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A review by natalie_and_company
No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
5.0
When reading the summary of this book, it is easy to assume that it will end up being a emotionless collection of unfortunate misunderstandings. It is easy to think that a book written about a man who does not understand other people would feel disconnected and discombobulated. You might assume a story about a man without emotions would be missing well... emotion. But despite this books title, this is one of the most human pieces of writing I have ever read.
Unexpectedly becoming one of my favorite books of the year, this is truly a masterpiece of a novel. Dazai evokes such deep and hidden parts of being human. Because emotions can be so loud, so in your face, the lack of emotion that the main character here feels highlights parts of life that do not often get center stage because people are so concerned with how they feel. There are no intense emotions to be carried on as you follow the main character through his story. You would think that this would leave the narrative with a gap in its story telling but its progression is so full with raw existence.
Osamu Dazai's writing is simple and yet he manages to evoke the most intense of feelings with his simple sentences. It is one of my favorite things about Japanese literature, and the style is very reminiscent of Banana Yoshimoto, or should I say that her style is very reminiscent of his. It creates this mundanity that holds more weight, more value to the average reader than any intense fantasy battle scene ever could. It is this mundanity that holds us, that grips us tightly, and that so deeply unsettles us. But in equal measure it is this mundanity that frees us, that pushes us out of safety, that so vividly comforts the most hidden parts of ourselves.
As humans, as flawed communicators, we are so woefully unprepared to communicate the multitudes that lay hidden within us. We will spend our whole lives trying to get others around you to fully understand what it is like in your head. With Osamu Dazai's last written piece of work, it seems that that curation of communication he spent his life attempting paid off. It is unfortunate that this payoff came just before his untimely demise. This raw existence that Dazai writes about, is the closest I have ever felt anyone has come to communicating what it is like inside a persons head. Even without the element of emotion, the thoughts, actions, ideas, all the things he wrote about hold such powerful truth.
This novel is deeply sad. Knowing the context of Osamu Dazai and his painful life adds a sobering aspect here. And no matter how emotional a person could be, they can still find themselves in the pages of this main character, if only the main character himself could understand how alike he is to those around him his life would not have been made so melancholy. To feel understood on this level is mastery is writing. This book will follow me for many years to come.
Unexpectedly becoming one of my favorite books of the year, this is truly a masterpiece of a novel. Dazai evokes such deep and hidden parts of being human. Because emotions can be so loud, so in your face, the lack of emotion that the main character here feels highlights parts of life that do not often get center stage because people are so concerned with how they feel. There are no intense emotions to be carried on as you follow the main character through his story. You would think that this would leave the narrative with a gap in its story telling but its progression is so full with raw existence.
Osamu Dazai's writing is simple and yet he manages to evoke the most intense of feelings with his simple sentences. It is one of my favorite things about Japanese literature, and the style is very reminiscent of Banana Yoshimoto, or should I say that her style is very reminiscent of his. It creates this mundanity that holds more weight, more value to the average reader than any intense fantasy battle scene ever could. It is this mundanity that holds us, that grips us tightly, and that so deeply unsettles us. But in equal measure it is this mundanity that frees us, that pushes us out of safety, that so vividly comforts the most hidden parts of ourselves.
As humans, as flawed communicators, we are so woefully unprepared to communicate the multitudes that lay hidden within us. We will spend our whole lives trying to get others around you to fully understand what it is like in your head. With Osamu Dazai's last written piece of work, it seems that that curation of communication he spent his life attempting paid off. It is unfortunate that this payoff came just before his untimely demise. This raw existence that Dazai writes about, is the closest I have ever felt anyone has come to communicating what it is like inside a persons head. Even without the element of emotion, the thoughts, actions, ideas, all the things he wrote about hold such powerful truth.
This novel is deeply sad. Knowing the context of Osamu Dazai and his painful life adds a sobering aspect here. And no matter how emotional a person could be, they can still find themselves in the pages of this main character, if only the main character himself could understand how alike he is to those around him his life would not have been made so melancholy. To feel understood on this level is mastery is writing. This book will follow me for many years to come.