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A review by andrea_lachance
No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai
challenging
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? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Definately need to reread this one.
Dazai’s No Longer Human is an inside look into one man’s deeply flawed psyche. Set in 1930’s Japan the book is framed as three notebooks written by the main character, Yozo, that were given to the narrator/author.
The book itself is comprised of a prologue, the three notebooks covering three periods of Yozo’s life, and an epilogue.
I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that captures just how isolating and depersonalizing mental illness and social isolation can make a person feel. That being said, it’s not a book I’d recommend for someone who’s going through a major depressive episode.
Philosophically, there are a lot if interesting ideas. Yozo has difficulties understanding why people need structure and rhythm in their days and understanding other peoples emotions. Yozo especially has a difficult time reading women, and finds them unknowable.
Reading from Yozo’s point of view makes me feel both empathy and annoyance. Yozo feels he is uniquely, extremely burdened with ‘The Weight of it All’ and doubts that other humans think or feel the same things because if they did, they would not walk around as happy as they are. It’s makes me feel really sad, because I’ve been there, but I also feel like Yozo is conceited (the way that men have to have a drug trip to experience empathy and ego death and think they’re experiencing something novel when every girl has felt that way since 14).
Yoko strikes me as a pessimistic existentialist (“nothing matters” but in the worst way possible) and he just can’t get out of that mindset and it taints everything in the world.
In a way, I think this book speaks to the importance of NOT thinking this way, of NOT isolating yourself. Yoko goes down this really awful and intense spiral because he just can’t get out of his head and can’t connect with people. That’s not entirely his fault, but it’s why he can’t seem to bounce back..
I’d be remiss to say Yoko could pull himself up from depression if he just got out of his head. That’s bullshit. Yoko’s experienced SEVERAL traumas throughout his life that have severely impacted his ability to connect with others, and he was never given any real help.
This could serve as a critique of how Japan at the time dealt with treating the mental health of children at the time (i.e not at all, or extremely stigmatized).This critique of Japan’s mental healthcare system comes up again at the end of the third notebook, when Yoko is institutionalized. Once he is, he says he is “disqualified as a human being. I had now ceased to be a human being” (167). BRO. It was so heavily stigmatized to be institutionalized, that Yoko was ‘othered’ and became ‘no longer human’. That’s insane. And that’s exactly how Japan treated people who needed help.
And worse, after being institutionalized, Yoko lived the rest of his life in isolation, away from family, in a house that was falling apart with a caretaker who abused him.
He always said he was a terrible person, not. A person, but in the end, he was described as “a good boy, an angel” and that his father was the real monster? Things to think about.
Really good book.
Much to think about with this one.
Again, lots of alcohol and substance abuse. And of course, SA because that’s just a running theme in every book I read, apparently.
Random notes I made on Yozo:
-he associates apologizing with women :///
-He only understands anger/negative emotions in other people, not positive emotions
-He’s afraid to use money but also is using up his monthly allowance in 2-3 days and BEGGING his family for money (71)
-sometimes, he really is giving rich asshole who doesn’t know how the world or human empathy works
-Dude is a straight up mysogynist (80)
-Bro really said he’s the same as a poverty-stricken woman :///
-He strikes me as someone with ASPD or SzPD
-He blames Flatfish for his situation??? (102)
-He married a 17 year-old hoping to find happiness.
“Living itself is the source of sin” (164) BARS
-IDK how much of an unreliable narrator he is, we’ll figure that out on round 2
Dazai’s No Longer Human is an inside look into one man’s deeply flawed psyche. Set in 1930’s Japan the book is framed as three notebooks written by the main character, Yozo, that were given to the narrator/author.
The book itself is comprised of a prologue, the three notebooks covering three periods of Yozo’s life, and an epilogue.
I don’t think I’ve ever read a book that captures just how isolating and depersonalizing mental illness and social isolation can make a person feel. That being said, it’s not a book I’d recommend for someone who’s going through a major depressive episode.
Philosophically, there are a lot if interesting ideas. Yozo has difficulties understanding why people need structure and rhythm in their days and understanding other peoples emotions. Yozo especially has a difficult time reading women, and finds them unknowable.
Reading from Yozo’s point of view makes me feel both empathy and annoyance. Yozo feels he is uniquely, extremely burdened with ‘The Weight of it All’ and doubts that other humans think or feel the same things because if they did, they would not walk around as happy as they are. It’s makes me feel really sad, because I’ve been there, but I also feel like Yozo is conceited (the way that men have to have a drug trip to experience empathy and ego death and think they’re experiencing something novel when every girl has felt that way since 14).
Yoko strikes me as a pessimistic existentialist (“nothing matters” but in the worst way possible) and he just can’t get out of that mindset and it taints everything in the world.
In a way, I think this book speaks to the importance of NOT thinking this way, of NOT isolating yourself. Yoko goes down this really awful and intense spiral because he just can’t get out of his head and can’t connect with people. That’s not entirely his fault, but it’s why he can’t seem to bounce back..
I’d be remiss to say Yoko could pull himself up from depression if he just got out of his head. That’s bullshit. Yoko’s experienced SEVERAL traumas throughout his life that have severely impacted his ability to connect with others, and he was never given any real help.
This could serve as a critique of how Japan at the time dealt with treating the mental health of children at the time (i.e not at all, or extremely stigmatized).
And worse, after being institutionalized, Yoko lived the rest of his life in isolation, away from family, in a house that was falling apart with a caretaker who abused him.
He always said he was a terrible person, not. A person, but in the end, he was described as “a good boy, an angel” and that his father was the real monster? Things to think about.
Really good book.
Much to think about with this one.
Again, lots of alcohol and substance abuse. And of course, SA because that’s just a running theme in every book I read, apparently.
Random notes I made on Yozo:
-he associates apologizing with women :///
-He only understands anger/negative emotions in other people, not positive emotions
-He’s afraid to use money but also is using up his monthly allowance in 2-3 days and BEGGING his family for money (71)
-sometimes, he really is giving rich asshole who doesn’t know how the world or human empathy works
-Dude is a straight up mysogynist (80)
-Bro really said he’s the same as a poverty-stricken woman :///
-He strikes me as someone with ASPD or SzPD
-He blames Flatfish for his situation??? (102)
-He married a 17 year-old hoping to find happiness.
“Living itself is the source of sin” (164) BARS
-IDK how much of an unreliable narrator he is, we’ll figure that out on round 2
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia