرزوهایش دفن میشود...
چقدر این وضعیت آشناست ...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 21, 2008
A Kafkaesque nightmare about a man forcibly exposed to the seemingly affectionate embrace of a family that forces their way into his apartment one night and refuses to leave. The perfect play to bring over to your family's house for some pleasant holiday reading.
January 10, 2025
This is really 4.5 stars, and I wish Goodreads would allow half stars. This reminds me of French Theatre of the Absurd. A man is alone in the apartment planning for his fiancee to move in. But a family of eight shows up uninvited instead. He doesn't know how to get them to leave. I won't give spoilers.
This book was suggested to me about 3 years ago; the only option was to buy a used copy. I had started it, but misplaced it. After I found it, I put it aside until now. I'm thrilled to have finally gotten to it.
This book was suggested to me about 3 years ago; the only option was to buy a used copy. I had started it, but misplaced it. After I found it, I put it aside until now. I'm thrilled to have finally gotten to it.
October 31, 2017
Based upon Abe's own excellent short story "Intruders," this play is ultimately different enough to warrant reading, but not nearly as effective. Thus, my opinion has not changed: Kobo Abe was an inimitable novelist, but a dreadful playwright.
November 19, 2021
"Friends" is a very creepy play in which a sort of "holy family", almost like a weird sect, takes over the life of a lonely "salaryman". The play depicts an aggressively benevolent family hell-bent on befriending a lonely bachelor. With a smile they chant love for one's neighbors and solidarity with the lonely as the ideal and in the process they completely disrupt the man's life, seduce his fiancee, and finally kill him. The so-called good intentions of the family invading the man's apartment turn out to be false and hypocritical and they themselves are transformed into monsters. That doesn't mean this is a dark play: thanks to the black humor there is a lot to laugh as well.
In fact, the play is based on a short story, "Intruders" (Kaijin) Abe wrote in 1951, in which a salaryman living alone in a small apartment is visited by complete strangers, a large family with grown-up sons and a daughter, who take over his apartment and his life. They use his money and he has to wait on them as their servant. They even steal his girlfriend. Although they behave very dictatorially, everything is decided "democratically" by the majority. In this 1951 satire Abe was writing a political story, for it is clear he is referring to the American occupation of Japan (which ended one year later, in 1952). The greatest difference with the play "Friends" is that Abe removed the political satire and instead broadened the focus of the play to encompass the general human condition.
Here is the plot:
The city at night. A strange family of eight sings the popular song "Poor broken necklace... Little lost beads, little lost beads." They then enter the apartment of a young man (who is 31 and works as section head in a commercial firm), without invitation or introduction, and announce that they will save him from his loneliness by moving in and befriending him. Restringing "the little lost beads" is their mission!
They consist of a father, who at first glance might be taken for a clergyman, a mother in old-fashioned dress, an eighty-year old grandmother, an elder son who is clever but frail-looking and rather gloomy (he is a former private detective), a younger son who is an amateur boxer, an eldest daughter of about 30, a prospective old maid who still dreams about marriage, a middle daughter of 24, sweet looking and giving the impression of being the crystallization of good will, and a youngest daughter who is a little devil, although she doesn't look it.
Shocked by the strange invasion, the young man first of all tries to persuade them to leave. But his reasoning proves useless against their cheerful madness. The man then calls the police to complain about their trespassing, but both the caretaker of his apartment and the two police officers who arrive on the scene don't believe him, and go away without doing anything.
The family answers with various far-fetched and hair-splitting arguments to the man asking them to leave, and they impose a majority-decision "democratic" rule. They also argue skillfully with the man's fiancée and her brother, and the man has to allow the family to stay with him. In this way, slowly but effectively, the family strips the young man of his reasons for living: his fiancee, his self-esteem, and his interest in his work. They do everything possible to convince him, in the name of brotherhood and love, that his desire for privacy and his choice of companions is an aberration.
One night, half a month later, the middle daughter discovers that the eldest daughter and the man are sleeping together. She reports to the others that the eldest daughter has promised the man to help him escape. The man is than as punishment incarcerated in the coat rack in the hall of the apartment, which is converted into a cage. The middle daughter is in charge of bringing the prisoner his food. One morning, when everyone is out, she gives him a glass of poisoned milk (with the key to his prison, falsely claiming she loves him and wants to help him). The man suffers terrible convulsions and dies. The middle daughter then mutters: "If only you hadn't turned against us, we would have been no more than company to you..." Quietly sobbing, she tenderly drapes a blanket over the cage. The second son comes home and says: "What, you, did you do it again!" To which she answers: "What else could I do..." The family now has to leave and dresses for travel. The father mourns the man with the words: "The deceased was always a good friend to us..." Then waving their handkerchiefs, the family marches off. The audience can still hear their eerie laughter when the lights go out.
