No Longer Human

Synopsis

It tells the story of Yozo, a young Japanese man from a wealthy family who recounts his gradual decline into alcohol and morphine addiction, including several suicide attempts.

My opinion

I’d been meaning to read it for quite some time. Everyone recommended it, but I wasn’t quite sure what it was about. I read it in two days, and it hooked me from the start: as I read on, I felt anguish and sadness over everything that was being told, over how he felt, over his suicide attempts. And the more I read, the more heart-wrenching it all seemed. Yozo’s story is about life itself, and the end of Osamu Dazai.

Throughout the text, themes such as societal hypocrisy and the mask that everyone wears are explored. Alienation that feeling of not belonging, of being marginalized. And, without a doubt, the existential void that Yozo experiences from beginning to end.

Favorite Quotes

"I still haven't figured out what keeps a human being alive."

"I know people like me, but I suppose I lack the ability to love others."

"In my existence, there is no longer any happiness or suffering."