krishnendu 's review for:

The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai

2.0

dark

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Nihilistic desperation from start to end, the victims of Japan's transitional period in morality. Even after attempting to contextualise the post-war impoverishment of aristocracy and its synchronic moral crisis, I couldn't root for this woman written by a man, whose moral "revolution" is bringing into the world another sacrificial offering as justification for her existence - selfishness. The pervasive elements of classism also forbade my empathising with the former-aristocrat characters mourning their downfall. 

At times, despair edges into something almost beautiful through Dazai’s lyricism, but I suspect the translation doesn't carry symbolisms the way Dazai intended

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Suicide