What does this play mean? Some critics have written that it is about socialization (in other words, Abe has a positive stand towards the actions of the family) but nothing could be farther from the truth. This unusual variation on the Theater of the Absurd is about the destruction of the individual. Whether it be a destructive political ideology as communism with its blind solidarity, a personality obliterating religious cult or a weird sect, or "majority principle" democracy going too far by neglecting the rights of minorities, there are many dangers threatening individuality in modern times. Abe gives a sound warning against those trends. And he tells us to be alert, for we can be perpetrators as well as victims.
The play, which has been called highly inventive and well-crafted, is Abe's masterwork for the theater. Abe Kobo (1924-1993) is in the West in the first place known for his novels as The Woman in the Dunes, but he is an all-round author also known for his plays, his essays and his short stories.
See my blog about Japan at https://adblankestijn.blogspot.com/
In fact, the play is based on a short story, "Intruders" (Kaijin) Abe wrote in 1951, in which a salaryman living alone in a small apartment is visited by complete strangers, a large family with grown-up sons and a daughter, who take over his apartment and his life. They use his money and he has to wait on them as their servant. They even steal his girlfriend. Although they behave very dictatorially, everything is decided "democratically" by the majority. In this 1951 satire Abe was writing a political story, for it is clear he is referring to the American occupation of Japan (which ended one year later, in 1952). The greatest difference with the play "Friends" is that Abe removed the political satire and instead broadened the focus of the play to encompass the general human condition.
Here is the plot:
The city at night. A strange family of eight sings the popular song "Poor broken necklace... Little lost beads, little lost beads." They then enter the apartment of a young man (who is 31 and works as section head in a commercial firm), without invitation or introduction, and announce that they will save him from his loneliness by moving in and befriending him. Restringing "the little lost beads" is their mission!
They consist of a father, who at first glance might be taken for a clergyman, a mother in old-fashioned dress, an eighty-year old grandmother, an elder son who is clever but frail-looking and rather gloomy (he is a former private detective), a younger son who is an amateur boxer, an eldest daughter of about 30, a prospective old maid who still dreams about marriage, a middle daughter of 24, sweet looking and giving the impression of being the crystallization of good will, and a youngest daughter who is a little devil, although she doesn't look it.
Shocked by the strange invasion, the young man first of all tries to persuade them to leave. But his reasoning proves useless against their cheerful madness. The man then calls the police to complain about their trespassing, but both the caretaker of his apartment and the two police officers who arrive on the scene don't believe him, and go away without doing anything.
The family answers with various far-fetched and hair-splitting arguments to the man asking them to leave, and they impose a majority-decision "democratic" rule. They also argue skillfully with the man's fiancée and her brother, and the man has to allow the family to stay with him. In this way, slowly but effectively, the family strips the young man of his reasons for living: his fiancee, his self-esteem, and his interest in his work. They do everything possible to convince him, in the name of brotherhood and love, that his desire for privacy and his choice of companions is an aberration.
One night, half a month later, the middle daughter discovers that the eldest daughter and the man are sleeping together. She reports to the others that the eldest daughter has promised the man to help him escape. The man is than as punishment incarcerated in the coat rack in the hall of the apartment, which is converted into a cage. The middle daughter is in charge of bringing the prisoner his food. One morning, when everyone is out, she gives him a glass of poisoned milk (with the key to his prison, falsely claiming she loves him and wants to help him). The man suffers terrible convulsions and dies. The middle daughter then mutters: "If only you hadn't turned against us, we would have been no more than company to you..." Quietly sobbing, she tenderly drapes a blanket over the cage. The second son comes home and says: "What, you, did you do it again!" To which she answers: "What else could I do..." The family now has to leave and dresses for travel. The father mourns the man with the words: "The deceased was always a good friend to us..." Then waving their handkerchiefs, the family marches off. The audience can still hear their eerie laughter when the lights go out.
What does this play mean? Some critics have written that it is about socialization (in other words, Abe has a positive stand towards the actions of the family) but nothing could be farther from the truth. This unusual variation on the Theater of the Absurd is about the destruction of the individual. Whether it be a destructive political ideology as communism with its blind solidarity, a personality obliterating religious cult or a weird sect, or "majority principle" democracy going too far by neglecting the rights of minorities, there are many dangers threatening individuality in modern times. Abe gives a sound warning against those trends. And he tells us to be alert, for we can be perpetrators as well as victims.
