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No Longer Human
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No Longer Human
Unavailable
No Longer Human
Audiobook4 hours

No Longer Human

Written by Osamu Dazai

Narrated by David Shih

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. Oba Yozo's attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a "clown" to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness.
LanguageEnglish
TranslatorDonald Keene
Release dateDec 20, 2016
ISBN9781515986195
Author

Osamu Dazai

Osamu Dazai (1909-1948) is one of the most highly respected author's of modern Japan and is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in post-war Japanese literature. He was widely known by contemporaries for his eclectic lifestyle, inventive use of language, and his multiple suicide attempts, which led to his final, successful attempt in 1948. His two major novels, No Longer Human and The Setting Sun, continue to be widely read and leave a vibrant legacy for one of Japan's greatest writers.

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Reviews for No Longer Human

Rating: 3.8942436315930387 out of 5 stars
4/5

747 ratings23 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Written in an amazing fashion. It describes depression and addiction in an understandable way that sucks you in. I related and had chills at several sentences that I felt put into words my most inner feelings

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really liked the descriptions of human emotion and overall mood of this book

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Painful. This was a really good read. Dazai deserved better.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Brilliant and painful. Loved and hated it. It took me weeks to finish it.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Fantastic, really shows cognitive dissonance and the road to addiction.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    what a immaculate novel about tragedy. i almost cried in my heart.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    hope to read this classic from other media like a manga or another translation. thanks.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I don’t know how I feel about this book though the audio book was narrated pretty well.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Some of this was brilliant and terrifying—descriptions of being unable to see and feel humanity like he assumed everyone else could. But there’s a lot of stuff I didn’t like and I’d sort of tune it out.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I was not expecting this. I hate so much the protagonist, but It was sad to see the reason behind this. I think I hate him because I resemble him. Likewise, I don't think this books is for everyone, I couldn't agree more that this book is amazing, but sometimes it can lead you to another topics that are so difficult. During all the book, I felt too much and sometimes my past came to make me feel worst. I think that if you are going to read it, you must be in a good mental state.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Good story telling. Book about someone not understanding the world and his madness in life
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Love the book, great narration, tried it on a recommendation and it was definitely worth the time
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A good book even though pessimistic.

    It describes very well the issues that the protagonist encounters in relation with society. It emphasises how a different person has no chance of continuing living in an uniform society.

