No Longer Human

By: Osamu Dazai

Narrated by: David Shih

"Mine has been a life of much shame. I can’t even guess myself what it must be to live the life of a human being."

Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai’s NO LONGER HUMAN narrates a seemingly normal life even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. His attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a “clown” to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness.

Still one of the ten bestselling books in Japan, NO LONGER HUMAN is an important and unforgettable modern classic.

©1958 New Directions Publishing Corp. (P)2016 Tantor Media, Inc.

Critic reviews

“The struggle of the individual to fit into a normalizing society remains just as relevant today as it was at the time of writing.” (The Japan Times)

Intriguing postwar Japanese literature

I think I liked it. I can see why it’s such a popular work. I wasn’t a fan of the protagonist for several reasons, but it’s was definitely nice story telling. There are many moments in the book that disgusted or irritated me in the face value. But it is clear there are many complicated factors (time period, economy, gender, “innate” human behaviors, etc.) to why it happened. It is very interesting to analyze why the people or society behaved in certain ways. It actually makes me want to listen to this again when thinking about those factors and events.

An arrow pointing towards sadness

A deeply disturbing story through and through, but one that can be learned from in the negative. Beautifully written to a point where I suggest you do not read this book if you’re a depressed person as the writing romanticizes depression as it reveals it for what it is.

No longer human review

The speaker makes a sharp “s” sound that completely bothered me throughout the listen but aside from that it’s a great story about identity and real life problems along with how easily they can find you.

Life be like that

A tale of poor choices that lead to more poor choices. This tale shows how consequences can overshadow the core of who we are.

Relatable for an alcoholic

Despite this being almost 80 years old the inner psychological ideology is very similar to my own. Reminds me of later Kerouac in many aspects. Slightly annoying narrator making s sounds with the recording