Reviews with content warning for Confinement - No Longer Human

Reading this is painful especially finding out a lot of the things that happen in the book actually occurred in the author’s life. Like, yes, I know it’s a semi autobiography but the fiction tends to be 80% not 20%.

Anyway, what i find fascinating even in not being able to understand humans, when it comes to woman there’s definitely some sort of understanding that woman are the lesser being. 🙄

I think the writing is quite poignant, it’s what drew me in, the author is really able to show the character as is without justifying the actions of the character.

Content Warnings

lifepath7's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad 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

Content Warnings

nineinchnails's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

the writing is hard for me to gauge considering it’s a translation (of an older novel), and it felt quite choppy at parts. the prose is beautiful, though, despite the subject matter and i tremendously enjoyed reading this.

yozo is really gross but i felt for him, more so initially than later on in the novel. dazai captured the feeling of loneliness that comes with feeling alienated from society really well and it was depressingly relatable. knowing this is so well loved gave me a sense of comfort, like i’m not alone in feeling that way. i would find the misogyny a little less difficult to deal with if this book didn’t come off so much like an autobiography - it feels like he genuinely believed the things he was saying and it left a bad taste in my mouth overall. i wouldn’t recommend reading if you’re in a bad place mentally because there’s a heavy focus on his depression and pessimism.

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william26's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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stuckduck's review against another edition

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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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sknappy1's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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sunshinemoth's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective tense fast-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

4.5

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wildelwrcase's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad fast-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

4.5

As a whole this book is a strange, visceral read. It’s almost comical in it’s depravity and wallowing and yet I cannot help but be utterly gripped by it.

I was worried going in that the long bouts of depressing inner monologues would be absolutely exhausting, but they ended up being some of the most deeply resounding things for me. I absolutely adore the prose in this book. I absolutely flew through it because not only is it short, but every line just pulls you further down into it's own depraved world. I don't know if that is a compliment for some, but it made me thoroughly enjoy it.

Relating to the main character feels so wrong, the words Dazai uses to describe his own depression are so uninhibited, raw, and relatable to anyone who's experience a similar illness. But it also brings feeling of disgust, for the situations the character is in, for his decisions, and worst of all for yourself for being able to relate to it. It sticks you into the mind of a man so ill that he's been institutionalized and forces you to contend with the fact, that you bear fundamental similarities. Then you have to contend with the fact that his bleak outlook on life, is not that different to yours. It's a different kind of pain and one that is absolutely addicting to read.

The closest reading experience I could compare it to would probably be the Metamorphosis by Kafka. But the greatest difference between the books (one that makes me prefer Dazai's) is how personal it is. Gregor is a tragic character, but there is also an undeniable distance between Gregor and the reader. The narrator is very separate from the situation, and while tragic it's also ultimately contained. No Longer Human offers no such comfortable rift. Dazai himself is telling you every detail about why he want to kill himself and how his brain is such a torturous place to live, and the only way to escape it is to have never read it at all.

Highly recommend if you are in the right headspace, but even if you are this book has a good chance of making you spiral in some way.

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