The book No Longer Human is one of Japan’s best-selling books by Osamu Dazai. This book is Japan’s second best-selling book ever. Considering that this book only has 271 pages it’s a pretty light read, although it does cover many heavy topics. This is a semi-biography and not completely fiction. Some of the events and how the protagonist portrays his feelings are a reflection of Dazai himself.
In this book, we follow the character Oba Yozo through life and discover his negative self conduct and how he copes with that. Through all the things he experiences he still feels as though he is incapable of understanding human beings, and does not view himself as one. He makes it through high school with a “clown” persona to mask himself for not being human. The narrator of the story is the protagonist himself. I like the idea that we are viewing him through his own eyes. Throughout the book, Yozo the main character characterizes himself as not being human despite acting like one from the reader’s pov. My whole thought process throughout the book was not that he is inhuman, but what seems to make him more human-like. No matter what he said about himself being non-human I couldn’t disagree more. Throughout this read, Yozo makes many mistakes; things I don’t want to condone or inflict upon anyone. But that’s also what makes this read so interesting because we can still sympathize with him yet despise him at the same time. I think something people might overlook while reading this is that we only ever get to see Yozo’s perspective in the book. Not until you get to the end do you truly get to see someone else’s views on him but it also makes you think. How do people view us over how we view ourselves? We only get to see the bad things because that is how Yozo truly feels about himself. Those feelings carry over to the reader as well. I genuinely liked this book and felt like I could relate to some of the emotions that were conveyed. I would definitely recommend this book to people who are able to read heavy topics or just enjoy reading any genre and to try something new. Published in 1948 -Jasmin The Social Dilemma is a docudrama on Netflix made to bring awareness to social media and the real products it makes. It explains phenomena like “ghost vibrations”, which is when you could’ve sworn your phone made a noise or buzz, but no notification appears on the screen. This is something that I remember well because it seems to happen to me quite often. The film tries to get the point across that although social media can connect us, it is mainly used to monetize humanity. Because of that effort, it also distracts, manipulates, controls, and can even disconnect us on both small and large scales.
An interesting quote by Edward Tuft is, “There are only two countries that call their customers “users” illegal drugs and software.” This illustrates the addictiveness of social media and technology. Overall, the film is both frightening and enlightening. It’s concerning because many online companies are using our psychology against us. However, it’s also good to know that there are resources to help people fight through the controlling grasp of technology and social media. Because it is a docudrama, it interviews former or current people working for different social media companies and their thoughts on the social dilemma. Research shows that between 2011 and 2013, a spike amongst teens in negative behaviors and self-esteem is one of the most relevant pieces of evidence to you readers out there because you are most likely around my age, which is a high school student. I think that this is something anyone living in today’s world should watch because it can help us become more aware of the issues plaguing our society and enact change to better things for the future. -Susie Hello everybody my name is Greg and this is my book review article.
This week (as you saw in the title) I will be reviewing the book Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Like last time, this is a book from my personal library. This book is the first in the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan. The series' basic premise is that there's a kid named Percy Jackson who one day finds out he is the son of Poseidon (the sea god in Greek mythology) meaning he is half blood. Because of this he goes to a summer camp for other half bloods called Camp Half Blood. While there, Percy learns that Zeus’ master lightning bolt has been stolen and he is the key suspect. Percy and his new friends Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood only have ten days to find the lightning bolt or a war between the gods will break out, dooming the human world. Some basic info about this book:
Getting to my actual thoughts on this book, I thought it was an enjoyable book. I think the book (and the Percy Jackson series as a whole) does a good job of giving a humorous modern twist to stories and characters from Greek mythology. There are also a good amount of action scenes that keep the story exciting throughout. It is also very funny. The story also has good twists and turns that keep it exciting throughout. To conclude this review I would say that this book would be enjoyable reading for anyone who likes fantasy, comedy or adventure books. It can also be a good way to learn about Greek Mythology. If you find this book interesting you can find it at most bookstores or libraries. That is the end of this review. Thanks for reading! - Greg October came and went and left us all with many great memories. One of our favorite activities that happened at Lake Region was the annual pumpkin carving day. We had many great pumpkin designs and even greater memories made while carving them! Not to mention it was all for a good cause! Here are some highlights!
-Sabrina |
Social
|