Tossup

The narrator of this novel contrasts those in life with a “round-trip ticket” with himself, who sings the “One-Way Ticket Blues.” Upon reaching a fire tower, this novel’s narrator repeats to himself the title character’s wishes of a “Radio and mirror,” noting that they both “connect one person with another.” Because his union and private lives intersect perfectly, a coworker in this novel is called “Möbius man.” A crow-trap nicknamed “Hope” is found to collect water by this novel’s protagonist, (10[1])who is goaded into sex with the title character by villagers of a remote seaside town. Near this novel’s opening, a rope ladder vanishes from a pit where an amateur entomologist is collecting insects, resigning him to a life of shoveling sand. For 10 points, Niki Jumpei (“joom-pay”) gets trapped in the desert with the title widow of what novel by Kobo Abe ■END■

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Summary