Battle Royale
by Koushun Takami
|
Our Price: $59.84 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $10.06 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Battle Royale
Book Review: trauma's of a battle royale
Summary: 5 Stars
Koushun Takami was the master mind behind this suspenseful, intense, nail biting book Battle Royale. With potential and powerful words which exceeds the limitations of a book, it was also created as a high action movie. It is a story that immediately grabs your attention from page one. And unlike a typical "high school relationship" holds your interest til the very end. This story takes place in Japan, where a random class from Shiroiwa Junior high is selected to participate in a program operated by the government. Rules and regulations are given and the students find themselves left on a deserted island with their only mission is... to kill each other! As they get a feel for the game, they start to form groups, partnerships, create alliances and strategies that will increase their chances of survival. One by one the death count rises. And little do they know, through twists and turns, revealed to things such as love and betrayal. These once typical high junior high students will soon find themselves either helpless victims or relentless murderers forced to fight for their lives at all cost. In a story that truly hits you head on from the get go, the main theme is trustworthiness. Harsh punishments and times of dire need bring out a different side of people. Things such as betrayal like in chapter eleven, former gang members agreed to meet at a specific location and when they reached it the leader turned on them, killing everyone. This was also expressed in the quote "if the coin came up tails, i decided i'd take part in this game." where people were relying on something as little as a flip of a coin to determine whether they should betray people they had built a bond with for many years. Another example was the quote, "once we're down to three, I might kill you two and win the game." This showed that trust was a huge issue in this game and you could never let your guard down because anyone could turn on you at any given time. And finally, for the theme, the game put the students in a place where they had to make sacrifices and trust each other to protect one another, like in chapter twenty-two... "Loving someone always requires you to not love someone else."Book Review: A disturbing parallel to normal high school life...with grenades and a machine gun thrown in
Summary: 4 Stars
Imagine a country run by a totalitarian government in which there exists a program that randomly selects a class of ninth graders every year who must kill each other off until there is only one student left. This is the unsettling premise of Koushun Takami's controversial novel: Battle Royale. It details the trials and exploits, as well as the hopes and fears, of thirty-two teenagers who have been thrust directly into the horrifying program, in which everything they have learned so far about their own nature and that of their classmates becomes irrelevant in the struggle to survive.
Even though Battle Royale is Takami's first novel, he already seems well-versed in how to create a plot that is both compelling and unpredictable. The narrator gives details about what multiple characters are thinking, but he knows when to withhold this information to instill the maximum amount of tension and suspense. However, it is really the characters themselves who are the driving force behind the story. Some of the students kill out of necessity, or from fear and paranoia, while others choose to hide, commit suicide or, in a few cases, try to rally together to take down the guys in charge, but the one thing they all have in common is plausible motivation for their actions. Actually, most of the problems I have with Battle Royale are related to technique and style rather than substance. I partly blame the translator and editor, because I doubt that when Takami wrote the original story in Japanese he frequently left out words and occasionally mixed up character names. He does, however, heavily overuse parentheses. It seems like most of the pages have at least one parenthetical statement, and often the information isn't even useful, only serving to interrupt the flow of the story.
Nevertheless, I recommend Battle Royale because the honest, sympathetic characters, as well as the novel's engaging themes and riveting plot, far overshadow the clumsiness of Takami's writing style. Despite the seemingly far-fetched premise, the thematic parallels to normal high school life are obvious, and teenagers especially should have no trouble finding ways to relate to it.
Book Review: The Inner Workings of the Teenage Mind
Summary: 5 Stars
For his first novel, Koushun Takami decides to take a hypothetical view of how Japan would exist in the present day if they were to be the victors of the Second World War and to further constitute his image, he decided to integrate both his personal satire of the Japanese school system and a look at the high school student's psychology on life. Through these facets, Takami is able to create a powerful socio-political satire akin to that of Lord of the Flies.
