A review by carla20
No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai

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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