Battle Royale
by Koushun Takami
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 967)
Read in March, 2008
In a terrifying way this TRULY the most realistic portrayal of 9th grader emotions I've ever read. I might argue this should be considered YA, and brilliant YA at that, but considering the amount of folks who are determined to keep this book, and the movie it derived from, banned, I might want to keep my mouth a bit more shut.
A surefire way to get me to pay attention to something is to tell me how often it's banned. That was the original reason I sought out the film (and an all-region DVD p...more
A surefire way to get me to pay attention to something is to tell me how often it's banned. That was the original reason I sought out the film (and an all-region DVD p...more
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Read in March, 2008
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Read in April, 2008
This was an interesting experience for me - I came to the novel after having seen the film version and having read the manga (well, chapter 1 of it, anyways), and yet, at the same time, this was the first time that I can really saw that I got something other than mindless violence from Battle Royale.
The basic premise: a futuristic, totalitarian Japanese society has set up a game where each year, one high school class is randomly chosen to participate. Participants of the 'game' are placed o...more
The basic premise: a futuristic, totalitarian Japanese society has set up a game where each year, one high school class is randomly chosen to participate. Participants of the 'game' are placed o...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
the non-squeamish, trash film fans
So unputdownable it's ridiculous. Took a 4-hour plane ride i intended to sleep on and instead read all 624 pages of this; and while I'm a fast reader, even I'm not THAT fast usually.
Basically, as everyone else is saying, it's a book about one class of Japanese junior high kids put on an island with a small bag of supplies, a random weapon (grenade? crossbow? Uzi? fork?), an exploding tracking collar, and orders to kill, kill, kill. Nice fascist dystopia world you see around the edges of this p...more
Basically, as everyone else is saying, it's a book about one class of Japanese junior high kids put on an island with a small bag of supplies, a random weapon (grenade? crossbow? Uzi? fork?), an exploding tracking collar, and orders to kill, kill, kill. Nice fascist dystopia world you see around the edges of this p...more
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Read in June, 2007
If you've ever seen the movie, you probably already know what this is about. If you haven't, I'm not sure which I could recommend more. The movie is much easier to watch than the book is to read, and that's saying something.
The basic plot: Japan is one of the few thriving countries in the world (economically speaking) and this is due to the strict control the government has over its people. Part of how it exerts this control is to marshal youngsters into order using the Battle Royale progra...more
The basic plot: Japan is one of the few thriving countries in the world (economically speaking) and this is due to the strict control the government has over its people. Part of how it exerts this control is to marshal youngsters into order using the Battle Royale progra...more
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Read in May, 2006
Interesting book. Set in the not too distant future, next Sunday A.D. Japan is run by a fascist government. Dictating everyday life to a minor degree, however once per year "The Program" is run. Through flashbacks you gain the participants' insight into what it is. One junior high school class (Forty-two students. Significant number? Sarcasm? I'm not familiar enough with the Japanese school system to comment reliably.) is forced to kill each other off.
Lord of the Flies crossed wi...more
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One of the greatest fears upon reaching your third year in Junior High School in a Japan ruled with an iron fist, is whether or not your class will be chosen to partake in "The Program." The Program is a government-controlled scientific study that consists of a randomly chosen class of students being taken to a remote location and told that they must kill each other off until only one remains standing. The students can do nothing when they are chosen, nor can their teachers, nor their ...more
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"Lord of the Flies" meets "The Most Dangerous Game" meets the gruesome, bloody stylings of Quentin Tarantino... on acid who killed Stephen King and tossed his body into BTK's backyard.
I have read this book twice in the last two years both times within two days and I can guarantee that I'll read it a time or two (or three) again in the future (NERD!). The very thought of being 15-year-olds and being thrust into a situation where you have to kill or be killed, your best fri...more
I have read this book twice in the last two years both times within two days and I can guarantee that I'll read it a time or two (or three) again in the future (NERD!). The very thought of being 15-year-olds and being thrust into a situation where you have to kill or be killed, your best fri...more
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Read in March, 2008
I liked the idea of the story a lot, 42 students from this junior high school are selected to participate in "The Program" - a free for all killing spree until there's one student remaining. Simple enough. The book mostly follows one student, Shuya, but some chapters will be dedicated to one student from the class, and they generally end up dying at the end. This is all good and dandy, but the way the story is told becomes a double-edged sword. All of the students are ages 15-17 and t...more
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Read in March, 2008
This is a classic elevator story (you know, people with histories are trapped on an elevator and forced to reconcile their differences), elevated (ha, ha) to new heights with a "Clue"-type twist. Will it be Shinji with the grenade? Noriko with the fork? As such, it is best read by those who want to entertained with violence. Sure, there are lots of fun pieces discussing a revolution of a government (and even what governments do), fear, psychology of extreme stress and more ... but ...more
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Read in July, 2005
I heard about the movie before I read the book, so I knew that the premise was a combination of Lord of the Flies and automatic weapons. I just didn't expect the violence to affect me so deeply. I guess I've never been exposed to extreme violence in books where my imagination comes up with images. I definitely discovered a new closet of images with this book.
