Rating: 
Summary: On 'No Longer Human'
Review: 'God, I ask you, is non-resistance a sin?'
This is an excellent book. It is a powerful book. However, if you are feeling depressed, this book can drive you to suicide. (There is no surprise at all that Dazai commited suicide shortly after its completion.)
Dwelling on the theme of human existence, Dazai's 'No Longer Human' explores the human psyche in ways reminiscent of Dostoevsky's 'Notes From Underground', but is more fatalistic and depressing.
It begins with a prologue that discusses three photographs of Yozo, the protagonist whom we will meet. The analytical scrutiny of the photographs has the effect of a horror movie trailer, as if the man whom we will meet is not a human. 'Something ineffable makes the beholder shudder in distaste.'
The structure of the narrative then switches to three notebooks written by Yozo himself. Here, we are introduced to this alienated character who cannot make sense of the world and the society around him since very young. He does not understand the rituals of everyday life, such as having three meals a day and eating in silence, or the subconscious rules of society such as diplomacy and hypocrisy, like saying 'yes' when one actually means 'no'. He soon develops a profound dread of human beings and society as well as what he calls 'realities of life' (existential issues).
As Yozo enters university and adult life, his schoolmate Horiki shows him a life revolving around cigarettes, liquor, prostitutes and an underground communist society. Yozo soon gets involved with numerous women who love him but the relationships inevitably end up in disasters due to his alientation from society and his contempt for human beings in general. Even his marriage with Yoshiko is a hopeless failure (Yoshiko is violated by a shopkeeper,and Yozo sinks into deep misery.). He attempts suicide, is saved, but ends up in an asylum...
The epilogue switches from Yozo's narrative back to 'the narrator's'. It concludes with the madam of a bar (whom Yozo had met)saying that Yozo was an angel, hence giving us a portrait of Yozo through another person's perspective.
While the plot is typical of a depressing novel, it is Yozo's existential musings that give this book its power. His fear of human beings and society, his feelings of being a misunderstood social outcast and his suicidal tendencies reveal a soul struggling to make sense of human beings and the world around him. The world we see through Yozo's eyes is one that is meaningless, futile, absurd, bleak, and hopeless.
Personally, I find the epilogue the weakest part of the book. I'm not sure if Dazai tries to redeem the book by looking at the world through normal lenses again (i.e. through a 'normal' narrator as opposed to the madman Yozo), but it certainly lacks power compared to the other parts of the book (even the prologue).
This is recommended only for readers who want to know Dazai and preferably have read Kafka and Dostoevsky and the like (writers on alienation and existential issues). This book is quite thin and readable and can be completed in a single sitting. However, it is assuredly one of the most depressing pieces of literature I've read.
Rating:
Summary: A perfect book to read on a rainy day
Review: Dazai is an excellent author, he "creates" (I think a lot of it is autobiographical just in knowing that he died as a result of suicide, double suicide with his lover nonetheless!!) this very dark, very depressing character who you'll ultimately try your hardest not to despise because he at the same time has these very junvenile qualities that redeems him somehow.
Rating:
Summary: A perfect book to read on a rainy day
Review: Dazai is an excellent author, he "creates" (I think a lot of it is autobiographical just in knowing that he died as a result of suicide, double suicide with his lover nonetheless!!) this very dark, very depressing character who you'll ultimately try your hardest not to despise because he at the same time has these very junvenile qualities that redeems him somehow.
Rating: 
Summary: No Longer Human
Review: First of all, I must take great exception to the forward written by the translator Donald Keene. He begins by praising English critics for not giving the book the deadly label of exquisite, and then proceeds to the far greater and more common crime of describing No Longer Human in the same manner that every Japanese novel since WWII has been described, that is, a clash between Japanese traditions/aristrocracy and Western ideas/culture. If he wants Japanese authors to be taken seriously he should interpret their works as depictions of our common humanity.I felt the book showed a lot of promise in the early stages when Yozo describes how his value judgments were based upon beauty and he didn't even give a thought to utility. Yozo was too beautiful, too much of an "angel," and that is what drove him to vice. But the narration gets tangled up in his dealings with women, which fans of Dazai may find enjoyable, but really did not make for a well-threshed out character. There have been numerous variations of this type of story and NLH added little that was new. For a much better written and more erotic presentation of similar material try Confessions of a Mask by Mishima.
Rating:
Summary: Reading pleasure.....guarranteed.
