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La Femme de Villon
Mme Otani est mariée à un écrivain alcoolique. Il passe son temps dans un bar et a accumulé une ardoise considérable. Pour éviter le scandale, sa femme se fait embaucher comme serveuse afin de rembourser la dette. Malgré leurs difficultés pour survivre, et comme tous deux fréquentent désormais le même bar, ils se rapprochent. Mais Mme Otani est trop sollicitée par des clients.
66 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1947
About the author
Osamu Dazai
1,155 books9,779 followersOsamu DAZAI (native name: 太宰治, real name Shūji Tsushima) was a Japanese author who is considered one of the foremost fiction writers of 20th-century Japan. A number of his most popular works, such as Shayō (The Setting Sun) and Ningen Shikkaku (No Longer Human), are considered modern-day classics in Japan.
With a semi-autobiographical style and transparency into his personal life, Dazai’s stories have intrigued the minds of many readers. His books also bring about awareness to a number of important topics such as human nature, mental illness, social relationships, and postwar Japan.
With a semi-autobiographical style and transparency into his personal life, Dazai’s stories have intrigued the minds of many readers. His books also bring about awareness to a number of important topics such as human nature, mental illness, social relationships, and postwar Japan.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
January 17, 2018
[...] There's something strange and frightening, like God, which won't let me die."
"That's because you have your work."
"My work doesn't mean a thing. I don't write either masterpieces or failures. If people say something is good, it becomes good. If they say it's bad, it becomes bad. But what frightens me is that somewhere in the world there is a God. There is, isn't it?"
"I haven't any idea."
There's a 2009 Japanese drama film directed by Kichitaro Negishi and based on this semi-autobiographical short story.
Jan 05, 18
* Also on my blog.
December 20, 2019
Yine, henüz Türkçeye çevrilmemiş bir Osamu Dazai ile karşınızdayım. ‘Villon’s Wife’ Kichitaro Negishi tarafından 2009 senesinde sinemaya uyarlandığından beri aklımdaydı. Hikayeyi okumadan filmi izlemek istemediğimden İngilizce çevirisine denk gelince okuyayım dedim. ‘Villon’s Wife’ Osamu Dazai’nin ‘Batan Güneş’ten hemen önce kaleme aldığı, 1947 tarihli bir uzun öyküsü. Alışık olduğumuzdan çok farklı bir Osamu Dazai olduğunu söylemem lazım öyküde. Bu sefer felsefi sorgulamalar daha geride, hikaye anlatma çabası ve olay örgüsü çok daha ön planda. Dazai bu öyküsünde de tıpkı 'Schoolgirl' romanında olduğu gibi kadın bir karakterin içinden seslenmeyi tercih etmiş. Baş karakterimiz olan Villon’un karısı, kocasının bir gece eve, peşinde borçlu olduğu restoran sahibi insanlarla gelmesiyle bir değişim yaşamaya başlıyor. Hasbelkader evlendiği bir adam olan kocası, yoksulluk içinde geçen hayatı, yetersiz beslenmeden gelişme gösteremeyen zavallı çocuğuyla yüzleşiyor ve kocasının alacaklılara borcunu ödemesi için dolaylı yoldan doğaçlama bir plan yapıyor. Kendisi de farkında değil aslında planının varlığından. Fakat başvurduğu yöntemle hem kocasının borcunu ödemesini sağlıyor hem de kendini farklı bir hayatın içinde buluyor. O noktadan sonra hayatını yozlaştıran bir debinin içinde tüm tepkisizliğiyle, içi boşalarak yaşıyor. Olaylar II. Dünya Savaşı'nın hemen sonrasında yaşanıyor. Bu dönemde sosyal hayatın uğradığı tüm tahribat arka planda izlenebiliyor. Diğer yandan öyküye ismini veren ‘koca’ Dazai'nin kendisinden başkası değil. Umutsuz, mutsuz, kendinden vazgeçmiş, yazdıklarıyla barışamayan, sorumsuz yazar karakter tam olarak bütün eserlerinde tanık olduğumuz Dazai. Yazarın sürekli otobiyografik ayrıntılar kullandığı göz önünde bulundurulursa eserin anlatmaya çalıştığı şey de tamamen anlaşılabilir. Neyse, şimdi sıra filmi izlemekte. Herkese iyi okumalar diliyorum.
