Three notebooks, found with a few photographs, tell the life of Ōba Yōzō. As a child, he understands nothing about other people and is afraid of them. So that no one will guess, he plays the clown, and everyone laughs. As a student in Tokyo, he slowly slides into drink and love affairs, without ever finding his place.
Its author, Dazai, finished this short novel shortly before his death. It is one of the most widely read books in Japan, and many readers recognise themselves in this feeling of playing a part in order to be accepted.
Yōzō confides in simple sentences, and you can read the book in one sitting in the language you are learning.