The play, which has been called highly inventive and well-crafted, is Abe's masterwork for the theater. Abe Kobo (1924-1993) is in the West in the first place known for his novels as The Woman in the Dunes, but he is an all-round author also known for his plays, his essays and his short stories.
See my blog about Japan at https://adblankestijn.blogspot.com/
January 16, 2024
A great short absurdist play.
YOUNG POLICEMAN (to MIDDLE-AGED POLICEMAN) : The question would seem to arise, rather, why the complainant should have conceived such hostility towards these people
—his motives, I mean.
MAN (dumfounded) : Do you suspect me?
MIDDLE-AGED POLICEMAN: It's not that we suspect you. But complaints lodged over private, family matters often create a lot of trouble for us.
MAN (in earnest) : This is preposterous. These people are complete strangers!
The members of the family, exchanging glances, smile sadly; one or two rub their chins as much as to say, "There he goes again!" and others wink at the policemen, enlisting their support. All remain silent as before.
YOUNG POLICEMAN (to MIDDLE-AGED POLICEMAN) : The question would seem to arise, rather, why the complainant should have conceived such hostility towards these people
—his motives, I mean.
MAN (dumfounded) : Do you suspect me?
MIDDLE-AGED POLICEMAN: It's not that we suspect you. But complaints lodged over private, family matters often create a lot of trouble for us.
MAN (in earnest) : This is preposterous. These people are complete strangers!
The members of the family, exchanging glances, smile sadly; one or two rub their chins as much as to say, "There he goes again!" and others wink at the policemen, enlisting their support. All remain silent as before.
January 13, 2021
Primera vez que leo teatro de lo absurdo en mi vida y no sé si la última. No porque no me haya gustado, si no por lo confundido que me ha tenido de principio a fin. A fin sobre todo.
Aun así, he de decir que la obra merece la pena, con unos toques cómicos al principio y macabros al final que hacen sentir a uno incluso incómodo. Por lo visto, una de las obras más críticas de Abe, aunque aun tengo que buscar info sobre eso.
Aun así, he de decir que la obra merece la pena, con unos toques cómicos al principio y macabros al final que hacen sentir a uno incluso incómodo. Por lo visto, una de las obras más críticas de Abe, aunque aun tengo que buscar info sobre eso.
January 13, 2021
Me ha gustado mucho, la verdad. Ya había leido teatro de lo absurdo antes por lo que estaba familiarizada, sabia que no tenia que entender nada, solo reirme. Y así hice.
Hasta las dos ultimas escenas que todo se vuelve muy creepy y me da mal rollo.
Pero muy buena, me ha encantado, sobre todo la discusion sobre los gatos.
Hasta las dos ultimas escenas que todo se vuelve muy creepy y me da mal rollo.
Pero muy buena, me ha encantado, sobre todo la discusion sobre los gatos.
December 29, 2023
چقدر منو حرص داد و عصبی کرد. با این حال واقعا کتاب قدرتمندی بود.
November 24, 2024
This would happen to me
January 1, 2023
واقعا از مغز کوبوآبه خوشم اومده اول که جناب روح الانم این کتاب، لامصب چقدر قشنگ میتونه داستان رو جوری بنویسه که بشه به خیلی چیزا توی زندگی تعمیمش داد...
لذت بردم و به نظرم اجرای کار خیلی قشنگترم هست، کاش میتونستم یه نسخهی ژاپنی ازش ببینم😍 اریگاتو کوبهآبه😌
قبلا هم گفتم هر چیز ژاپنی>>>>> بقیهی دنیا
همینا دیگه خوندنش خالی از لطف نیست🤭
°
°
°
مادر: میشه گفت کار ما نساجیه. ما نه از نخ، بلکه از آدمها پارچه میبافیم.
خبرنگار: چقدر فروتنانه! چنین پارچهای شهر به شهر گسترش پیدا میکنه، تا اینکه به تن پوشی گرم برای کل جامعه و مردم تبدیل میشه. من مُرید شما خواهم شد. اما حداقل بفرمایید که دفتر مرکزی این هیئت نساجی کجاست.
پدر: جسارت من رو ببخشین، اما شما باید درون خودتون دنبالش بگردین، مثل ندای برانگیزانندهای از عمق وجود.