December 29, 2014
A newsfeed comment got me started reading about self-destructive Japanese writer Osamu Dazai. Not sure I wanted to start his longer, darker books, I looked at available short stories, and this one appealed to me most. (It turned out the Kindle version, though labelled as English, was actually in Japanese, so I returned it and after some scrabbling about online, read the story on Questia in Modern Japanese Literature: From 1868 to the Present Day.)
Dazai is here effectively narrating from the viewpoint of his own wife. (His Mary-Sue, Mr Otani, has just published a story named Francois Villon, after the late medieval Frenchman described by Paul Verlaine as the first poète maudit.) The cover of this French edition is a little unrepresentative to show her crying. Whilst she does shed tears at one point, much of the narrative is fairly unemotional as Mrs Otani sets out to try and find out a way of paying off her alcoholic husband's debts and then finding some more focus through her new work - even if it is in a bar he sometimes frequents. I can imagine some saying this means he's unempathic with her situation, though I found the approach quite right as a portrayal of one of the types of people who is accepting of such a partner. ... " Then he disappears and doesn't return for three or four nights..." This sort of thing reminded me of when I was younger and quite often involved with such people: their particular "randomness" itself became reliable after a while; I usually benefited from the space and wanted inspiration rather than someone constantly there being eloquently opinionated, implying - without ever meaning it, I was just terribly sensitive in certain ways, they thought I was interesting to debate with - that I should do anything differently or think differently about the few things we disagreed on; someone I semi-worshipped who would manifest with hits of intermittent variable reward. (Although the men I was involved with, unlike her Mr Otani, never ever wanted money from me and were adept at living on very little.)
The standard "inspirational" narrative would see her moving steadily further away from him, but that gigantic (non)literary cliche is not here. Also I cannot quite decide whether the treatment (or rather mention) of a rape by an acquaintance could be better or if it is more that writing about such things is expected to contain certain formulae. And that there is an idea somewhere that even if someone tends to react to trauma in a very delayed way (and what's more comes from a notably stoic culture) they ought still to be describing an "aftermath" in particular terms to specifically convey that. I am inclined to give the benefit of the doubt, given one article which mentions some sort of complex trauma experienced by Dazai himself + my unfamiliarity with the culture + my readiness to questioning standardised correct portrayals of difficult issues especially when there is evidently more than ignorance at work.
I have really read so little Japanese literature that I don't really know what translations should feel like. This one was a good enough story though and it did give a sense of a subtly different cultural response to some themes which are not uncommon in European writing.
Dazai is here effectively narrating from the viewpoint of his own wife. (His Mary-Sue, Mr Otani, has just published a story named Francois Villon, after the late medieval Frenchman described by Paul Verlaine as the first poète maudit.) The cover of this French edition is a little unrepresentative to show her crying. Whilst she does shed tears at one point, much of the narrative is fairly unemotional as Mrs Otani sets out to try and find out a way of paying off her alcoholic husband's debts and then finding some more focus through her new work - even if it is in a bar he sometimes frequents. I can imagine some saying this means he's unempathic with her situation, though I found the approach quite right as a portrayal of one of the types of people who is accepting of such a partner. ... " Then he disappears and doesn't return for three or four nights..." This sort of thing reminded me of when I was younger and quite often involved with such people: their particular "randomness" itself became reliable after a while; I usually benefited from the space and wanted inspiration rather than someone constantly there being eloquently opinionated, implying - without ever meaning it, I was just terribly sensitive in certain ways, they thought I was interesting to debate with - that I should do anything differently or think differently about the few things we disagreed on; someone I semi-worshipped who would manifest with hits of intermittent variable reward. (Although the men I was involved with, unlike her Mr Otani, never ever wanted money from me and were adept at living on very little.)
