The Setting Sun

“I am afraid because I can so clearly foresee my own life rotting away of itself, like a leaf that rots without falling, while I pursue my round of existence from day to day.”

I liked but didn't love Dazai's No Longer Human, I found it too depressing for me to understand the message. However, I think this book is my favorite of his so far. It's quite pessimistic, of course. But I thought it was an emotional, fast-paced read. The social status, the end of an era, and the beautiful relationship between mother and daughter were all nuanced in this story.

This is such a vividly described and despairingly tragic tale that it transports you completely into the narrator's mind. Like other books written by Japanese authors, this one has more of an introspective and intimate feel to it rather than a plot-driven story. There's a lot explored... traumas, emotional turbulences, symbolism of snakes. There's not much to the story if you seek to find something plot-wise, but if you wish to experience the heavy feelings of a crumbling Japanese society post-war (with a dash of miserable sadness), then this book is for you.

I'm renewing my subscription to depression premium.

Dazai Osamu’s works, I feel, must be read when you're at a very specific place mentally, unless you want to later find yourself falling into the abyss. It's because he completely understands the depths that human despair can reach, that is the reason why his books are received as “dark, realistic, depressing”. A lot of what was written in this book clearly reflects Dazai sensei’s own feelings towards life and living. There's a lot to be said about the frequency in which death and suicide are mentioned in this book. Which is all the more reason why I think the timing in reading this book matters.

Until you finish it, you'll never notice how well-crafted this novel is. That is how good art or literature should be. It will hide the craftsmanship. The narrative was concise, flowing, and captivating.

Another thing not strictly about this book is, I envy authors who (though being a man) can portray women such a way that it compels you to think that they know women from the depth of their psychology. I know they don't know everything about women. However, they can create a character which may not be like ‘This is how women are' but will be like ‘this is also how a woman can be'. Dazai can do this very well.

“To wait. In our lives we know joy, anger, sorrow, and a hundred other emotions, but these emotions all together occupy a bare one per cent of our time. The remaining ninety-nine per cent is just living in waiting. I wait in momentary expectation, feeling as though my breasts are being crushed, for the sound in the corridor of the footsteps of happiness. Empty. Oh, life is too painful, the reality that confirms the universal belief that it is best not to be born.”