Reviews

Rashomon by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

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alexcavanaugh's review against another edition

4.0

A nice collection of short stories. Enjoyable with or without a literature degree. Worth noting that the Rashomon movie is actually based off of the story "In a Grove" rather than the story titled "Rashomon."

zeecorster's review against another edition

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4.0

Some really solid stories in this little collection. The biggest draw is absolutely "In a Grove," which Kurosawa famously adapted into Rashomon, but that same sneaking psychological insight lurks behind all six of these stories in one way or another. Akutagawa has such a clean writing style, and it's because of those simple sentences and storytelling that he's able to raise so many questions about human nature throughout these little fables. There wasn't a bad one in the bunch.

ppoduszkajas53_bw's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Ancient Japan was a pretty strange place

tura's review against another edition

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adventurous informative slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

whatmaraloves's review against another edition

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dark inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.75

bewitchingkelly's review

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3.0

it was interesting, it sort of plays the idea of what is good and wrong, and what one needs to survive. the old lady knows what she does is wrong, and the servant knows stealing is wrong. but they both did what the did to survive.

i still don’t like the servant though, his sort of idea that he is justice seemed odd considering he was known as a servant and such. i can see why this is popular though.