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A review by afi_whatafireads
The Beggar Student by Osamu Dazai
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Dazai did it again, and I think, anything written by him is something that I will like.
The thing about his books, as desolate and helpless we would feel after reading it, there is always the mere fact that at the end of the day, he had tried to live as a human - or the version of a human that he understands and deems worthy.
The beggar student was published a few years before his death but was written a few years after his first attempt of suicide, in which he enrolled in a university and later quit, and to me, nothing in his books are a coincidence, especially the books written in the dawn of his suicide. Whilst we see a more humorous side of Dazai in this book, the feeling that it gave me was the same as when reading No Longer Human. It is despondent. It is bleak. It felt that he was grasping for things that he wish to gain but ended up not being able to achieve it.
Books by these authors will be more understandable when you understand the story behind its writing. The chronology of his death, the state of mind that he wrote, of the mockery of an author in the book who happens to carry the same name as him.
The thing about his books, as desolate and helpless we would feel after reading it, there is always the mere fact that at the end of the day, he had tried to live as a human - or the version of a human that he understands and deems worthy.
The beggar student was published a few years before his death but was written a few years after his first attempt of suicide, in which he enrolled in a university and later quit, and to me, nothing in his books are a coincidence, especially the books written in the dawn of his suicide. Whilst we see a more humorous side of Dazai in this book, the feeling that it gave me was the same as when reading No Longer Human. It is despondent. It is bleak. It felt that he was grasping for things that he wish to gain but ended up not being able to achieve it.
Books by these authors will be more understandable when you understand the story behind its writing. The chronology of his death, the state of mind that he wrote, of the mockery of an author in the book who happens to carry the same name as him.
'You see, it's no good leaning on adjectives like clean or strong or positive. I wish I could just cut my belly open and let all of the words come spilling out. No matter if it's gibberish, as long as it's my flesh and blood doing the talking.'
4.5🌟