خبرنگار: یعنی بدون نیاز به مجوز یا گواهی خاصی، میتونم به دلخواه وارد کار بشم؟
پدر: تردید نکنین. تا زمانی که خلوص نیت و صمیمیت در کار شما وجود داره، اطمینان دارم که همین روزها جوازتون از سوی دفتر مرکزی صادر میشه.
خبرنگار: پس یعنی دفتر مرکزیای وجود داره؟
دختر بزرگ: بعیده.
پدر: قطعا باید وجود داشته باشه. منطق حکم میکنه...
دختر بزرگ: ولی چرا تا حالا دستوری از دفتر مرکزی به ما نرسیده؟
خبرنگار: (متعجب) به شما هم نرسیده؟
پدر: جامعه تشنهست. اما نباید به این دلیل به وجود دفتر مرکزی شک کنیم... فایدهای نداره. اگر به وجود دفتر مرکزی باور داری، خب وجودش چه اشکالی داره؟
خبرنگار: میفهمم...
دختر بزرگ: منم نمیخواستم انکارش کنم. آخه اصلا تاثیری روی عقاید من نداره.
لذت بردم و به نظرم اجرای کار خیلی قشنگترم هست، کاش میتونستم یه نسخهی ژاپنی ازش ببینم😍 اریگاتو کوبهآبه😌
قبلا هم گفتم هر چیز ژاپنی>>>>> بقیهی دنیا
همینا دیگه خوندنش خالی از لطف نیست🤭
°
°
°
مادر: میشه گفت کار ما نساجیه. ما نه از نخ، بلکه از آدمها پارچه میبافیم.
خبرنگار: چقدر فروتنانه! چنین پارچهای شهر به شهر گسترش پیدا میکنه، تا اینکه به تن پوشی گرم برای کل جامعه و مردم تبدیل میشه. من مُرید شما خواهم شد. اما حداقل بفرمایید که دفتر مرکزی این هیئت نساجی کجاست.
پدر: جسارت من رو ببخشین، اما شما باید درون خودتون دنبالش بگردین، مثل ندای برانگیزانندهای از عمق وجود.
خبرنگار: یعنی بدون نیاز به مجوز یا گواهی خاصی، میتونم به دلخواه وارد کار بشم؟
پدر: تردید نکنین. تا زمانی که خلوص نیت و صمیمیت در کار شما وجود داره، اطمینان دارم که همین روزها جوازتون از سوی دفتر مرکزی صادر میشه.
خبرنگار: پس یعنی دفتر مرکزیای وجود داره؟
دختر بزرگ: بعیده.
پدر: قطعا باید وجود داشته باشه. منطق حکم میکنه...
دختر بزرگ: ولی چرا تا حالا دستوری از دفتر مرکزی به ما نرسیده؟
خبرنگار: (متعجب) به شما هم نرسیده؟
پدر: جامعه تشنهست. اما نباید به این دلیل به وجود دفتر مرکزی شک کنیم... فایدهای نداره. اگر به وجود دفتر مرکزی باور داری، خب وجودش چه اشکالی داره؟
خبرنگار: میفهمم...
دختر بزرگ: منم نمیخواستم انکارش کنم. آخه اصلا تاثیری روی عقاید من نداره.
November 9, 2024
This book/play is a quintessential work that captures Abe Kobo’s style. Having previously read *The Woman in the Dunes*, I noticed a strong resemblance between the two. Both stories feature a protagonist who is thrust from an ordinary life into a surreal, inescapable situation, trapped by the collective will of those around him. The experience of reading this play is both captivating and frustrating: captivating in the way the family members conjure excuses, gaslight, and bully the man into submission, yet frustrating because such manipulation might not succeed if institutions like the police or media did their jobs and showed concern for him.
I felt deeply for the man, perhaps that's the author’s intent, but there was also a sense of irritation. From the moment those "guests" arrived, it was clear what fate awaited him, and the slow, painful build-up only intensified the sense of anxiety and despair as the inevitable unfolded. At least in *The Woman in the Dunes*, there’s an ongoing sense of mystery and discovery that keeps you guessing about what might happen next.
I felt deeply for the man, perhaps that's the author’s intent, but there was also a sense of irritation. From the moment those "guests" arrived, it was clear what fate awaited him, and the slow, painful build-up only intensified the sense of anxiety and despair as the inevitable unfolded. At least in *The Woman in the Dunes*, there’s an ongoing sense of mystery and discovery that keeps you guessing about what might happen next.
July 28, 2018
For a moment I started reminiscing the excitement of theatrical play all over again. Details of on-stage execution was sufficient for me to picture vividly in my head. The script was very symbolic and took an alternative step of surreality. Let’s say... Surreal but not too surreal and hence still comprehensible to the wide public.
