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No Longer Human

By: Osamu Dazai - Read: November 2023 - Rating: 8/10

Dazai's semi-autobiographical novel about alienation and the mask we wear for others.

Yozo cannot understand other humans and develops an elaborate system of clowning to hide his confusion. He plays the fool because genuine interaction feels impossible. The tragedy is that his masks work too well.

Brutally honest about depression and self-destruction. Dazai wrote this shortly before his suicide, and that knowledge colors every page. Not an easy read, but an important one for understanding a certain kind of suffering.