Osamu Dazai uses his skill in connecting with readers and conveying negative emotions to reveal a painful look at life.
Osamu Dazai published No Longer Human in 1948. It is a fictional, semi-autobiographical novel centered around a young man named Oba Yozo.
The life of Oba Yozo is anonymously narrated by a man who knows him through three pictures and three notebooks. Before delving into Yozo’s life, the narrator details the three photos as each grows more and more unsettling to give readers a sense of Yozo’s character. The book then begins during Yozo’s childhood, where his inability to feel human is firmly established. This struggle would be shown to continue throughout his life as he painfully makes it through each day. The focus of No Longer Human is Yozo’s battles with severe depression, social anxiety, suicide, and various other intense sufferings. Dazai would subtly apply his own experiences to Oba Yozo’s suffering, making it a personal and deep insight into Dazai’s own life.
Going into this book, I already knew how it explained the painful life of a young man. However, upon actually reading it, I realized that it was more than just a story of a fictional character’s life. No Longer Human is a personal look at Dazai’s own struggles that readers can connect their personal experiences to. His and Yozo’s pain is beautifully articulated to paint a sad and unforgettable story. Dazai does more than show the pain of a man; he shows how mental illness captures a person and how difficult some find it hard to escape from it. At the end of the novel, I had a hard time deciphering whether it was a story of a real man or a fictional one with some real experiences sprinkled in. The line between fiction and reality was very hard to find, but that’s why I loved it. No Longer Human’s level of emotion and how personal it felt made a lasting impression on me.
This book lets readers take a look at a young man’s painful life on a personal level, which made me love it. I would recommend No Longer Human to those who like a deep read that they can connect to. The topics it covers remain very relevant today. Those currently struggling with their mental health may want to stay away from the book since it heavily focuses on depression, suicide, addiction, etc. On the other hand, some may find it comforting to relate their struggles to someone else’s. Overall, this book was an excellent read and one that I would gladly read again.
Comments