Woman in the Dunes

After shoveling yesterday, I woke up and looked out the window, all my paths were filled in. I got up and shoveled all morning. Now I see it has all filled in again. I feel like woman in the dunes. I must wait before I shovel again. I need some introspective time. I get grouchy without it.

The Woman in the Dunes
by Kōbō Abe, E. Dale Saunders (Translator)
The Woman in the Dunes, by celebrated writer and thinker Kobo Abe, combines the essence of myth, suspense and the existential novel.

After missing the last bus home following a day trip to the seashore, an amateur entomologist is offered lodging for the night at the bottom of a vast sand pit. But when he attempts to leave the next morning, he quickly discovers that the locals have other plans. Held captive with seemingly no chance of escape, he is tasked with shoveling back the ever-advancing sand dunes that threaten to destroy the village. His only companion is an odd young woman. Together their fates become intertwined as they work side by side at this Sisyphean task.