Kōbō Abe, the author of Women in the Dunes (Kobieta z wydm) – one of the most recognizable Japanese novels – has his own partocular, mesmerizing style and presernts visions of the world that are hard to mistake for the work of any other writer. It is no different in the case of The Ark Sakura.
The Ark Sakura is a story about a man nicknamed Mole, who lives in the Ark – a network of underground labyrinths and corridors which, in his opinion, will be the only shelter for humanity in the face of an impending disaster (ecological? Or maybe nuclear?) Mole’s biggest concern seems to be finding the right companions to take refuge with him in the Ark. He even has special admission tickets prepared. Unfortunately, on the black market, his attention is drawn only by a seller of junk and insects, skeptical about the vision of the end of the world, and two young people who provide a service of sakura– fake customers who are there to attract other buyers.
Mole comes into possession of a small flock of eupcaccia insects, called tokeimushi – clock beetles; strange worms without legs that feed on their own excrement and turn their bodies towards the sun like little sun watches…
It all happens in the very first pages of the novel. And then it just gets weirder and weirder, in the best sense of the word.
