Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Gagal Menjadi Manusia by Osamu Dazai

262 reviews

lydiavsbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

This is the story of a man who feels so desperately isolated from everyone, that he no longer feels human.

 I think this is a brilliant and challenging exploration of how narrowly we define the human experience, and the devastating effect this can have on individuals who sit outside of those assumption. To me, the main character, Yozo, reads as autistic. He desperately struggles to connect with others and talks of performing what others might expect of him: smiling when he thinks he should and constantly adapting and filtering what he says to put on the mask of playing a 'clown'. He has no sense of hunger, and without the language or even the concept of how diverse the human experience can be, he feels further and further isolated from this idea of what a human is.

That said, he's not a particularly likeable character, he is very self-absorbed and seems to have little awareness of the impact he may have on other people. While keeping it vague to avoid spoilers, he at one point witnesses what is implied to be sexual assault, but describes it with such vagueness that its very unclear as to what exactly is happening. Its hard to know what to feel about his bystander position in this situation, which I think reflects his defeatist, almost passive, stance on life. That this is what life is and he just moves through it.

It's tragic in a very clever way that doesn't require explicitly tragic events to occur, but instead communicates the tragedy of the chronic isolation and unhappiness when unable to connect with other human beings and make sense of ourselves. At no point does any character explicitly exclude or 'other' Yozo, but it perfectly highlights the subtle, unsaid assumptions about humankind and how we operate, that can so firmly close off those that stray from this, without even realising.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

nolongerhuman_'s review against another edition

dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Suicide, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, and Rape

Minor: Vomit and Blood

softbooknerd's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense fast-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Drug use, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Rape

Minor: Child abuse

fannofdoritos's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Child abuse, and Alcoholism

vklyle99's review against another edition

dark slow-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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death of parent, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Drug abuse, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Mental illness

zaby's review against another edition

dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

WOW! writing was incredible!!!! usually translation literature is hit or miss bc they sometimes don’t give the original authors writing skill justice - but WOW the translation of this book was great!!!!!

devastating and pessimistic read but it’s good to not sugarcoat things like this. sometimes the ugly just needs to be shown as ugly. 

~4 stars for the wording and writing alone. thoughts were very profound and had me gaping every page! epilogue was GREAT; last sentence left a lingering sadness.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

doritamat's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, Rape, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Addiction

odeadsaku's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

Moderate: Self harm and Alcohol

Minor: Addiction, Drug use, Rape, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

en0mad's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Toxic friendship, Death, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Mental illness, Sexism, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

est_her's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I am relieved to find i'm no longer mentally ill enough to find comfort in this novel/enjoy it as much as the first time i read it. Yozo starts out as a child having difficulties understanding the people around him and incapable of building genuine connections with other humans. There, his struggles are almost relatable to the reader. As he grows up, Yozo makes so many mistakes, allows so many terrible people to influence him negatively that the main character even completely alienates the reader from himself. Every time it seems he may have a chance to turn his life around, he repeats the same mistakes, each time in a more horrifying manner than before. By the end of the novel, it is so sickening that it qualifies as a horror story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Addiction, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Rape, Misogyny, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Child abuse