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Title: No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai, Csamu Dazai, Donald Keene ISBN: 0-8112-0481-2 Publisher: New Directions Publishing Pub. Date: June, 1973 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (8 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Topically (and otherwise?) funny
Comment: I tutor a Japanese woman once and week and I recently asked her for advice on selecting Japanese authors (partly for the reason mentioned recently in The Atlantic Monthly's book review section: American literature normally finds itself caught in a breeze of cultural shallowness). "Osamu Dazai is good," she responded, "but I think he maybe too depressing."
My student, understandably, reads the book in a very different context than I do. She follows Yozo, the main character, through his trials and tribulations with a sense of impending dread - one that is brought to fruition with a storyline meant to explore the emotional and personal impact of the post-war period. While the American reader can glean the same reading, "No Longer Human" is also appealing in its quality of universality as applied to the common man. Yozo stumbles around his life bemoaning the world around him and his inability to operate in it, and the effect is often humorous and insightful. True, he is a tragic character, but one imbued with a sharp eye and a sharper wit. "No Longer Human" is filled with observations that I laughed at because of their appropriateness in my life, which upon casual comparison, shouldn't be similar at all.
"You thought it was funny? How? It's so sad!" my student all but yelled at me.
"Well, it's funny because it's so...correct. It's a great book because it deals with something so simple, and it deals with it well."
Rating: 4
Summary: Delving into dark personalities
Comment: This novel covers the life of Yozo, a young man who feels alienated from human society. He finds it impossible to connect with his fellow humans, and in fact, fears them. He is afraid of what they think of him. He puts on the face of a clown, but he is totally crushed when he is found out to be a phoney. As he enters University, he comes to battle with alchohol and drugs. The center of his misery is his inability to have a normal relationship with women. However, the fault lies completely within himself and his terribly pessimistic attitude.
This was an interesting book, but I found it difficult to get into the head of the dark hero. In this book, he finds no hope, and there are no ways to escape from his depression and his fear of society. He can only escape. It was difficult to fathom his point of view, but I think it helped me to understand the feelings of people who shut themselves away from society.
Rating: 4
Summary: A perfect book to read on a rainy day
Comment: Dazai is an excellent author, he "creates" (I think a lot of it is autobiographical just in knowing that he died as a result of suicide, double suicide with his lover nonetheless!!) this very dark, very depressing character who you'll ultimately try your hardest not to despise because he at the same time has these very junvenile qualities that redeems him somehow.
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Title: The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai, Csamu Dazai, Donald Keene ISBN: 0811200329 Publisher: New Directions Publishing Pub. Date: October, 1968 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima ISBN: 0679722416 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 14 April, 1990 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Blue Bamboo: Japanese Tales of Fantasy (Japan's Modern Writers Series) by Osamu Dazai, Ralph F. McCarthy ISBN: 4770026102 Publisher: Kodansha International Pub. Date: January, 2001 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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Title: The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe ISBN: 0679733787 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 16 April, 1991 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Kangaroo Notebook : A Novel by KOBO ABE ISBN: 0679746633 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 29 April, 1997 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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