So I've been reading Columbine quite a bit recently. It's pretty cool. There's a nonlinear progression, and the book skips from topic to topic, leaving you curious about the full details of the event. It's really effective in making the book just frustrating enough that you want to read a little more.
What a tease.
Anyways, since I've already discussed Columbine, and honestly, the following chapters are just more and more clarification on the initial chapters, I'm gonna touch on Koushun Takami's Battle Royale. Now, I'd heard of this book numerous times. And I was told that it was very interesting. And it is. But in a far more gruesome way than I'd thought.
First off, I think it's worth mentioning that Battle Royale was originally written in Japanese and then later translated into English. Thus, when you read it, it's written in perfect English, but some of the cultural differences may throw you for a loop. Also, everyone has a Japanese name. There are 42 students and probably around 50 characters introduced in the first couple of chapters. Can you differentiate between Yukie Utsumi, Yoji Kuramoto, Haruka Tanizawa, Tadakatsu Hatagami, and the rest of their classmates? Me neither. I mean, I'm starting to get the hang of it, and I have a feeling that it'll get easier as more and more people die, and there are less names to remember. But still. It's pretty challenging.
Now that that's settled, Battle Royale is considerably different from the books I've read this year. For one, it's fiction. Second, it's kind of a sci-fi, alternate universe type of thing. Which is something I don't typically read.
Anyways. Battle Royale takes place in an alternate reality Japan in which a lot of the Asian countries have united under one isolationist government. The government keeps a vice grip on its citizens, banning decadent things such as rock music and Andy Warhol. Shuya Nanahara is a junior high schooler who is going on a class trip with 41 of his fellow students. However, after a trip in a sleeping gas-filled bus, Shuya and his classmates wake up in a strange classroom with metal rings around their necks. They are told they are to be a part of the Program, a simulation run by the government in which a class is placed in an isolated area, and the students must kill each other until only one is left standing. The country's dictator claims that the Program exists to protect the nation, but Shuya and his classmates are horrified at the idea of killing each other.
I think I'll stop summarizing there just in case you want to read the book yourself. There are quite a few spoilers within the first chapter.
Anyways, Battle Royale strikes me as a very Lord of the Flies-y book. In fact, Lord of the Flies is mentioned on the back cover of Battle Royale. I'm not sure if I like it yet; some parts of the book are just too gruesome. But I do like a good survivor book. And Battle Royale happens to be one of the most notable books in Japanese literature. So I feel like I should give it a shot. I dunno. I'm gonna have to read some more Bossypants to balance this out.
I'd recommend Battle Royale if you like those kind of darkness of mankind, surviving in extreme situation things. But if you don't have a strong stomach, do not read this book. It will disappoint you.
Also, two notable things about this book.
1.) The "About the Translator" section says this: "Yuji Oniki is a writer and translator."
Gee. Thanks. Did not even consider that. How insightful!
2.) A quote in the beginning of the book reads like this: "A student is not a tangerine." - Kinpachi Sakamoto, Third Year Class B, Kinpachi Sensei
Yes. A student is not a tangerine because a student is a zengerine.
Badum-chh!
It's late. I'll stop making punny jokes.
No comments:
Post a Comment