The standard "inspirational" narrative would see her moving steadily further away from him, but that gigantic (non)literary cliche is not here. Also I cannot quite decide whether the treatment (or rather mention) of a rape by an acquaintance could be better or if it is more that writing about such things is expected to contain certain formulae. And that there is an idea somewhere that even if someone tends to react to trauma in a very delayed way (and what's more comes from a notably stoic culture) they ought still to be describing an "aftermath" in particular terms to specifically convey that. I am inclined to give the benefit of the doubt, given one article which mentions some sort of complex trauma experienced by Dazai himself + my unfamiliarity with the culture + my readiness to questioning standardised correct portrayals of difficult issues especially when there is evidently more than ignorance at work.
I have really read so little Japanese literature that I don't really know what translations should feel like. This one was a good enough story though and it did give a sense of a subtly different cultural response to some themes which are not uncommon in European writing.
April 18, 2025
I'm officially in love with Japanese literature.
December 6, 2025
Diría que entra dentro de la obra intermediaria de Dazai, no es su escrito más lúcido, pero, yo que sé, tiene su aquel. Como es de esperar con el autor, es otra proyección de si mismo, solo que poniendo a una mujer de protagonista, tal y como ya hizo en «El declive» o «El ocaso». Aquí toma el punto de vista de su esposa, que tiene que sobrevivir en la pobreza a la vez que cuida de su hijo discapacitado y lidia con un marido borracho y un tanto canalla.
Aquí el marido, o el Dazai proyectado, vuelve a hacer de las suyas y roba un sobre de dinero a los propietarios de una taberna delante de sus propias narices. Evidentemente, estos vienen a reclamarlo y como el marido es un papanatas, se hace el loco. Para que no acabe en la cárcel, la mujer acaba trabajando en la taberna y asi pagar la deuda.
Mientras que la protagonista de «El declive» es un personaje con presencia y que toma sus propias decisiones, la de este relato es un reflejo de la abnegación. Su personaje se limita a cumplir su rol de madre y a solucionar los líos de su marido. Con un poco de perspectiva, se puede entender este rol pasivo y apático como el de una víctima de una relación de abuso, pero, bueno, a estas alturas ya me conozco a Dazai y sé que es un top tier misógino, por lo que diría que este retrato está empañado de cierto desdén y subordinado a esa necesidad de reflejarse a sí mismo como alguien atormentado, pero que en el fondo tiene algo de corazón y talento.
Aquí el marido, o el Dazai proyectado, vuelve a hacer de las suyas y roba un sobre de dinero a los propietarios de una taberna delante de sus propias narices. Evidentemente, estos vienen a reclamarlo y como el marido es un papanatas, se hace el loco. Para que no acabe en la cárcel, la mujer acaba trabajando en la taberna y asi pagar la deuda.
Mientras que la protagonista de «El declive» es un personaje con presencia y que toma sus propias decisiones, la de este relato es un reflejo de la abnegación. Su personaje se limita a cumplir su rol de madre y a solucionar los líos de su marido. Con un poco de perspectiva, se puede entender este rol pasivo y apático como el de una víctima de una relación de abuso, pero, bueno, a estas alturas ya me conozco a Dazai y sé que es un top tier misógino, por lo que diría que este retrato está empañado de cierto desdén y subordinado a esa necesidad de reflejarse a sí mismo como alguien atormentado, pero que en el fondo tiene algo de corazón y talento.
April 18, 2021
15:57 — 4.5 ☆
“I must seem a horrible character to you, but the fact is that I want to die so badly I can’t stand it. Ever since I was born I have been thinking of nothing but dying. It would be better for everyone concerned if I were dead, that’s certain. And yet I can’t seem to die. There’s something strange and frightening, like God, which won’t let me die.”
“That’s because you have your work.”
“My work doesn’t mean a thing. I don’t write either masterpieces or failures. If people say something is good, it becomes good. If they say it’s bad, it becomes bad. But what frightens me is that somewhere in the world there is a God. There is, isn’t there?”
“I haven’t any idea.”
