A review by thomasgoddard
No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai
2.0
On my list for an absolute age. It was all over Instagram and I got snagged the same as the rest of you. Sometimes you hope against hope that the majority of people are right for once and that their collective brainpower counts for something.
Most of the time it doesn't. It didn't this time either.
I think if I'd read this book early on in my reading life it might have made more of an impact. It's simply written. It has no bells and whistles. It does what it intends on doing, presents a character that is bordering on the xenophobic. He grows up. He finds no real anchor points that connect him with the world.
I feel like the author was depressed and instead of writing a depressed character he wrote one that was just slightly disconnected from his humanity. The problem is that unless the character is legitimately depressed, it doesn't connect. He says he is, but he doesn't seem to be. Not in a convincing way. He lacks human emotion, so it almost seems like he's beyond depression's reach.
I guess the clearest way I can express it is that I feel like I've read 177 pages about a robot. One which runs along the rails of his existence and delivers no insights. It's more just a book of emotional experience. It is draining to read.
I've read much more authentic depictions of depression, isolation and humanity.
Maybe it is lost in translation. I wholeheartedly want to believe that it was. I feel like it might have had little threads of meaning and context that just didn't transfer over into English.
What I read wasn't a powerful novel. But I think that therein lay a little of it's value. It wasn't entirely pointless, there are breakout moments. Just nothing... Substantial.
Most of the time it doesn't. It didn't this time either.
I think if I'd read this book early on in my reading life it might have made more of an impact. It's simply written. It has no bells and whistles. It does what it intends on doing, presents a character that is bordering on the xenophobic. He grows up. He finds no real anchor points that connect him with the world.
I feel like the author was depressed and instead of writing a depressed character he wrote one that was just slightly disconnected from his humanity. The problem is that unless the character is legitimately depressed, it doesn't connect. He says he is, but he doesn't seem to be. Not in a convincing way. He lacks human emotion, so it almost seems like he's beyond depression's reach.
I guess the clearest way I can express it is that I feel like I've read 177 pages about a robot. One which runs along the rails of his existence and delivers no insights. It's more just a book of emotional experience. It is draining to read.
I've read much more authentic depictions of depression, isolation and humanity.
Maybe it is lost in translation. I wholeheartedly want to believe that it was. I feel like it might have had little threads of meaning and context that just didn't transfer over into English.
What I read wasn't a powerful novel. But I think that therein lay a little of it's value. It wasn't entirely pointless, there are breakout moments. Just nothing... Substantial.