No Longer Human, by Osamu Dazal

The protagonist of Osamu Dazai's In No Longer Human portraying himself throughout the book as a failure to society. He narrates himself to having a seemingly normal life even though he doesn't understand the phenomena of what it feels like to be a real human. Throughout his early childhood and high school, he becomes a "clown" to mask the feeling like he’s an alien compared to everyone around him, leading to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. The book goes on to all the terrible actions he ends up committing because of his feelings and never reaching out to anyone when in need.

No Longer Human, by Osamu Dazal has changed my definition of what it feels like to be depressed. As generation z’s culture continues to grow, we all use the word depression lighty and have forgotten what it really feels like to have depression. What the man experiences and what I experienced reading this book was horrifying and saddinging to say the least. I have never been so moved and educated by a novel in my life and feel as if I know the character on such a personal level, maybe even too personal. I have never wanted to cry and give a man a hug so bad in my life and because of the fact that this novel is based on notebook pages the author found one day makes it even more emotional.

Reviewed by Ariana G., Grade 11

Montrose Library 

The Case Study of Vanitas volume 1, by Jun Mochizuki

Noé, a young vampire looking for her friend's redemption, is drawn to Paris by rumors of The Book of Vanitas, a robotic grimoire with a questionable reputation. But in the City of Flowers, he won't have to spend all day walking the streets or searching through dirty bookshops looking for the book. Instead, his target approaches him—in the form of a man posing as a vampire doctor!

I liked the details and thought the painting was fantastic. The fight scenes, though, were essentially unintelligible. I had no idea what was happening if somebody even proceeded at a faster than a walk. The art, in my opinion, did a poor job of conveying movement. And I thought that this was largely what made this volume fall flat.

Apart from that, everyone in this was done fairly effectively. It was perhaps a wiser idea to withhold more details in order to be revealed in the following volumes regarding how the magic in the Book surrounded the vampires' works because the plot and characters were captivating and interesting in the manga The Case Study of Vanitas volume 1, by Jun Mochizuki. 

Reviewed by Natali <3, Grade 11

Glendale Central Library