I started this book on a long subway ride home. I was so engrossed by the book I missed my stop by five stations. I will admit there wa...more
I started this book on a long subway ride home. I was so engrossed by the book I missed my stop by five stations. I will admit there wa...more
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Read in July, 2007
The premise to Battle Royale is irresistible: a futuristic Japanese government holds an annual “Program” in which a selected junior high class is taken to an island and the kids must kill each other off until there’s a winner. Each of this year’s 42 students is given a backpack with food, water, and a random weapon (guns for some, a fork for another). And suddenly you can’t *really* trust anyone, not even your closest friends.
The book is wildly entertaining, not only in its intri...more
The book is wildly entertaining, not only in its intri...more
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I inadvertently picked yet another dystopian novel with this choice. No matter, as it was another good one.
This dystopia is one less focused on the machinery of the regime than it is on the kids living in it. The kids in this fictional version of Japan (aka the Republic of Greater East Asia) are randomly selected to participate in "The Program," a winner-kills-all contest to see who is the strongest. The rationale behind it doesn't come out until very late in the book, but it doe...more
This dystopia is one less focused on the machinery of the regime than it is on the kids living in it. The kids in this fictional version of Japan (aka the Republic of Greater East Asia) are randomly selected to participate in "The Program," a winner-kills-all contest to see who is the strongest. The rationale behind it doesn't come out until very late in the book, but it doe...more
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This book is not for the weak of stomach.
This book is Survivor and Lord of the Flies' bastard love child being baby sat by The Running Man. Take a class of Japanese middle schoolers in a dystopian alternate present (or not too far from tomorrow), force them to fend for themselves on an island with orders to kill or be killed and give them a random weapon, record and televise results.
The movie was good, but it can't compare to the book in terms of brutality. You just get dragged along a...more
This book is Survivor and Lord of the Flies' bastard love child being baby sat by The Running Man. Take a class of Japanese middle schoolers in a dystopian alternate present (or not too far from tomorrow), force them to fend for themselves on an island with orders to kill or be killed and give them a random weapon, record and televise results.
The movie was good, but it can't compare to the book in terms of brutality. You just get dragged along a...more
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Often compared to Lord of the Flies, Battle Royale is one of the most disturbing, most violent and yet most unputdownable books i have ever read. Was browsing it again the other day and had to amend my rating from 4 stars to 5. A Japanese cult classic, it tells the story of a government project where students are left on an island with one basic goal: survival. Literally. Because at the end of a set period of time, ony one student must be left alive, otherwise they will all be killed. Not much o...more
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I spotted this one on the "staff recommends" shelf in Walden Bookstore. The staff member described it as a mix between Fight Club and Lord of the Flies. A Japanese pulp novel? I could hardly resist.
This story is famous as a Japanese movie but the book is far superior. Schoolkids are stranded on an island by a totalitarian government and forced to kill each other until one is left. Graphic violence, hypermelodrama, political intrigue, sickeningly hilarious murders, and a mosaic of c...more
This story is famous as a Japanese movie but the book is far superior. Schoolkids are stranded on an island by a totalitarian government and forced to kill each other until one is left. Graphic violence, hypermelodrama, political intrigue, sickeningly hilarious murders, and a mosaic of c...more
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Read in December, 2007
Its like a gorey version of Lord of the Flies in a facist world. I read this because I'm trying to cure myself of a pretty mean blood phobia. I don't think it worked, although I did feel a little icky at parts. I'm not sure if it is just the way the novel was written or if something gets lost in the translation, but because the narration seemed so distant and cold, it was pretty easy to deal with the gore.
Basically, in a present-day fascist Asian republic, a 9th grade class is sent to a dese...more
Basically, in a present-day fascist Asian republic, a 9th grade class is sent to a dese...more
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Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone with a strong stomach
There are many reasons this should have been a bad book. The book begins with 42 students, a teacher, three guards and the leader of the Program. 47 characters, none of whom could be called a "main character". Almost every chapter contains at least one death, most of which are so gruesome they made me flinch. Even the style of narrative is just different enough from the usual style of Western writing to be disconcerting.
And yet I loved it. After the first few chapters, as I ad...more
And yet I loved it. After the first few chapters, as I ad...more
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Read in February, 2004
This book is truly suspenseful. You constantly fear for the lives of the students that get forced to kill each other. To build the suspense each chapter gives a count of how many kids or left alive as well as who is dead. Its extremely well written. Even though its a translated work from japan.
The book may seem strange due to the fact that middle schoolers are being sent to an island to kill. But if you step outside the box and think of what it would be like for this to really happen, it g...more
The book may seem strange due to the fact that middle schoolers are being sent to an island to kill. But if you step outside the box and think of what it would be like for this to really happen, it g...more
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3 comments
Battle Royale was a huge cult hit in Japan, and quite the controversy-starter (judges resigned from a literary prize jury, refusing to judge the book). It's a bit rough to read in translation, but it was just too interesting to pass up. It tells the story of a group of Japanese students selected an authoritarian government to play the game - they are taken to an island and forced to kill each other until one survives, on an ever-shrinking playing field (areas become off-limits) and with explos...more
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