Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Zmierzch

Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Zmierzch by Osamu Dazai

37 reviews

marimaria's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

I'm renewing my subscription to depression premium.

Dazai Osamu’s works, I feel, must be read when you're at a very specific place mentally, unless you want to later find yourself falling into the abyss. It's because he completely understands the depths that human despair can reach, that is the reason why his books are received as “dark, realistic, depressing”. A lot of what was written in this book clearly reflects Dazai sensei’s own feelings towards life and living. There's a lot to be said about the frequency in which death and suicide are mentioned in this book. Which is all the more reason why I think the timing in reading this book matters.

The final chapters especially got to me. So, trigger warning for that. It’s about

a certain character’s suicide note.

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lukes_ramblingwritings66's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.25

Am I okay? No. Was this book like sipping the bitterest of liquors? Yes. In my search to reconnect back with my heritage, I've taken up to wanting to read more Japanese literature. Dazai Osamu's post-war piece The Setting Sun felt appropriate as the last book of Japanese literature that I read was Confessions of a Mask by Mishima Yukio. Both men, plagued by specific aspects in their life, wrote their works semi-autobiographically amidst the transitionary period of post-war Japan.

Existence is both ugly and beautiful, and we are given the gamut of both here by our narrator, the young aristocrat named Kazuko. Abandoning her class stature, and embracing acts that wouldn't be considered aristocratic. The one that is the most conspicuous would be the care of her dwindling mother, and the anxieties that surround such events. The strenuous labor of caring for someone slowly slipping away, whether one would like to admit it or not, felt poetically similar to that of the transition of seasons throughout the year.

It's short, like the lives we lead. And it's title aptly gives us a glance not only to the contents and the context, but also to ourselves. For we are all children of the setting sun, inevitably succumbing to the dusk that comes.

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clemrain's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

It’s simply a beautiful book. I really savoured it. Enjoyed every page.

Characters are a delicious soup. So deep and yet so simple.

The writing is so dreamy. And I’ve never read a structure like this. I loved reading what was practically Kazuko and Naoji’s diaries and collection of letters. It was intimate and I felt for and understood the characters deeply.

A whole story revolving the love you feel for a mother and how a child is always just a child. The identity and connection and ties to a mother. I appreciated it.

I saw a lot of typos in the translation. And thought some of it was awkwardly written. I wonder how true to the original these typos or awkwardness was.

I’m not sure if I could read through this again. But I do feel an urge to. Looking forward to reading more Dazai.

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octavia_58's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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nemrac23's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.0

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196books's review against another edition

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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

2.75

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2hermione4's review against another edition

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dark hopeful 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

3.75

Ενδιαφέρουσα η παρουσία της σχέσης μάνας-κόρης στο βιβλίο και γενικότερα το σκεπτικό της πρωταγωνίστριας, αν και ιδιόρρυθμο. Ως προς το πρόσωπου του αδερφού, θεωρώ ότι το βιβλίο "Όχι πια Άνθρωπος" εκφράζει πιο ουσιαστικά την κατάσταση του, καθώς οι χαρακτήρες ήταν παρεμφερείς. Η έκδοση πάντως τραγική, πολλά τυπογραφικά λάθη,που με αποσπούσαν και χάλαγαν την ροή του βιβλίου.

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