A review by jess_mango
Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Kenzaburō Ōe

4.0

A group of 15 teenaged reform school boys get abandoned in a village after the residents fear an oncoming plague. This short Japanese novel was originally published in the late 1950s but could easily have been written more recently. The boys attempt to make their own way and establish their own community with what they've been left but they are always under the shadow of war and the plague.

I am glad that I picked this one up. It was a relatively quick and easy read despite the often heavy subject matter. The storytelling was straightforward and the narrative easy to follow.