No Longer Human
It’s the story of Oba Yozo, a man who feels deeply disconnected from the world around him—drifting through life with a constant sense of being a misfit. He reflects relentlessly on humanity and his inability to understand people.
The book is structured as Yozo’s personal notebooks, divided into three parts.
Notebook One:
This part captures Yozo’s childhood. He has always felt fundamentally different from others. In the early years of his life, he was corrupted (possibly abused by caregivers), which made it impossible for him to trust people. Early betrayal in caregiving relationships fractured his ability to form secure bonds. It impacted him deeply—leading to isolation, a collapse of identity, and trauma rooted in childhood.
I do have a theory: early childhood has a profound impact on an individual’s life trajectory. A child’s trust should never be broken—neither by the people around them nor by the community. As a society, we owe our children our complete attention and nurturing. Every child deserves a safe space to voice their thoughts, process their emotions, and build a foundational belief that the world is a secure place.
The author beautifully portrays how despair can often wear the mask of humor.
Notebook Two:
Yozo’s descent deepens. He begins engaging in vice—not out of indulgence, but as a coping mechanism to manage his dread of human beings. Alcohol, tobacco, and sex become tools of self-medication. His relationships are transactional, his intimacy hollow. The pain is constant, and the detachment only grows.
Notebook Three:
Yozo plunges further into alienation and emotional disintegration. His choices push him to the margins of society. His inner world becomes a courtroom, where morality, truth, and survival clash.
There’s a line in the book—a paradox Dazai offers:
“Is immaculate truthfulness, after all, a source of sin?”
It made me pause. How deep. And how much I should be reflecting 😛
I strongly believe truth is virtuous. But Dazai makes you wonder—what if truth, spoken without empathy, compassion, or awareness of context, becomes a kind of violence? What if your truth, when spoken plainly, makes you unbearable to others?
A Conversation That Hit Me Hard:
Between Yozo and Shigeko (daughter of Shizuko, with whom he was staying and serving as a father figure to Shigeko):
Shigeko: “Daddy, is it true that God will grant you anything if you pray for it?”
Yozo: “Yes… What would you like from God?”
Shigeko: “I would like my real Daddy back.”
Yozo reflects:
“I felt dizzy with shock. An enemy. Was I Shigeko’s enemy—or was she mine? Here was another frightening grown-up who would intimidate me. A stranger. An incomprehensible stranger full of secrets. Shigeko’s face suddenly began to look that way.”
“I had been deluding myself that Shigeko at least was safe. But she too was like the ox that suddenly lashes out with its tail to kill the fly on its flank. I knew then that I would have to be timid—even before the little girl.”
Final Thoughts:
It’s a dark and poignant tale. Yes, it’s often depressing—but I was completely awed. Some of the themes Dazai touches upon felt so familiar. The fluidity with which he captures the conflicts in the protagonist’s mind is striking. At times, I deeply related to Yozo’s feelings. At other times, I wanted to lecture him and infuse some spirit into his despair. Then there were moments when I felt pity—wondering if his life might’ve been different with a more nurturing childhood.
There was even a point where I believed he might pull himself out of the rabbit hole. But little did I know, he was heading for a wormhole—one that would only take him deeper, toward the black hole.
I’m amazed at Dazai’s ability to write such compelling characters. It’s clear he drew deeply from his own life experiences. His own story isn’t short of drama—perhaps that’s why he could craft such an honest and devastating narrative.
I actually enjoyed reading the book—despite its sadness—and weirdly, I enjoyed how much I felt for the protagonist. I didn’t label or judge Yozo. But I did wonder: it’s easy to empathize with a fictional character—but what happens when someone like Yozo appears in real life, in flesh and blood?
I loved reading this book, even though at times I questioned whether I was slipping into melancholy. I think I’ve found my new favorite author: Osamu Dazai.
Some interesting Lines from the Book, I enjoyed:
I am convinced that human life is filled with many pure , happy serene examples of insincerity , truly splendid of their kind – of people deceiving one another without (stragely enough) any wounds being inflicted , of people who seem unaware even that they are deceiving one another, But I have no special interest in instances of mutual deception
I find it difficult to understand then kind of human being who lives, or who is sure he can live, purely , happily , serenly while engaged in deceit
The masters through their subjective perspectives created beauty out of trivialities. They did not hide their interest even in things which were nauseatingly ugly, but soaked themselves in the pleasure of depicting them. In other words, they seemed not to rely in the least on the misconceptions of others.
I have been a “social outcast” from the moment I was born. If ever I meet someone society has designated as an outcast, I invariably feel affection for him, an emotion which carries me away in melting tenderness.
They say that love flies out the window when poverty comes in the door, but people generally get the sense backwards. It doesn’t mean that when a man’s money runs out he’s shaken off by women. When he runs out of money, he naturally is in the dumps. He’s no good for anything. The strength goes out of his laugh, he becomes strangely soured. Finally, in desperation, he shakes off the woman. The proverb means that when a man becomes half-mad, he will shake and shake until he’s free of a woman.
Death – She too seemed to be weary beyond endurance of the task of being a human being; and when I reflected on my dread of the world and its bothersomeness, on money, the movement, women, my studies , it seemed impossible that I could go on living. I consented easily to her proposal.
Human beings are who can metamorphize themselves as simple and effortlessly as they turn over their hands.
Unhappy people are sensitive to the unhappiness of others.
Urvi goes experimenting 