“And I see now that not only the customers but everyone you meet walking in the streets is hiding some crime”
“Look! It says here that I’m a monster. That’s not true, is it? It’s a little late, but I’ll tell you now why I took the five thousand yen. It was so that I might give you and the boy the first happy New Year in a long time. That proves I’m not a monster, doesn’t it?”
His words didn’t make me especially glad. I said, “There’s nothing wrong with being a monster, is there? As long as we can stay alive.”
“I must seem a horrible character to you, but the fact is that I want to die so badly I can’t stand it. Ever since I was born I have been thinking of nothing but dying. It would be better for everyone concerned if I were dead, that’s certain. And yet I can’t seem to die. There’s something strange and frightening, like God, which won’t let me die.”
“That’s because you have your work.”
“My work doesn’t mean a thing. I don’t write either masterpieces or failures. If people say something is good, it becomes good. If they say it’s bad, it becomes bad. But what frightens me is that somewhere in the world there is a God. There is, isn’t there?”
“I haven’t any idea.”
“And I see now that not only the customers but everyone you meet walking in the streets is hiding some crime”
“Look! It says here that I’m a monster. That’s not true, is it? It’s a little late, but I’ll tell you now why I took the five thousand yen. It was so that I might give you and the boy the first happy New Year in a long time. That proves I’m not a monster, doesn’t it?”
His words didn’t make me especially glad. I said, “There’s nothing wrong with being a monster, is there? As long as we can stay alive.”
October 24, 2020
“I must seem a horrible character to you, but the fact is that I want to die so badly I can’t stand it. Ever since I was born I have been thinking of nothing but dying. It would be better for everyone concerned if I were dead, that’s certain. And yet I can’t seem to die. There’s something strange and frightening, like God, which won’t let me die.”
For a short story it had so many emotions.
For a short story it had so many emotions.
October 1, 2016
https://comaujapon.wordpress.com/2016...
Une nouvelle qui se lit plutôt bien et qui est intéressante grâce à cette jeune femme, qui ne va pas se laisser abattre par le caractère de son mari et qui va trouver une façon à elle de lui venir en aide… ou de trouver le bonheur.
Une nouvelle qui se lit plutôt bien et qui est intéressante grâce à cette jeune femme, qui ne va pas se laisser abattre par le caractère de son mari et qui va trouver une façon à elle de lui venir en aide… ou de trouver le bonheur.
March 7, 2026
it is impossible for anyone alive to have a clear conscience.
*Warning - the following may be a bit bleak.
A truly unpleasant story, awash in hopelessness, a sterling example of Japan's "literature of defeat."
First read over thirty years ago for my BA in Japanese, I'm identifying with Villon's wife more than ever these days as the animated carcass of the 'merican empire accelerates through its final, most indolently corrupt cycle, flailing madly yet ever-confidently as it circles the drain, dragging most of the vile 'West' in its wake; no space, no distinguishing difference at all between its putrescent mass and the zionist tumor that must die with it. Therein perhaps is a shimmer of hope for a future.
Some things will never change: humanity may always recognize the worst among them by an unflagging confidence. Best to act swiftly and confidently then to remove them.
WAIT.
Shit...
Villon's Wife is the story told by a young woman living with Villon, a playboy writer generally believed to be her husband, although he is married to the real subject of the story--the abandoned wife. Our narrator gradually learns the truth about her lover, society, and finally herself as she observes the wife's tragic journey. The truth? Life is hopelessness and pain. The only thing we can do is 'survive'. Ironic, that.
Villon, our playboy writer, is Dazai himself. This is a shishosetsu (私小説), the author here examining himself through the eyes of 'Shizuko', his mistress at the time he wrote the story, amongst others he had wronged with the usual: drink, philandry, and serial suicide attempts. The story is one of many Dazai employs as vehicle for self-examination (my man had a serious persecution complex along with a hankering for self-annihilation, if that's not clear from his five attempts). But this one is less about Dazai and more about about his long-suffering wife - portrayed here as Mrs. Otani.
