Michael's review

Michael's review

Battle Royale Battle Royale
by Koushun Takami

72975 Michael's review
rating: 5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars
recommended 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 place, but it doesn't go into so much detail you're distracted from the "good stuff."

And the "good stuff" is watching all the little petty relationships of being 15 suddenly twisted horribly by the extreme fear of knowing only one person will be allowed to live. It's ridiculous, and it's full of eye-popping, gut-wrenching violence. You keep getting thrown into the head of someone and given their whole mental landscape for maybe 1 or 2 chapters, before they die in some comple...more

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comments (showing 1-6 of 6)

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message 1: by Alex
10/09/2007 06:03AM

Nophoto-u-25x33 You know it WAS made into a movie, right?

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message 2: by Michael
10/09/2007 09:19AM

72975 that's why i say "there's ZERO surprise it was almost instantly adapted into a movie"

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message 3: by Alex
10/09/2007 09:43AM

Nophoto-u-25x33 Wow, I have no idea how I missed that sentence! WTF?

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message 4: by Michael
10/09/2007 09:45AM

72975 Ha, happens to everyone.

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message 5: by Alex
10/09/2007 10:00AM

Nophoto-u-25x33 Yeah, but this is on a site called "GOOD READS." :P

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message 6: by Michael
10/09/2007 10:02AM

72975 It could be their motto: "Good Reads, Bad Readers!"

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