Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai

105 reviews

carla20's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I really enjoyed the first half of the story. Yozo was a very introspective and self reflecting character since he was a child, but as he grows older, he seems to burry himself deeper in his own view of the world, and misses that self awareness he had at the beggining of his life. As an adult, he brings nothing but tragedy to the people around him, specially women. His view of women and their role in society revolves around his very limited vision of the world and seems to fundamentally blame women of everything that goes wrong in his life. I found it fascinating that almost everyone around him seemed to exempt him of his faults and put the blame on someone else, but I guess is the consequence of Yozo constantly faking what he really thinks and feels. 
I liked that the final message of the books was that "everything passes".

Spoiler

Even though Yozo's ending was tragic, the overall message that no matter how hard life gets, it will pass, was strangely conforting in a novel so dark.

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I will definitely pick up the author's other books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

anni_o's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Protagonist / Writer of the Notebooks is rather sexist. I guess it is a product of its time, but it sure did not age well. The prose is beautiful in parts, and a mix of vague and too detailed in others. The insight into his depressive episodes was very meaningful/insightful, and it was a rather quick read. I related to the protagonist in part, especially with the view of the world, but in other parts it was frustrating to see him spiral further and further. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Mental illness, Suicide, Sexism, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Alcohol, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Self harm, Rape, Vomit, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Death, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Stalking, Blood, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Ableism, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Grief

venusynth's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I have never experienced such misfortunes or the misery, that is Yozo’s greatest enemy and oldest friend—and I wish all that Yozo experienced on no one, nobody— but I enjoyed this story. Like, as the commonly used simile states, a car crash you can’t look away from. Except it gets worse as you turn the pages.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault

rionardo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is incredilby depressing and deals with hard topics. While reading I found myself relating to the main character, but I also hated and despised him throughout the book. I also felt bad for him. Still one of my favorite books and has a big impact on me and what I think about mental illnesses.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Drug use, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Grief, Child abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Infidelity

Minor: Death of parent

_azure76's review against another edition

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Drug use, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Minor: War and Vomit

akane_shio's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Child abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexism, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Bullying, Sexual content, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Rape

abibliophobic_nerd's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Medical content, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Alcohol

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Blood, Infidelity, and Vomit

stuckduck's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, and Confinement

Moderate: Child abuse and Rape

myths_reads's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book had a lot of good commentary about humans and society. I think it can be said that this book discusses the world through the lens of anxiety, depression, and addiction—this belief of not being human but having to live in the human world. There were a lot of quotable moments that I found myself relating to. The narrator discusses people pleasing and the idea that disagreeing with someone is a form of sin - which I understand entirely as someone with anxiety.

With that said, the way the narrator talks about women is icky. It is a crawling-under-your-skin type of icky. The narrator heavily objectifies women and has a victim complex even when his wife is a victim of SA. One could argue that the narrator's relationship with women is a side-effect of his addiction and anxiety. However, objectifying women will never be excusable in my eyes so I gotta take down a few stars for that. Also, the narrator will go on these rants that were very dull in my eyes and I actually skipped a whole page because it made no relevance to the overall plot of the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship and Sexism

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Rape, and Adult/minor relationship

spacecars's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Alcoholism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Rape, Abandonment, and Grief