What does the fate of a narrator who awakes one morning to find what appear to be radish sprouts growing out of his shins have to tell us about the reality of life in modern urban Japan? This is the subject of Kobo Abe's terrifying and funny last novel: an ordinary man in in the grip of bizarre and often hostile forces--including self propelled hospital beds, doctors eager to cure the wrong ailment, mysterious windstorms and infant ghosts. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.