The Woman in the Dunes, arguably Abe's most famous work, was a truly memorable novel. This one, however, was utterly bizarre. I did persevere through to the end and did find elements of it invading my dreams — perhaps the point — but it would be inaccurate to say that I enjoyed it. On paper, Secret Rendezvous sounded promising, with hints of Kafka and Ballard. A character goes to a hospital in order to search for his wife, who has been taken there for an ostensible emergency. Once there, he is unable to leave. His quest for his wife evolves into an attempt to understand the limits or the boundaries of the hospital. Readers may wonder if the edifice is a metaphor for either human society, or even the human mind (per Ballard's Inner and Outer Space), but the extent to which Abe weaves in highly gratuitous sex scenes (think Freud on steroids crossed with Hieronymus Bosch) serves to undermine the novel's broader purpose. The protagonist, like many of his literary antecedents, finds himself condemned. Whether there is resolution by the novel's close remains unclear. I am not surprised that this work has remained out of print for some time. 5 out of 10.
By Kobo Abe