Review: I have read the book in Japanese and, in my opinion, Keene didan excellent job, even if his foreward comments are tainted byall-too-often used theories and opinions concerning Japan and "the West". This book is simply marvelous and a must read for anyone interested in modern Japanese literature. It is Dazai's "masterpiece" and it delves into the heart of something truly deep, dark, and beautiful....and, ultimately, the great man himself. Reading pleasure.....guarranteed.
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Summary: Topically (and otherwise?) funny
Review: I tutor a Japanese woman once and week and I recently asked her for advice on selecting Japanese authors (partly for the reason mentioned recently in The Atlantic Monthly's book review section: American literature normally finds itself caught in a breeze of cultural shallowness). "Osamu Dazai is good," she responded, "but I think he maybe too depressing." My student, understandably, reads the book in a very different context than I do. She follows Yozo, the main character, through his trials and tribulations with a sense of impending dread - one that is brought to fruition with a storyline meant to explore the emotional and personal impact of the post-war period. While the American reader can glean the same reading, "No Longer Human" is also appealing in its quality of universality as applied to the common man. Yozo stumbles around his life bemoaning the world around him and his inability to operate in it, and the effect is often humorous and insightful. True, he is a tragic character, but one imbued with a sharp eye and a sharper wit. "No Longer Human" is filled with observations that I laughed at because of their appropriateness in my life, which upon casual comparison, shouldn't be similar at all. "You thought it was funny? How? It's so sad!" my student all but yelled at me.
"Well, it's funny because it's so...correct. It's a great book because it deals with something so simple, and it deals with it well."
Rating:
Summary: One part of the total spectrum of modern Japanese Lit
Review: Many modern Japanese novels are written from a personal stance, oft times becoming very revealing about the author. This book, it is clear, tells the story of Dazai's own life and feelings from his point of view. It should also be kept in mind that this was a novel of the times. The relentless bombings of Japan during World War Two and the long years of reform during the Allied occupation created a very new society filled with people just trying to get back to a normal life... if they could remember what that was. No Longer Human is not a "clash between new and old, east and west" so much as it is a view outwards at a world filled with people heading for "something", with the main character more or less just doing the moves, and being painfully aware of it. Before reading this it might help to review post-War Japanese history, especially in regards to the Communist Party of Japan and other "red" movements, otherwise a great deal of the more subtle points will be missed.
Rating: 
Summary: A timeless classic of world literature
Review: No Longer Human is regarded as a work of autobiographical fiction that reflects the struggle for the Japanese people to adjust to post World War II realities. Well, I'm not so sure about that. As Donald Keene states in the introduction, it is probably a mistake to do so. The events are clearly based upon his life experiences, but the story is too well crafted to be a mere recounting of the years when his life was surrendered to drugs and alcohol. And what relation does the book have to the post-war years, aside from the fact that this is when it was published? Whatever the case, No Longer Human is a fabulous book, a true work of World Literature. For all of us who appreciate literature, we are all very unfortunate that Dazai took his life at a relatively young age and before his best works were created. Suicide is the ultimate act of selfishness.
Rating:
Summary: Very powerful book
Review: This is one of the most powerful book I have ever read. This novel (inspired by Dazai's autobiography and written in the first person) tells the story of one person who feels since childhood utterly alien from his fellow human beings but learn to put a face to hide his deep sense of alienation and his despise for the hypocrisy of society. He feels incapable to belong to a human society (hence the title). Follows a descent into alcohol, drugs, suicide as the main character enters into aldulthood. The story did remind me a little of Camus' The stranger (l'etranger) in so far as both are a tale of a person alienated from the society at large. But Dazai also explore the sense of self-loathing and self-destruction and is therefore much darker (Camus sounds cheerful in comparison). Dazai is known as a dark post-war writer and indeed this is a dark novel.
Rating:
Summary: Delving into dark personalities
Review: This novel covers the life of Yozo, a young man who feels alienated from human society. He finds it impossible to connect with his fellow humans, and in fact, fears them. He is afraid of what they think of him. He puts on the face of a clown, but he is totally crushed when he is found out to be a phoney. As he enters University, he comes to battle with alchohol and drugs. The center of his misery is his inability to have a normal relationship with women. However, the fault lies completely within himself and his terribly pessimistic attitude. This was an interesting book, but I found it difficult to get into the head of the dark hero. In this book, he finds no hope, and there are no ways to escape from his depression and his fear of society. He can only escape. It was difficult to fathom his point of view, but I think it helped me to understand the feelings of people who shut themselves away from society.
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