tsushimashu 's review for:

Pandora's Box by Osamu Dazai

4.0

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first read: though this book wasnt bad, it was probably my least favorite of osamu dazai's works. i wouldnt skip it, definitely not, but it didnt draw me in like his other novels did. this book was about skylarks recovery in a sanitorium for tuberculosis, and his connections with the other patients and staff members. i enjoyed the storyline, but it wasnt a book that i just couldnt put down. i am definitely willing to read it again and see if i like it more, because i was a little preoccupied with personal circumstances during my reading of this book and may not have been able to give pandoras box my full attention :) i think the characters were very sweet, and it was a calm, slow storyline.

second read: switched from a three star to a four!
this is one of my favorite stories by osamu dazai, though he excels in writing about his depression and other melancholic topics, his optimistic stories are also insanely well done.
i think the title of pandoras box and the references to the greek myth were genius. dazai eloquently displays the sense of hope in a hopeless experience.
i could really relate to his story of recovery in an institution, although the recovery he goes through in this story is primarily that of tuberculosis and mine was of mental health.
the bonus story at the end, goodbye, was genuinely hilarious (or maybe my humor has deteriorated due to compulsive readings of classic literature) but it also displayed a heartbreaking sense of melancholy and the desperation of tajima’s situation.
contrary to my previous review, i seriously could not put this book down today. it took me months on my first read, but this time i finished in one day.
live laugh love osamu dazai