A review by jrosenstein
Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids by Kenzaburō Ōe

3.0

This book was described to me as the Japanese, Lord of the Flies though Oe's worldview is perhaps even bleaker than Golding's. During WWII a group of reformatory boys is evacuated to a remote mountain village. When a plague breaks out the villagers abandon the town and leave the boys trapped there to fend for themselves. I found most of the book to be a bit slow and oblique but the ending was brutally resonant. I also appreciated that, unlike Golding, Oe frankly acknowledges sex and sexuality as a part of the adolescent psyche.