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sweetb_xox's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Reading this is painful especially finding out a lot of the things that happen in the book actually occurred in the author’s life. Like, yes, I know it’s a semi autobiography but the fiction tends to be 80% not 20%.
Anyway, what i find fascinating even in not being able to understand humans, when it comes to woman there’s definitely some sort of understanding that woman are the lesser being. 🙄
I think the writing is quite poignant, it’s what drew me in, the author is really able to show the character as is without justifying the actions of the character.
Anyway, what i find fascinating even in not being able to understand humans, when it comes to woman there’s definitely some sort of understanding that woman are the lesser being. 🙄
I think the writing is quite poignant, it’s what drew me in, the author is really able to show the character as is without justifying the actions of the character.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Addiction, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Confinement and Death
lifepath7's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Pedophilia, Death, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Minor: Confinement
nineinchnails's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
the writing is hard for me to gauge considering it’s a translation (of an older novel), and it felt quite choppy at parts. the prose is beautiful, though, despite the subject matter and i tremendously enjoyed reading this.
yozo is really gross but i felt for him, more so initially than later on in the novel. dazai captured the feeling of loneliness that comes with feeling alienated from society really well and it was depressingly relatable. knowing this is so well loved gave me a sense of comfort, like i’m not alone in feeling that way. i would find the misogyny a little less difficult to deal with if this book didn’t come off so much like an autobiography - it feels like he genuinely believed the things he was saying and it left a bad taste in my mouth overall. i wouldn’t recommend reading if you’re in a bad place mentally because there’s a heavy focus on his depression and pessimism.
yozo is really gross but i felt for him, more so initially than later on in the novel. dazai captured the feeling of loneliness that comes with feeling alienated from society really well and it was depressingly relatable. knowing this is so well loved gave me a sense of comfort, like i’m not alone in feeling that way. i would find the misogyny a little less difficult to deal with if this book didn’t come off so much like an autobiography - it feels like he genuinely believed the things he was saying and it left a bad taste in my mouth overall. i wouldn’t recommend reading if you’re in a bad place mentally because there’s a heavy focus on his depression and pessimism.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Drug use, Infidelity, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide
Minor: Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, and Abandonment
Depression, Overdose, Prostitution/sex work and Morphine abusewilliam26's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Confinement
Minor: Sexual harassment, Sexual content, and Rape
stuckduck's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, and Confinement
Moderate: Child abuse and Rape
sknappy1's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Addiction, Suicide, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, and Mental illness
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Toxic relationship, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Confinement, Infidelity, Classism, Sexual assault, Rape, and Drug abuse
Minor: Blood, Vomit, and Cancer
sunshinemoth's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Mental illness, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Addiction, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Rape, Suicide, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Classism, War, and Confinement
wildelwrcase's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
As a whole this book is a strange, visceral read. It’s almost comical in it’s depravity and wallowing and yet I cannot help but be utterly gripped by it.
I was worried going in that the long bouts of depressing inner monologues would be absolutely exhausting, but they ended up being some of the most deeply resounding things for me. I absolutely adore the prose in this book. I absolutely flew through it because not only is it short, but every line just pulls you further down into it's own depraved world. I don't know if that is a compliment for some, but it made me thoroughly enjoy it.
Relating to the main character feels so wrong, the words Dazai uses to describe his own depression are so uninhibited, raw, and relatable to anyone who's experience a similar illness. But it also brings feeling of disgust, for the situations the character is in, for his decisions, and worst of all for yourself for being able to relate to it. It sticks you into the mind of a man so ill that he's been institutionalized and forces you to contend with the fact, that you bear fundamental similarities. Then you have to contend with the fact that his bleak outlook on life, is not that different to yours. It's a different kind of pain and one that is absolutely addicting to read.
The closest reading experience I could compare it to would probably be the Metamorphosis by Kafka. But the greatest difference between the books (one that makes me prefer Dazai's) is how personal it is. Gregor is a tragic character, but there is also an undeniable distance between Gregor and the reader. The narrator is very separate from the situation, and while tragic it's also ultimately contained. No Longer Human offers no such comfortable rift. Dazai himself is telling you every detail about why he want to kill himself and how his brain is such a torturous place to live, and the only way to escape it is to have never read it at all.
Highly recommend if you are in the right headspace, but even if you are this book has a good chance of making you spiral in some way.
I was worried going in that the long bouts of depressing inner monologues would be absolutely exhausting, but they ended up being some of the most deeply resounding things for me. I absolutely adore the prose in this book. I absolutely flew through it because not only is it short, but every line just pulls you further down into it's own depraved world. I don't know if that is a compliment for some, but it made me thoroughly enjoy it.