Mrs. Osamu / Otani at the opening is submissive--the limpest of wet noodles before the will of her husband and any other obstacle, no matter how slight. When Dazai f*cks off with Shizuko she is alone to care for herself and the couple's disabled son. When it becomes clear he's not coming back, the missus remarkably goes out and gets a job as a bar hostess, where she begins to experience something entirely new: A sense of pride. A vision of independence and perhaps a modicum of happiness on the horizon.
As she begins to emerge into this brightening new day, Mrs. Otani is raped.
All is hell, even worse than before, and Villon / Dazai is a worthless bastard. At the end, only one thing has changed: Life remains unbearable, but Villon's Wife now has a morose determination to live it.
We close with Villon returned as he left, whining about critics calling him a 'monster'. His Wife retorts (and we are left to agree, or not):
There's nothing wrong with being a monster, is there? As long as we stay alive.
Villon is art born of despair. And the one Dazai story out of several endured as an undergrad to catch my attention. It's decidedly different from much of Japan's 'transitional literature', as her writers carried on a public conversation of what it could mean to remain after Defeat. That era of published literature was universally defeatist and full of impotently raging male characters wavering between the poles of patriotism and conciliation. While most writers at the time also attempted to resolve or address the shock of absurdly swift reversal of fortune suffered over a mere decade--to end in a bright flash, and another before they even registered the first, Dazai breaks sharply from this tradition. There is no use in hope. Mere survival is all that remains.
This is important art: no other people on Earth know what it's like to be nuked--for tens of thousands to vanish in a hot, bright moment. Can you imagine what that does to a people? Dazai tries to explain.
...
If something were to remain of the people once called by the name of an Italian map maker, servant to empire, I hope they will start over entirely, without reference to the propaganda that distracted from a history of genocide and exploitation. I hope the world will not mourn America.
*Warning - the following may be a bit bleak.
A truly unpleasant story, awash in hopelessness, a sterling example of Japan's "literature of defeat."
First read over thirty years ago for my BA in Japanese, I'm identifying with Villon's wife more than ever these days as the animated carcass of the 'merican empire accelerates through its final, most indolently corrupt cycle, flailing madly yet ever-confidently as it circles the drain, dragging most of the vile 'West' in its wake; no space, no distinguishing difference at all between its putrescent mass and the zionist tumor that must die with it. Therein perhaps is a shimmer of hope for a future.
Some things will never change: humanity may always recognize the worst among them by an unflagging confidence. Best to act swiftly and confidently then to remove them.
WAIT.
Shit...
Villon's Wife is the story told by a young woman living with Villon, a playboy writer generally believed to be her husband, although he is married to the real subject of the story--the abandoned wife. Our narrator gradually learns the truth about her lover, society, and finally herself as she observes the wife's tragic journey. The truth? Life is hopelessness and pain. The only thing we can do is 'survive'. Ironic, that.
Villon, our playboy writer, is Dazai himself. This is a shishosetsu (私小説), the author here examining himself through the eyes of 'Shizuko', his mistress at the time he wrote the story, amongst others he had wronged with the usual: drink, philandry, and serial suicide attempts. The story is one of many Dazai employs as vehicle for self-examination (my man had a serious persecution complex along with a hankering for self-annihilation, if that's not clear from his five attempts). But this one is less about Dazai and more about about his long-suffering wife - portrayed here as Mrs. Otani.
Mrs. Osamu / Otani at the opening is submissive--the limpest of wet noodles before the will of her husband and any other obstacle, no matter how slight. When Dazai f*cks off with Shizuko she is alone to care for herself and the couple's disabled son. When it becomes clear he's not coming back, the missus remarkably goes out and gets a job as a bar hostess, where she begins to experience something entirely new: A sense of pride. A vision of independence and perhaps a modicum of happiness on the horizon.
As she begins to emerge into this brightening new day, Mrs. Otani is raped.
All is hell, even worse than before, and Villon / Dazai is a worthless bastard. At the end, only one thing has changed: Life remains unbearable, but Villon's Wife now has a morose determination to live it.
We close with Villon returned as he left, whining about critics calling him a 'monster'. His Wife retorts (and we are left to agree, or not):
There's nothing wrong with being a monster, is there? As long as we stay alive.
