Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai

89 reviews

sunfishya's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

5.0

It's not for everyone, that's for sure. It's a book that is highly layered and would definitely reveal more with multiple readings. There is content, such as the misogyny and constant detachment from trauma, that surrounds Yozo, but although it is a hard read because of those reasons, I find Dazai's exploration of the ideas of meaning, existence, and connection are very worth the read. There is a bit of sexual abuse that happens to Yozo both as a child and as an adult that seems to be glossed over afyer its mentioned, so if you are sensitive to such topics or treatment of such topics, be warned. I wanted to warn in the content warnings but couldn'  find out how. If you check the content warnings for this novel and want to proceed, it's a slow, meandering read but I find Dazai's exploration in the novel to be nuanced and highly open to connection from an audience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Suicide, Misogyny, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape

Minor: Drug use, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Child abuse, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness

literatureboysmelancholy's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Alcoholism, Suicide, Alcohol, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, and Addiction

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, and Rape

Minor: Death of parent and War

farzaan's review against another edition

dark reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Drug use, Alcoholism, Suicide, Drug abuse, Addiction, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, War, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Child abuse, and Toxic friendship

w3nda1's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death and Death of parent

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.

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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 abuse

333amreen's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The first half was REALLY interesting! But it lost the spark as it went on, other than a few shocking incidents here & there. Overall, decent read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicide, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Infidelity, and Medical trauma

ash0ncloud2306's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Spoiler (later on): I personally didn’t “love” nor “liked” the book but I did understand it. I understand it’s a suicidal note which makes it sad and to know it’s a semi autobiography makes it even awful. The main character did not have any redeemable qualities at all other than his self-awareness most of the times (except his misogynistic views and thoughts and feelings). There were some things that just made me question myself why am I reading this book? I was hoping for the main character redemption arc. I was really rooting for him. And at the end “Everything passes”. At least to my understanding, that is the whole point of the book where the main character holds no redeemable qualities which makes him disqualified as a human… no longer a human. At the epilogue, they call him an Angel so perhaps he is not a human because he is not that species (I am only connecting ideas here and there or the want of connecting ideas so this can be ignored). Also he was called an Angel at the epilogue though his life…. He was not being his true self I feel or took a stand for his art. Lots of self sabotaging along with not really wanting anything. He wanted a book as a present from his dad in the beginning and that was disappointing to everyone in the family so there’s a lot of psychological issues from the main character which I felt bad for. I was really rooting for him. I really was :/ I don’t know how I feel about the book tbh. I’m not happy nor sad. Just empty. If anyone gets attached to the author and work, I’d recommend this book. I wouldn’t really recommend it to people though. It had great prose. There’s just… questionable things in there that I can’t slide it away. I mean read the book at your will. This is my opinion. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Gaslighting, Death, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Suicide, and Vomit

marayzex's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Sexism, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Mental illness

Moderate: Child abuse, Toxic friendship, and Medical trauma

Minor: Death and Death of parent

ccachapa's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Rape, Mental illness, and Abandonment

natcrash's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book captivated me from the first sentence. I hadn’t read for fun in so long (like 3 years?) and this book brought me out of my reading slump. It’s short, at least for me (>200 pages), so it was perfect. 

It’s beautifully written. 

I love me some existential ramblings. Yozo is (maybe) relatable if you’ve ever felt out of place and/or have had depression, which makes you feel bad since

he’s basically a piece of shit and treats everyone around him horribly

. He calls you out, making you uncomfortable, but that’s just what I love. But DON’T read this book if you’re currently depressed. This book would’ve sent me spiraling down a hole five years ago. It’s definitely not for everyone, it’s harsh and heavy. It’s not something I usually read, but I couldn’t put it down.

Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable

- Cesar A. Cruz

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Rape, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Moderate: Body shaming and Death of parent

Minor: Vomit, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Medical content, and Pedophilia

Some of the minor trigger warnings are listed as “minor” as they’re only mentioned in passing and are not major plot points of the book.