    The book reminded me of Han Kang's "The Vegetarian" in the sense that a person who cannot adapt to society ends up tragically.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    My expectations were better, but the novel shows a real life
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    3-4 stars rounded up. I more admired this book than enjoyed it. The narration is deeply indebted to Dostoevsky (Notes from the Underground) and reads like Sartre and Camus (or Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room), then the narrator directly names Crime and Punishment. It mines that same claustrophobic, self-absorbed, self-hating, misanthropic, misogynistic vein.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The quiddity of No Longer Human was a game of antonyms. I found the novel heartbreaking because of the protagonist’s clarity; this isn’t a ready world for such vision.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Reminiscent of Camus’s The Stranger. Many of my students recommended this to me because it resonated with them on some level. The language (even in translation) is powerful and sometimes beautiful. The main character is unlikeable- which, I guess, is the point.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    No Longer Human captured my attention in a way that The Setting Sun didn't quite manage to. Considering that this is a mildly autobiographical interpretation of the author himself, I'm cautious in how willing I am to call Oba Yozo out for his inclinations and behaviors, and am far more curious to try and understand where he is coming from.If I came away with nothing else, it's that there are a limitless number of ways in which a person can be pathetic, there are several instances where characters who are not Oba Yozo disqualify themselves from a standard that would classify them as a decent human being, and that no one is exempt from the concept of feeling or appearing no longer human.Also noteworthy is Oba Yozo's decline at the hands of drugs and alcohol. There came a certain point in the story where I began to noting several noteworthy similarities between Osamu Dazai's story, another titled Junky, by the American author, William S. Burroughs.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a remarkable book. Loneliness and suicide, but with a new look. Sparse and moving words.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    No Longer Human has a certain cult reputation due to its bleak storyline and unremittingly pessimistic main character. With the exception of the notebooks' final line, which was quite a punch to the gut, I was strangely unmoved by the novel. Some people complain that Catcher in the Rye is just one long whinge; I'd disagree with that but such a complaint would match my thoughts on NLH. Perhaps that's because there's so little written in the novel to make us feel sympathy for Yozo. He's a completely wretched character and apart from one vaguely addressed incident when he was a child you're presented with little that makes you want to root for him. Yozo doesn't even help himself and seems only determined to ruin everyone else and debase himself as much as possible. This isn't a story like David Foster Wallace's The Depressed Person that highlighted the issues such individuals can face, the adverse problems that result from that, whilst simultaneously making you feel sympathy for a person who could be viewed as a pain in the neck.A human element does seem lacking from this novel and, despite the novel's title, I don't think that's the point. It made for quite a detached read that failed to bring me in to Yozo's world and feel his pain. The other pieces of fiction already mentioned in this review are works that succeed much better, in my opinion, at portraying a person feeling depressed or alienated and stoking emotions in the reader. For something sad, I'd recommend them, rather than NLH.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    No Longer Human is only the second work by Osamu Dazai that I’ve read, the first being The Setting Sun. The Setting Sun was also the first of Dazai’s works to be translated into English. In 1958, No Longer Human became the second. New Directions then later republished Donald Keene’s translation in a paperback edition in 1973. The novel was in the middle of serialization in Japan in 1948 at the time of Dazai’s death. Along with The Setting Sun, No Longer Human is one of Dazai’s most well known novels. It also remains one of the top bestselling books in Japan to this day. The story has received several adaptations, including a manga adaptation by Usamaru Furuya to be published in English by Vertical in 2011. I have been meaning to read No Longer Human for some time now. Since it played such an important role in Mizuki Nomura's Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime, which I recently read and enjoyed, I figured it was about time I got around to it.To all appearances, Oba Yozo is a normal young man. The youngest son of a respectable family, leading a good life, and well liked by others, very few people would guess at his personal turmoil. He feels completely alienated from human society and finds it difficult to understand what exactly it is that is required of him. To cope, he becomes the class clown, hoping that if he can keep people amused and distracted they won’t notice his failings as a human. He is absolutely terrified that he will be revealed as a fraud. Because of this, he finds himself easily taken advantage of and subject to other people’s influence and desires for better and for worse.No Longer Human spoke to me on a very personal level and considering how well received the novel is I’m assuming I’m not the only one. I identified very closely with the protagonist and his worldview, although admittedly we have dealt with our issues in drastically different ways. It is this potential for empathy that makes No Longer Human so compelling. There are very few people in this world who haven’t felt some sort of disconnect between themselves and the rest of society at one point or another. Dazai captures this feeling of alienation honestly and completely in No Longer Human. The novel almost reads like a confession. In some ways, while being very personal, Yozo’s struggles are also incredibly universal.As with many of Dazai’s other works, No Longer Human incorporates many semi-autobiographical elements, lending to the novel’s sense of authenticity and immediacy. The story is tragic and probably not something you would want to read if you’re already feeling down or depressed. Yozo is arguably an unreliable narrator, certainly other characters don’t entirely believe him and assume much of his story is exaggerated, but I am convinced he is being truthful. In fact, the others' disbelief helps to emphasize his feeling of separation from those around him. The structure of the novel is interesting in that Yozo’s narrative is bookended by a prologue and epilogue by another, unnamed character who provides a supposedly objective view of the events described. No Longer Human is not a particularly long novel but it is still a potent story. I wouldn’t be surprised to find myself returning to read it again.Experiments in Manga
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Feeling suicidal? This is not book for you. No Longer Human tells the story of a person who has to maintain a cheerful, chirpy attitude, while he is dying inside. Playing the part for so long, he no longer can identify his facade from himself, and thus, he is in despair.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Well, supposedly no longer human, but really very human, very bourgeois. I have heard this is assigned in the Japanese school curriculum: and nothing gets assigned in an official curriculum unless it supports the middle class. (Sorry, I've been reading to much Bernhard recently, especially "Gathering Evidence.")