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A review by lukes_ramblingwritings66
The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts