Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

El declive by Osamu Dazai

44 reviews

mangonana's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicide, Medical content, Death of parent, War, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Miscarriage, Sexism, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

Minor: Sexual content

risemini's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

erik_gamlem's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

I think this may be one of the most important books for anyone to read right now. As the world turns back into chaos, as the morality of the status quo begins to grow its beastly head, we have the aftermath of what is to come to foresee in Dazai’s work. This may be his true masterpiece. It is certainly herald in his home country as among one of the greats of their canon. There is no denying why. The symbolic movement flourished through his personal narrative is exceptional. One would be so ashamed to steal from a mistress, but I feel Dazai had to, or else this book would not capture the deceit of man against each other. Though with that, she should be credited. Gratitude to Shizuko Ota. If you are feeling at all hopeless, this may bring you peace, if you can stomach the sacrifice we must sink our teeth into. Dazai watched it happen. He may not have handled it well personally, but he understood that the culling was necessary. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide, Death of parent, and Alcohol

kitchenstaff's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Medical content

Minor: Miscarriage and Pregnancy

lidia7's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Suicide, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Medical content, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Drug use, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Stalking, Pregnancy, and War

sendnunes's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I am flabbergasted. I was not expecting to be such a huge fan of the setting sun. When I started reading I was quite surprised by how well it is written and I must say, I like every character. Of course there are some morally greyer ones but I could see were they were coming from.

Even though I usually have a disliking for weak mom's  in fiction, I liked the mother in this one quite a lot. The symbolism was also great (the snake one will stick in my head for the next days). All in all, amazing read

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Incest

seapotatohowisitalrtaken's review against another edition

reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Suicide

lamented0racle's review against another edition

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Suicide

Minor: War

gvstyris'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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

 Victims. Victims of a transitional period of morality. That is what we both certainly are. 

Funnily enough, The Setting Sun reminded me of El Coronel No Tiene Quien Le Escriba: both are novels I deeply respect the literary/cultural significance of, but struggled to connect with because of the very literary techniques they're renowned for. That being said, there are some beautiful images here, and

Naoji's final letter really resonated with me.

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I also can't help but feel like this novel was somewhat lost in translation for me, unfortunately. 

But perhaps, just as it is true of my love, they could not go on living except in the way they do. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Infidelity

Minor: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and War

clemrain's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-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

4.5

It’s simply a beautiful book. I really savoured it. Enjoyed every page. 

Characters are a delicious soup. So deep and yet so simple. 

The writing is so dreamy. And I’ve never read a structure like this. I loved reading what was practically Kazuko and Naoji’s diaries and collection of letters. It was intimate and I felt for and understood the characters deeply.

A whole story revolving the love you feel for a mother and how a child is always just a child. The identity and connection and ties to a mother. I appreciated it.

I saw a lot of typos in the translation. And thought some of it was awkwardly written. I wonder how true to the original these typos or awkwardness was.

I’m not sure if I could read through this again.  But I do feel an urge to. Looking forward to reading more Dazai.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, Sexism, Terminal illness, and Medical content

Minor: Infidelity, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, and War