Villon is art born of despair. And the one Dazai story out of several endured as an undergrad to catch my attention. It's decidedly different from much of Japan's 'transitional literature', as her writers carried on a public conversation of what it could mean to remain after Defeat. That era of published literature was universally defeatist and full of impotently raging male characters wavering between the poles of patriotism and conciliation. While most writers at the time also attempted to resolve or address the shock of absurdly swift reversal of fortune suffered over a mere decade--to end in a bright flash, and another before they even registered the first, Dazai breaks sharply from this tradition. There is no use in hope. Mere survival is all that remains.
This is important art: no other people on Earth know what it's like to be nuked--for tens of thousands to vanish in a hot, bright moment. Can you imagine what that does to a people? Dazai tries to explain.
...
If something were to remain of the people once called by the name of an Italian map maker, servant to empire, I hope they will start over entirely, without reference to the propaganda that distracted from a history of genocide and exploitation. I hope the world will not mourn America.
September 19, 2023
Dazai has such a way with writing stories you cannot help but admire it
“I must seem a horrible character to you, but the fact is that I want to die so badly I can’t stand it. Ever since I was born I have been thinking of nothing but dying. It would be better for everyone concerned if I were dead, that’s certain. And yet I can’t seem to die. There’s something strange and frightening, like God, which won’t let me die.”
"Now that I have worked twenty days at the restaurant I realize that every last one of the customers is a criminal. I have come to think that my husband is very much on the mild side compared to them. And I see now that not only the customers but everyone you meet walking in the streets is hiding some crime."
“There’s nothing wrong with being a monster, is there? As long as we can stay alive.”
“I must seem a horrible character to you, but the fact is that I want to die so badly I can’t stand it. Ever since I was born I have been thinking of nothing but dying. It would be better for everyone concerned if I were dead, that’s certain. And yet I can’t seem to die. There’s something strange and frightening, like God, which won’t let me die.”
"Now that I have worked twenty days at the restaurant I realize that every last one of the customers is a criminal. I have come to think that my husband is very much on the mild side compared to them. And I see now that not only the customers but everyone you meet walking in the streets is hiding some crime."
“There’s nothing wrong with being a monster, is there? As long as we can stay alive.”
March 25, 2021
Cette nouvelle m'a fait penser à la citation de Maupassant : "La vie, voyez-vous, ça n'est jamais si bon ni si mauvais qu'on croit".
Cet ouvrage me propulse dans l'univers d'Osamu Dazai, une sorte d'écrivain du désespoir et de la déprime. Ce n'est pas qu'une posture puisque la courte vie de l'auteur, ponctuée de nombreuses tentatives de suicide a nourrit son œuvre jusqu'à l'issue tragique.
Ici on le devine dans le mari alcoolique qui ne se soucie ni de sa femme, ni de son enfant. Et ne montre aucun remords. La femme ne sachant pas quoi faire fini par devenir serveuse dans le bar où va boire son mari. Les personnages son décrits avec réalisme mais sans sentimentalisme.
La fin était partie pour être douce amère, mais à la fin, c'est surtout l'amertume qui l'emporte.
Cet ouvrage me propulse dans l'univers d'Osamu Dazai, une sorte d'écrivain du désespoir et de la déprime. Ce n'est pas qu'une posture puisque la courte vie de l'auteur, ponctuée de nombreuses tentatives de suicide a nourrit son œuvre jusqu'à l'issue tragique.
Ici on le devine dans le mari alcoolique qui ne se soucie ni de sa femme, ni de son enfant. Et ne montre aucun remords. La femme ne sachant pas quoi faire fini par devenir serveuse dans le bar où va boire son mari. Les personnages son décrits avec réalisme mais sans sentimentalisme.
La fin était partie pour être douce amère, mais à la fin, c'est surtout l'amertume qui l'emporte.
