Most enjoyable books that people have a desire to read have a happy ever after ending, or an ending that the reader would desire. “No Longer Human” by Osamu Dazai does exactly the opposite of that. 

Yozo, the protagonist, faces a huge detachment from humanity as a child. He masks his lack of passion by becoming a “clown” in high school. In his later years, he became an alcoholic, and had to go to a mental hospital to work on his mental health. 

This book was one of the most eye opening books I have ever read. The author perfectly captures how it feels to be constantly sad and unable to do anything about it in a melodramatic way. It expresses a behavior that most students do everyday: putting on a fake smile and acting like everything is fine. This book shows how society craves success without caring about the downfall of others. How going from your childhood to an apathetic adult where this society is breaking down around you. 

Yozo faces the depths of reality, and discovers the truth about how despicable the world really is. He loses trust and hope in the world he lives in, and how putting on a mask to blend in to this society will slowly eat away at you. It’s a book about his life, and the reader feels empathy and relates to these emotions. 

The author had the right idea by diverging the idea that most authors have by creating a good ending. I don’t know if I would feel the same emotions that I felt if the book had a happy ending. It showed the reality of life. Not every life is going to be that fairytale life. And that’s where I think Osamu Dazai excels in his work. He shows the life of someone going through a detachment from the world, and how he is never able to recover from that treacherous feeling. He lives a long, lonely life where he is never able to reconnect with his humanity in the end. Dazai is educating us on the cruelty of human experience, which most books completely disregard. 

Would this be scary for a reader who has anxiety or depression? There are already several trigger warnings on suicide and sexual assault, but there are more that should be included. Many people on social media said this book really messed with their head. I struggle with anxiety, and personally this was not bad for me, but some people are more sensitive, and have different things going on. With that being said, read at your own risk.