Relating to the main character feels so wrong, the words Dazai uses to describe his own depression are so uninhibited, raw, and relatable to anyone who's experience a similar illness. But it also brings feeling of disgust, for the situations the character is in, for his decisions, and worst of all for yourself for being able to relate to it. It sticks you into the mind of a man so ill that he's been institutionalized and forces you to contend with the fact, that you bear fundamental similarities. Then you have to contend with the fact that his bleak outlook on life, is not that different to yours. It's a different kind of pain and one that is absolutely addicting to read.
The closest reading experience I could compare it to would probably be the Metamorphosis by Kafka. But the greatest difference between the books (one that makes me prefer Dazai's) is how personal it is. Gregor is a tragic character, but there is also an undeniable distance between Gregor and the reader. The narrator is very separate from the situation, and while tragic it's also ultimately contained. No Longer Human offers no such comfortable rift. Dazai himself is telling you every detail about why he want to kill himself and how his brain is such a torturous place to live, and the only way to escape it is to have never read it at all.
Highly recommend if you are in the right headspace, but even if you are this book has a good chance of making you spiral in some way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Rape, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Self harm, Blood, Child abuse, and Abandonment
elizlizabeth's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
4.0
Catcher in the Rye but better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Rape, Suicide, and Confinement
Minor: Child abuse
nmcannon's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
My journey to this book is a little kooky (it involves an RPF vampire visual novel), but I made it. And got my mind blown in the bargain!
Since it would have helped past me, here’s a run down on Ningen Shikkaku VS No Longer Human VS A Shameful Life. Arguably Dazai-san’s most famous work, Ningen Shikkaku was first published in 1948. The author died soon after, so he didn’t live to see his work become one of the bestselling books in Japan. In 1958, scholar Donald Keene translated and published Ningen Shikkaku to American audiences. Keene’s translation is seen as the definitive one and probably what one would see in a bookstore. The phrase “ningen shikkaku” literally translates to “disqualified from being human,” and Keene translated this phrase to the more stylistic “no longer human.” Under the title No Longer Human, this book has been adapted to many, many mediums, including live-action films, anime, animated movies, and manga.
Keene’s translation is also HELLA popular at my local library, like all of Dazai-san’s works. I could wait 8 holds deep, or read Mark Gibeau’s lesser known 2018 translation, A Shameful Life. In the back matter, Gibeau explains that he and some grad students were at a bar one night and decided, for fun, to translate Ningen Shikkaku’s delicate, winding sentences. In true Dazai-san fashion, what started as a drunk game became a serious endeavor. Gibeau positions his translation not in competition, but in conversation with Donald Keene’s—and to avoid confusion, he chose a different title.
No matter the translation, the protagonist and plot remain. An unknown person finds three journals and photos of Ōba Yōzō. Like footage meant to be found, Ōba wrote the journals to record and reveal his true, terror-stricken personality behind his mask of class clown. The autobiography goes from his childhood to late twenties. He has various misadventures, including failing out of university, becoming a popular cartoonist, joining the forbidden Communist party, suffering from addiction, and having various affairs with women. Throughout, Ōba feels intense alienation from other people and struggles to figure out the “rules” of existence. He mimics other people’s behavior and makes them laugh—but inwardly feels lonely and miserable.
If the plot summary seems brief, it’s because the plot isn’t the focus of the novel. I read A Shameful Life in one sitting, and by the end my mind was aswirl with names, places, feelings, images, and self-imposed wretchedness. Instead of everyday mundanities, Dazai-san intensely focuses on Ōba’s inner world. Sometimes I wonder how many of Ōba’s problems would disappear if he rolled in the mud for a bit. Get out of your brain, boy! It sucks in there, with all the depression, alcoholism, and addiction. More seriously, reading was like looking in a fun house mirror for me. My brain is also a sucky place to live sometimes.
To add another mirror, Ōba acts an anthropologist of his own life, trying to figure out “humanity,” just like a teenage me (and, interestingly, Nell in The Haunting of Hill House). How does one define “humanity” as a concept? I cheered when Ōba realized that society isn’t a punishing monolith so much as individuals within society acting cruelly. Probably because I’ve had these thoughts before, I didn’t find the novel depressing so much as intriguing. The most bleh part was Ōba’s dismissive treatment of the women around him.
I haven’t read much Japanese literature, besides manga. I want to explore more! A Shameful Life is a rich body of work, and I could viscerally feel my lack of ability to dissect it. Gibeau’s afterward explained the i-novel and authentic novel movements, which was great. I got the main theme about the impossibility of understanding and being understood, of truly knowing another. But there’s so much more! I can tell why universities have entire classes on Dazai-san’s books.
A Shameful Life easily earns 5 stars, and I may be a Dazai-san fangirl now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Confinement, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Excrement, Alcohol, and Suicide
Moderate: Police brutality, Grief, and Infidelity
Minor: Sexism and Sexual assault