The Republic of Greater East Asia is a result of Japanese victory in WW2. It contains Japan itself, China, and possibly several Pacific Islands. Internally, it is a mess of a totalitarian system that keeps itself rigid and ordered in front of the public eye. It has your typical labeling of Americans as "Imperialists" and its own policy of isolationism. More importantly, however, it has "the Program," a system where 50 high school classes are randomly selected each year to participate in an all out fight to the death with weapons. What does the winner of this mentally scarring tournament receive? A lifetime pension (though most likely meager and measly) and a card autographed by "the Dictator."
More importantly, however, are the students themselves. We see their own immature world where they feel as if they are responsible when they are not, their crushes, their academic pressures, their cliques, all in their primes. In the midst of the chaos, we have those who would try to find their "group" as a false sense of security. William Golding succeeded in capturing the savagery of children. Koushun Takami succeeded in capturing the makeshift responsibility of high school students.
Overall, the background, theme, and message is excellent but to understand it completely is a minor problem since the text seemed to be translated poorly. There are some confusing moments due to the texts and especially in some important parts detailing the motives of the government in the story. However, it is quite minor and it only requires a little bit more thinking...and you will be thinking about this book for quite a while after the last page.
Book Review: Who do you trust?
Summary: 5 Stars
I have to begin by saying that this novel, hell this story can be viewed from two points of view. One: a reflection on the darker aspects of society. And secondly, a story about hope, trust, and faith. From the moment I picked this book up to the moment I closed the cover and put it back down (all of one day) I was captivated and held in thrall by the incredible story telling, the believable characters, and the incredible sense of reality that totally encompasses every last page of this book. Ok that may be a little over the top, but not by much. The setting alone caught my interest, a world controlled by such a level of fascism really frightened me, but more importantly the island, with its small microcosm of society featured by the 42 students really brought it all into brutal, paranoid, bloody, and sometimes faith filled reality for me.
One thing that I loved was that each character, no matter how long, or short they lived, felt like a person to me. They weren't just some body to add to the body count...ok maybe one or two.. But over all you had an idea of who the person was, and how they felt being shoved into this life or death situation. In this novel you can see the worst of society held side by side next those who by their sheer will manage to keep hope alive in this dreary world that fills the pages of this book.
Another great thing is the way that you are kept guessing through out the entire story. Who's telling the truth, who can you trust?, who will eventually turn on you and who will keep their word till the very end. I have not had the pleasure of reading a book this well written (and translated) in a very long time, and I have never read a book quite like this ever. I'm not saying that this book is a life changing experience or even a work that will change your views about some things in the world around you (even though they might, what do I know?) but I will say this, It will make you think and it will give you cause to pause and wonder.. What would you do.. If you found your self in... The Program.
Book Review: Good...but long.
Summary: 4 Stars
So, I started out by watching the movie version of this on youtube; because of low quality, download time, and the fact that I was reading subtitles, I was kind of able to follow it, kind of not. Then, for a variety of reasons, I decided to read the book.
My main worry about the book was that I wouldn't be able to follow it very well, since it is based on 42 different students. However, it is surprisingly easy to follow; whenever a new student is introduced, their number is introduced along with their name, **Spoiler (kinda)** most students don't live long enough after being introduced to have their own story arcs, and there is a running tally (along with in-story announcements) of dead students. This version also has a map, which I never refer to, but if I was so inclined, I'm sure it would be helpful.
However, I am only giving this book 4 stars, and there are two reasons for the missing star:
1. Some of the characters seem to be a little too good at what they do. This doesn't detract greatly from the story, but it did make me stop every now and then and think "You should not know that kind of information when you're 15" This would be forgivable were it not for the fact that...
2. ...it is really long, almost unnecessarily so. To put it in perspective, there are 616 pages. I'm on page 329; only 21 students have died, and it's only been about one or two days in the story time line. But the problem isn't that it takes 300+ pages to kill 21 characters, it's that each character has a back story, most of which come up in the novel. I mean, it's well written, and gives the characters depth, but really? For a character who's going to die in like, five pages? It makes it kinda hard to sit down and read it for a stretch of time, because you know an hour later only 20 minutes of the story have past, which is frustrating.
So right now I'm reading it, occasionally in long stretches of time, but mostly between classes, or on the bus, etc. It's taking me a while, but it's not a bad journey.