It summed up relevant ambivalences of an individual facing conflict between self-fulfillment and kinship obligations that are at times destructive. Brilliant indeed! I would love to play as the middle daughter, the manipulatively affectionate, whose fears and urge to save the man from loneliness is driven by an illusionary thought of a constructed happiness.
It summed up relevant ambivalences of an individual facing conflict between self-fulfillment and kinship obligations that are at times destructive. Brilliant indeed! I would love to play as the middle daughter, the manipulatively affectionate, whose fears and urge to save the man from loneliness is driven by an illusionary thought of a constructed happiness.
June 12, 2025
[Grove Press, Inc.] (1969). HB/DJ. 1/1. 94 Pages. Purchased from gareby.
A dark, strange play which was initially published in Japanese as the ironically named “Tomodachi” (1967) - “friends”.
It was first performed in Tokyo on 15/03/1967.
An allegorical exploration of identity erosion, exploitation, cultural destruction and the devastating anomic effects of untoward intrusion - uncontrolled immigration, military invasion…
A dark, strange play which was initially published in Japanese as the ironically named “Tomodachi” (1967) - “friends”.
It was first performed in Tokyo on 15/03/1967.
An allegorical exploration of identity erosion, exploitation, cultural destruction and the devastating anomic effects of untoward intrusion - uncontrolled immigration, military invasion…
November 7, 2025
همه چیز دیوانه وار رقم می خورد، شاید این کوتاه ترین و بهترین عبارتی ست که پیرامون وقایع کتاب می توانم بیان کنم. اتفاقات به نحوی رقم می خورند که اصلا نمی توان باور کرد چنین اتفاقی ممکن است در زندگی پیش بیاید اما اگر استعارات کتاب را کنار بگذاریم و دقیق تر نگاه کنیم می شود مثال های عینی آن را در روابط بشری فعلی مشاهده کرد. از نظر تکنیک های نویسندگی و پیرنگ اصلی مشابه هیچ کدام از نمایشنامه های دیگری که دیده بودم نبود و برای کسانی که به دنبال نوآوری در نمایشنامه هستند می تواند گزینه مطلوبی باشد.
July 8, 2021
I get it. But, I don’t like it.
The form of a play does not suit this absurdist tale. I wonder if his short story that has a similar plot is better?
Pretending as if a man has no recourse is silly. Absurdism should be grounded in reality to be effective, and this doesn’t hit that mark.
The characters of the family are well done, but every other character is lacking.
The form of a play does not suit this absurdist tale. I wonder if his short story that has a similar plot is better?
Pretending as if a man has no recourse is silly. Absurdism should be grounded in reality to be effective, and this doesn’t hit that mark.
The characters of the family are well done, but every other character is lacking.
September 3, 2016
This book is like a cute pesky little girl or an annoying fluffy pup--something I want to hate but can't.
It is interesting, entertaining, and mysterious. A family intruded Man's house and installed themselves without heed. Man tried to drive them out but the family influenced him instead.
Then the plot twist caught me off guard. It left me with a big question mark. It confused me more than to clarify questions I wanted to answer from the start. I want to hate it but there is something, maybe their odd concept of brotherly love(or the oddness of the whole thing that I can't quite put my finger on), that pulls me into it.
It is interesting, entertaining, and mysterious. A family intruded Man's house and installed themselves without heed. Man tried to drive them out but the family influenced him instead.
Then the plot twist caught me off guard. It left me with a big question mark. It confused me more than to clarify questions I wanted to answer from the start. I want to hate it but there is something, maybe their odd concept of brotherly love(or the oddness of the whole thing that I can't quite put my finger on), that pulls me into it.
December 31, 2007
This play is about the destruction of a young man by invasion of a strange family he never knew before, consisted of a grandmother, a mother, a father, three daughters and two sons.
Worth to read.
My review:
http://bookquickies.wordpress.com/200...
Worth to read.
My review:
http://bookquickies.wordpress.com/200...
August 30, 2011
A Japanese play about a large family that physically intervenes to save a young man from his loneliness, and in the process manages to completely destroy his life. I added this book to my reading list after being impressed by Abe's Woman in the Dunes.
July 1, 2012
A Japanese comedy of menace. The public breaking into the private, as an 8-member family breaks into a young man's flat and refuses to leave until it drives him to resignation and death.
September 25, 2016
Frankly speaking, there's nothing in this book or if there is anything, I don't get it.
Read
May 10, 2013Coll.
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