Teach Us to Outgrow Our Madness

Rating:
Summary: seminal!!
Review: I adore this book... I read it all at once, woke up my parents in the middle of the night talking about its descriptions of the sky, talked about it at my college interviews, which were about three years ago... Loved it. But Discovered that some of Oe's other work isn't as good. But wow! The language, plot, the strangeness, the beauty, inventiveness, and reach of the book is tremendous. :)


Rating:
Summary: One of the best writers from Japan
Review: If you haven't bought this book, then you should get it now. Kenzaburo Oe is one of the few left wing writers in Japan who has made a great impact world wide. His style is original, his themes often poignant. His own personal suffering and the suffering of his own brain-damaged child often feature in his novels in subtle and not so subtle forms. You will not find any cliches in this novel and Oe is never nauseatingly sentimental. A true gem.

Rating:
Summary: not about mental health
Review: Please do not be misled by the title or Amazon's classification of this work in "Psychology and Counseling." Oe writes about madness not from the perspective of a clinician but from that of an artist. The madness he urges us to leave behind is that of societal expectations.

Although "Prize Catch" might be difficult for those who have experienced racism to read, one has to remember that Oe recaptures (pardon the pun) the atmosphere of rural Shikoku seen through the eyes of a boy in the waning days of World War II. I suspect that the villagers would have had equal difficulty relating to a Caucasian American.

This is an excellent introduction to Oe's public and private lives.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best writers from Japan
Review: Please do not be misled by the title or Amazon's classification of this work in "Psychology and Counseling." Oe writes about madness not from the perspective of a clinician but from that of an artist. The madness he urges us to leave behind is that of societal expectations.

Although "Prize Catch" might be difficult for those who have experienced racism to read, one has to remember that Oe recaptures (pardon the pun) the atmosphere of rural Shikoku seen through the eyes of a boy in the waning days of World War II. I suspect that the villagers would have had equal difficulty relating to a Caucasian American.

This is an excellent introduction to Oe's public and private lives.

Rating:
Summary: madness outgrown?
Review: this book (i must say) is one of the most original and "a-joy-to-read" works of literature i've picked up recently.

i liked the obscure nature of the stories and the eccentricity of oe's characters.

for the most part they all seem to be in some way influenced by his own experiences as a child disillusioned by the war.

the first story is perhaps my favorite.

i liked the way that the narrator insisted that he was a person not to be pitied and that his cancer was justified and perhaps even the result of his insanity he witnessed through his father.

second: 'teach us to outgrow our madness.'

i found this story to contain the most interesting relationship that i've had the pleasure of reading about.

'eeyore! the pork noodles in broth and pepsi cola were good!'

ahh.

i'll be quoting that for years.

it wasn't only an awkward relationship that the father and son shared but rather an affirmation of the amount of absurdity inherent with any interpersonal relationship.

all in all i'd say that this is definitely one of my favorite books.

i'll probably give it another read some day.

yup.

Rating:
Summary: madness outgrown?
Review: this book (i must say) is one of the most original and "a-joy-to-read" works of literature i've picked up recently.

i liked the obscure nature of the stories and the eccentricity of oe's characters.

for the most part they all seem to be in some way influenced by his own experiences as a child disillusioned by the war.

the first story is perhaps my favorite.

i liked the way that the narrator insisted that he was a person not to be pitied and that his cancer was justified and perhaps even the result of his insanity he witnessed through his father.

second: 'teach us to outgrow our madness.'

i found this story to contain the most interesting relationship that i've had the pleasure of reading about.

'eeyore! the pork noodles in broth and pepsi cola were good!'

ahh.

i'll be quoting that for years.

it wasn't only an awkward relationship that the father and son shared but rather an affirmation of the amount of absurdity inherent with any interpersonal relationship.

all in all i'd say that this is definitely one of my favorite books.

i'll probably give it another read some day.

yup.