September 1, 2025
Dazai vivait entre ivresse, passions et pulsion de mort. Derrière Otami, son double tragique, se dessine sa lucidité implacable et tragique…
Mais la voix véritable est celle de Madame Otami. Femme de fer au milieu des ruines, portant son enfant souffrant, elle affronte la misère… Là où l’homme sombre dans l’alcool, le vol et la violence, elle survit, la tête haute.
Roman de douleur et de chair, où le sacrifice se dit sans pathos, animé d’un souffle presque joyeux dans l’ironie. Au-delà de la chute de l’homme, c’est la grandeur silencieuse de la femme qui éclaire tout, en martyr.
Mais la voix véritable est celle de Madame Otami. Femme de fer au milieu des ruines, portant son enfant souffrant, elle affronte la misère… Là où l’homme sombre dans l’alcool, le vol et la violence, elle survit, la tête haute.
Roman de douleur et de chair, où le sacrifice se dit sans pathos, animé d’un souffle presque joyeux dans l’ironie. Au-delà de la chute de l’homme, c’est la grandeur silencieuse de la femme qui éclaire tout, en martyr.
October 6, 2022
“I must seem a horrible character to you, but the fact is that I want to die so badly I can’t stand it. Ever since I was born I have been thinking of nothing but dying. It would be better for everyone concerned if I were dead, that’s certain. And yet I can’t seem to die. There’s something strange and frightening, like God, which won’t let me die.”
Too emotional for a short story. It hurts to get involved with the absentee husband and father, too familiar.
Too emotional for a short story. It hurts to get involved with the absentee husband and father, too familiar.
February 3, 2023
“Now that I have worked twenty days at the restaurant I realize that every last one of the customers is a criminal. I have come to think that my husband is very much on the mild side compared to them. And I see now that not only the customers but everyone you meet walking in the streets is hiding some crime”
January 1, 2024
“Mr. Otani drank his liquor very quietly that evening. Akichan paid the bill and the two of them left together. It’s odd, but I can’t forget how strangely gentle and refined he seemed that night. I wonder if when the devil makes his first appearance in somebody’s house he acts in such a lonely and melancholy way.”
pretty decent book, but i expected more from the ending. overall, i enjoyed it.
pretty decent book, but i expected more from the ending. overall, i enjoyed it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 4, 2024
Fiecare carte a Maestrului Osamu Dazai e intrigantă. Simplismul cu care descrie viața de zi cu zi îl definește. 6 povestiri despre femei unite într-o antologie. Merită citită pentru a înțelege viața femeilor nipone din prima jumătate a secolului trecut.
November 14, 2025
The husband is obviously supposed to represent Dazai. But he is so disgusting that you can't even sympathize with him. There are no excuses for his actions, I don't care how depressed he is. And the audacity to write the wife calling herself stupid...
March 14, 2026
An extraordinary woman
I really love how Dazai has managed to create a female character full of charisma, courage, hard work, and incredible intelligence.
I AM ALWAYS AMAZED. NOT JUST AMAZED I FALL IN LOVE WITH THE WAY DAZAI ENDS EVERY NOVEL
I really love how Dazai has managed to create a female character full of charisma, courage, hard work, and incredible intelligence.
I AM ALWAYS AMAZED. NOT JUST AMAZED I FALL IN LOVE WITH THE WAY DAZAI ENDS EVERY NOVEL
May 14, 2019
3.5/5
January 15, 2022
fine, liked it
April 12, 2023
Largely toxic but strangely empowering and hopeful at the end.
February 27, 2024
It was really Dazai like, sad with a bitter ending but the main character was awesome. Also i loved the reference to François Villons !
November 22, 2024
he really knows how to write female characters better than male ones
March 21, 2025
I loved the characters so much, there was something about the depth of the woman’s character that got to me - her romantism and foolishness mostly.
August 4, 2025
“There’s nothing wrong with being a monster, is there? As long as we can stay alive.”
October 29, 2025
Depressing story of an alcoholic whose wife is loyal to a fault.
January 4, 2026
Yeah, cool. Boring. 3/10
January 11, 2026
the real question of this story was: is it better to turn into a monster to survive this cruel world or to give up and despair about the desperate situation of life?
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