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Jasper ~ What a merry way to rot

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Jasper ~ What a merry way to rot is Currently Reading

Jasper ~ What a merry way to rot is currently reading

Crime and Punishment

by Fyodor Dostoevsky

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"...And another fire in the Petersburg quarter..." — Dec 01, 2025 10:04AM

Sep 12, 2025 12:07PM

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No Longer Human

by Osamu Dazai

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read in July 2025

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Jasper ~ What a merry way to rot said: " This review might feel like a jumble of thought, as that's precisely what it is.

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I feel that many of the negative reviews of this book which I've read were written without consideration for the time period, or by those who were fort This review might feel like a jumble of thought, as that's precisely what it is.

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I feel that many of the negative reviews of this book which I've read were written without consideration for the time period, or by those who were fortunate enough not to know a feeling close to the state of mind that Yozo was trapped in throughout the novel. this is not to dismiss those who dismissed it due to the unfortunately prominent misogyny throughout, though it was and still is quite common in literature. I, however, felt that the prose made up for this. This work was one that truly left me thinking on it. the famous ending line of "He was a good boy, an angel" might seem rather childish in its translation today, but it serves as a poetic contrast to Yozo's own perception of himself. Overall, I found this to be a worthwhile read, and am considering finding a personal copy for the purpose of owning and annotating this piece. Even if the only reason I know of this book's existence is due to Bungou Stray Dogs, I'm quite thankful that it served as a gateway to this.

Below, I've included a collection of quotes and paragraphs from the translation I read, which can be found here: https://anyflip.com/jntkx/qpxt/

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(view spoiler)[

- "People also talk of a 'criminal consciousness.' All my life in this world of human beings I have been tortured by such a consciousness, but it has become my faithful companion, like a wife in poverty, and together, just the two of us, we have indulged in our forlorn pleasures. This, perhaps, has been one of the attitudes in which I have gone on living. People also commonly speak of the 'wound of a guilty conscience.' In my case, the wound appeared of itself when I was an infant, and with the passage of time, far from healing it had only grown the deeper, until now it has reached the bone. The agonies I have suffered night after night have made for a hell composed of an infinite diversity of tortures, but - though this is a very strange way to put it - the wound has gradually become dearer to me than my own flesh and blood, and I have thought its pain to be the emotion of the wound as it lived or even its murmur of affection."

- "I know that I am liked by other people, but I seem to be deficient in the faculty to love others."

- "The thought of dying has never bothered me, but getting hurt, losing blood, becoming crippled and the like - no thanks. I thought as I watched Yoshiko bandage my hand that I might cut down on my drinking."

- "By the time we had reached this point we had gradually become incapable of laughter, and were beginning to experience the particular oppressiveness, as if one's head were stuffed with broken glass, that comes from being drunk on gin."

- "I was taken aback. Horiki at heart did not treat me like a full human being. He would only consider me as the corpse of a would-be suicide, a person dead to shame, an idiot ghost. His friendship had no other purpose but to utilize me in whichever way would most further his own pleasures. The thought naturally did not make me very happy, but I realized after a moment that it was entirely to be expected that Horiki should take this view of me; that from long ago, even as a child, I seemed to lack the qualifications of a human being; and that, for all I knew, contempt, even from Horiki, might be entirely merited."

- "'You can't be serious. The antonym of crime is virtue. A virtuous citizen. In short, someone like myself'.
'Let's not joke. Virtue is the antonym of vice, not of crime.'
'Are vice and crime not different?'
'They are, I think. Virtue and vice are concepts invented by human beings, words for a morality which human beings arbitrarily devised.'"

- "It is quite impossible for me to contradict anyone to his face. I struggled with all my might to control the feelings which mounted more dangerously in me with each instant, the result of the depressing effects of the gin. Finally, I muttered almost to myself, 'Actions punishable by jail sentences are not the only crimes. If we knew the antonym of crime, we would know its true nature. God... salvation... love... light. But for God there is the antonym Satan, for salvation there is perdition, for love there is hate, for light there is darkness, for good, evil. Crime and prayer? Crime and repentance? Crime and confession? Crime and... no, they're all synonymous. What is the opposite of crime?'"

- "Crime and punishment. Dostoievski. These words grazed over a corner of my mind, startling me. Just supposing Dostoievski ranged 'crime' and 'punishment' side by side not as synonyms but antonyms. Crime and punishment - absolutely incompatible ideas, irreconcilable as oil and water. I felt I was beginning to understand what lay at the bottom of the scum-covered, turbid pond, that chaos of Dostoievski's mind - no, I still don't quite see... Such thoughts were flashing through my head like a revolving lantern when I heard a voice." (hide spoiler)] ...more "

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(page 102 of 177)
"“I could see through the tall windows behind my bench the evening sky glowing in the sunset. Seagulls were flying by in a line which somehow suggested the curve of a woman’s body.”

" — Dec 09, 2025 10:54AM

Aug 10, 2025 01:24AM · see review

Jasper ~ What a merry way to rot is currently reading

The Great Gatsby

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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"This is currently a 4/5 after I knocked it down a star for the description of Miss Baker (your misogyny is showing, Mr. Fitzgerald)" — May 27, 2025 08:17AM

May 27, 2025 08:16AM

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Jasper ~ What a merry way to rot’s Quotes

“Maybe if we start telling people their brain is an app, they'll start using it.”
― Anonymous

tags: haha, lol, stupid, true

81 likes

“Let us find the dam snack bar," Zoe said. "We should eat while we can."
Grover cracked a smile. "The dam snack bar?"
Zoe blinked. "Yes. What is funny?"
"Nothing," Grover said, trying to keep a straight face. "I could use some dam french fries."
Even Thalia smiled at that. "And I need to use the dam restroom."
...
I started cracking up, and Thalia and Grover joined in, while Zoe just looked at me. "I do not understand."
"I want to use the dam water fountain," Grover said.
"And..." Thalia tried to catch her breath. "I want to buy a dam t-shirt.”
― Rick Riordan, The Titan’s Curse

tags: humor

9777 likes

“She let the thought drift away into the Land of Half-Formed Thoughts About Things That Could Kill Percy Jackson. I spent a lot of my time in that land.”
― Rick Riordan, The Chalice of the Gods

20 likes

“I am a guy of limited talents. If I can't kill it with water, a sword, or sarcasm, I am basically defenseless.”
― Rick Riordan, The Chalice of the Gods

tags: percy-jackson

82 likes