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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
I don’t know, it just didn’t leave much of an impression on me. The pacing felt really slow, and there wasn’t any strong conflict that led to a big epiphany and the resolution also wasn’t satisfying. The character development was pretty minimal, and the story didn’t have a clear thread or focus—it just wasn’t explored deeply enough.
Kazuko’s grief over her mom felt kind of flat. She was so upset about her mom being sick and scared of losing her, but then her mom dies, and she pretty much immediately heads off to the city to find Uehara. That whole storyline with Uehara also felt underdeveloped. She goes to him, gets pregnant, realizes he’s a jerk, and just drops him without much reflection—even while still carrying his child. Compared to how obsessed she was before, it was a bit weird that she moved on just like that and had no lingering feelings about him at all. So did Uehara to Kazuko or his own family, he didn’t have any remorse at all.
I was hopeful when Kazuko said she wanted to be a revolutionist, but in the end, it turns out her biggest dream was to be a mom. Which is totally fine, btw. But, still, I was hoping for a character development and new exciting storyline.
Naoji’s storyline was also disappointing. He completely wrecked his mom and sister’s lives, then dies and somehow gets instant redemption? Also, they mentioned being aristocrats made regular people hate them, but aside from one scene after the fire and a chat with Uehara, that storyline didn’t really go anywhere.
Overall, it just felt unsatisfying. Maybe it’s supposed to reflect how mundane life can be, but for a novel, I feel like it needed to be more engaging. Just my two cents, though!
Kazuko’s grief over her mom felt kind of flat. She was so upset about her mom being sick and scared of losing her, but then her mom dies, and she pretty much immediately heads off to the city to find Uehara. That whole storyline with Uehara also felt underdeveloped. She goes to him, gets pregnant, realizes he’s a jerk, and just drops him without much reflection—even while still carrying his child. Compared to how obsessed she was before, it was a bit weird that she moved on just like that and had no lingering feelings about him at all. So did Uehara to Kazuko or his own family, he didn’t have any remorse at all.
I was hopeful when Kazuko said she wanted to be a revolutionist, but in the end, it turns out her biggest dream was to be a mom. Which is totally fine, btw. But, still, I was hoping for a character development and new exciting storyline.
Naoji’s storyline was also disappointing. He completely wrecked his mom and sister’s lives, then dies and somehow gets instant redemption? Also, they mentioned being aristocrats made regular people hate them, but aside from one scene after the fire and a chat with Uehara, that storyline didn’t really go anywhere.
Overall, it just felt unsatisfying. Maybe it’s supposed to reflect how mundane life can be, but for a novel, I feel like it needed to be more engaging. Just my two cents, though!
i didn't expect that i'd ever read this book, and i didn't expect liking it either, but both of those things happened and i'm not complaining about that.
of the many reasons why i enjoyed this book, i would have to say that the most prominent is dazai-san's character writing. i would say that this is a good example of how great dazai-san’s character writing is. i’ve read two of his books, ‘no longer human’ and ‘the schoolgirl’, aside from this one, and i’ve noticed that the characters in all of them are quite well-written. not only were they realistic and quite human, but they were also multi-faceted with many layers, and i would say that the character who showed this best was the narrator, kazuko. i have a lot to say about how she was written, most of which are things that i noticed about the things that she says and her personality, but they would all be spoiling the book. another thing i’ve noticed is how all of them seem to have traits that were present in dazai-san’s personality, and i found it nice to see little bits and pieces of the author’s character in his own characters.
i also found this book to be quite enjoyable because it gave me insight on this time period, which i know little of. from what i know, i imagined that it would be quite a miserable time to be alive, and dazai-san captured the atmosphere, which was weighed down by sadness and tragedy, quite well. another thing, that relates to this, is that i found that dazai-san captured the characters' emotions quite well, which i believe to be quite the difficult feat.
overall, i liked reading this book. i feel like, with dazai-san's books in general actually, i can't quite tell whether people will like it or not, which is mostly because of the themes and the general atmosphere of this book. i would say that it's definitely worth reading if anyone wants to read it, even though i wouldn't recommend it specifically.
of the many reasons why i enjoyed this book, i would have to say that the most prominent is dazai-san's character writing. i would say that this is a good example of how great dazai-san’s character writing is. i’ve read two of his books, ‘no longer human’ and ‘the schoolgirl’, aside from this one, and i’ve noticed that the characters in all of them are quite well-written. not only were they realistic and quite human, but they were also multi-faceted with many layers, and i would say that the character who showed this best was the narrator, kazuko. i have a lot to say about how she was written, most of which are things that i noticed about the things that she says and her personality, but they would all be spoiling the book. another thing i’ve noticed is how all of them seem to have traits that were present in dazai-san’s personality, and i found it nice to see little bits and pieces of the author’s character in his own characters.
i also found this book to be quite enjoyable because it gave me insight on this time period, which i know little of. from what i know, i imagined that it would be quite a miserable time to be alive, and dazai-san captured the atmosphere, which was weighed down by sadness and tragedy, quite well. another thing, that relates to this, is that i found that dazai-san captured the characters' emotions quite well, which i believe to be quite the difficult feat.
overall, i liked reading this book. i feel like, with dazai-san's books in general actually, i can't quite tell whether people will like it or not, which is mostly because of the themes and the general atmosphere of this book. i would say that it's definitely worth reading if anyone wants to read it, even though i wouldn't recommend it specifically.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
At times everything grows misty and dark before my eyes, and I feel that the strength of my whole body is oozing away through my finger tips.
It is my first novel of author and it's devastating. I don't know you could pen down misery and depression as accurate as this. We follow Kazuko a girl from aristocrat family and her brother and mother. The story takes place in post war Japan and we follow them from that timeline.
The story is depressing and I know the author writes depressive novels before I read this yet It made me go through misery page after page reading it. The novel handle the themes it handles in realistic way. The mother daughter relationship between Kazuko and her brother, Naojis addiction and the whole post war climate of society everything felt so real.
I don't know why, when I read through it, The story seemed so simple but the emotions I felt was so devastating. I was in constant dread for each chapter, each page and even each line and I can't simply point out what made me feel this. It is a great work of depression and poverty. There is no doubt about that. It is not a kind of dramatic story where you see a group of people happy and harmonious and suddenly a great ill had befallen them. From the start you know It is going to end not well but still seeing the characters as dysfunctional as they are trying to do something you kind of built a little hope and wish that everything should turn good but you know It is not the case. It is like watching a ship sink alone in sea and doing nothing.
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated