In facing the absurd, one can either commit s*icide, attach themselves to religion, or revolt against the absurd. -Albert Camus
The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai - 9/10
Would recommend for people to read this, especially when you reach THE ENDING.
Building upon the said review I've had on No Longer Human and how I encountered it when I first discovered Osamu Dazai on an Anime called "Bungo Stray Dogs". What I didn't mention clearly was that I also went on a website which showed more of Dazai's works.
After reading the synopsis, my first thoughts were that it would be quite boring. But nevertheless I was then proven wrong by the man himself. But we'll get to that shortly. In my mind, I was interested in how this book would interconnect with No Longer Human and the overall impact of his writing to his readers after reading his books. Since I personally got mentally bombarded with uhm.
_
"Kazuko", A main character who is riddled with the unpredictable, uncontrollable, and the inevitable tragedies that made her life the definition of misery in the dictionary.
Divorced parents, dead father, sickly and soon to be bed-ridden mother, a brother suffering with substance abuse, and major financial issues that left them with the decision to move away from their primary house.
Kazuko's Mother is the so-called "The last lady in Japan." As her daughter would describe her with deep admiration, and to the point to where she would compare herself to her mother to at least try to learn something from her mannerisms. Calling her a great mother is an understatement. And that she'd always assure her children from any worries. Especially her illness. As she succumbs to it in the later parts of the story.
Symbolizing impending doom, but never specifies when such event/s would happen. Since before Kazuko's Father passed, his wife saw...
"what she thought was a thin black cord lying near Father's bed, casually went to pick it up, only to discover it was a snake. It glided off into the corridor , where it disappeared. Only Mother and my Uncle Wada noticed it. They looked at each other but did not say anything, for fear of disturbing the peace of Father's last moments." - Page 11
Kazuko burned the snake's eggs, which she thought was from a viper, since she was concerned for the other children of her neighborhood that they may not be able to play in the garden ever so again without being careful, not knowing that it was just a harmless species of snake eggs.
Kazuko's mother saw this as ill-omened act...
Kazuko's brother, who was absent for a little while since he was serving in the army in the pacific. He came back as an insane man, was addicted to opium, drinking and recklessly spending his money whenever he felt like doing so. But was that really all there was to him...?
(img page 28)
Mr. Uehara is a well-known novelist whom which had a major influence on Naoji with his love of literature. Mr Uehara is a heavy drinker and is married to another woman. Which by the way, he and Kazuko were having an affair starting out with sending out letters until Kazuko sent her last letter to Mr. Uehara after Naoji's...
Reader's Note: This was probably where I felt like everything led up to this moment. His passing and this note explains the intrapersonal side of Naoji that was not mentioned up until this moment which "completed the puzzle" for everything that transpired with in the story.
Naoji was the complete opposite of Kazuko, and that his resort on how he would face everything his life has built up towards over the years as well as for the future was leaving... and everything from how he himself was a scoundrel, as Kazuko describes him, was all but a facade...
And overall, reading through this book felt as if I was hiking through a "small" but rocky mountain to where I felt bored most of the time until I reached chapter seven. I got a good cry out of this, the same feeling I felt with No Longer Human. But not totally the same because No Longer Human for me felt relatable, and had a deep connection to my hardships in my personal life, both psychologically and the physical events that I have experienced before.
But in this book. I felt like I was actually a part of their neighborhood spectating their lives, or I was actually a part of their family and was kind of grieving when Naoji passed on. I sympathized with Kazuko, especially since Naoji's passing, as she were the last of her family to live on while her last remaining direct family member was gone.
Now. I wonder how she's doing in life right now inside this fictional world Dazai made?
