It looks like dystopian fiction is a major trend in young adult fiction now huh? With books like Maze Runner, Divergent, and The Hunger Games, teenagers have been introduced to fine concepts of dystopia, even if they refused to read 1984 or Anthem in their English class. What if I told you they were all rip-offs!?!? Okay that's too harsh, but lets be fair, none of them would even exist if it wasn't for Koushun Takami's controversial novel, Battle Royale. To me this book is the original Hunger Games.
Anyway, Koushun Takami wrote this book in 1999 and was published in his home country of Japan. Let me also point out this is a one hit wonder in the world of literature. This book acted as both a political statement to the Japanese government, as well as the most violent book I ever read involving teenagers killing eachother (the Hunger Games have NOTHING compared to this book). Almost immediately after it was published it was banned in Japan and only recently has it surfaced here in the States!!! However Japanese culture is very prominent in this book so bare with me.
The book follows a 15 year-old named Shuya who, along with his I think 9th grade class, *I don't know the education system is different in Japan,)\ is randomly selected to participate in a contest called Battle Royale. The rules are simple: Kill eachother until the last one standing within 72 hours. The winner gets a lifelong pension from the government. There are a lot of unfair rules to the game, every teen has to wear a collar around their neck, this acts as a tracking device and a detonator. Every few hours or say one quadrant of the island is closed off, and if you aren't out of that zone in time, or try to force the collar off, it will detonate. Shuya teams up with Noriko, a girl who has a crush on him, and Kawada, a transfer who has a very interesting past which I won't give away do to spoilers. They must survive in this battle while everyone, some of them who are close friends are killing eachother around them.
One of the things I liked about the book, which really impressed me, was the character development. Takami was actually able to give every student (all 42 of them!) a personality. We get a look into all of their pasts, we get to know some things about them, and as well a glimpse into their psyche, the only downside to it, and spoiler, most of them are killed off almost immediately after we get to know them. Some of them do get their own story arch and they are emotional and sometimes disturbing. You really get the feeling that these are real teenagers in a scary situation.
There is a level of paranoia throughout the book, as classmates constantly question who to trust, who not to trust, constantly checking their backs and constantly acknowledging that anyone can turn on them at any given moment. Some of them give into the paranoia with friends turning on friends.
Takami also did a good job with exploring the world he created, being shown through flashbacks with the characters. It wasn't in depth, but I guess this flaws gets a get out of jail free card since we are given it through the perspectives of the characters, who are in fact teenagers with very little knowledge of their government.
If there were any flaws I found in the book it was the text itself. There were a few awkward wording here and there, which probably is a result of the translation from Japanese to English.
To me, Battle Royale was very unsettling. Books like the Hunger Games and Divergent owe a lot to this book. Takami wasn't afraid to express his feelings and attitudes towards politics with this book. Which is probably where the controversy came from. But ten years later, it has built a passionate fanbase.....STEPHEN KING, loves it, and even recommended it on his 2010 summer reading list. I personally love this book, it was emotional, disturbing, and even uplifting.
It certainly broke ground in the dystopian genre as we know it today, and it does provoke alot of though. That, along with the well written prose, complex characters and a page turning thrillride of a story earns this book Five exploding neck braces out of Five.
But like always...these are just my opinions. Have you read the book? Comment below, go get the book, give me feed back and hopefully you enjoy it!!!
P.S. TAKE THAT HUNGER GAMES MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
I don't usually mention film adaptations of books I've read because I'd rather you read the book then watch the movie but I will break my rule here and also recommend the film adaptation of Battle Royale. It was directed in the authors native country of Japan and was the final film directed by Kinji Fukasaku. It remains the highest-grossing foreign film
No comments:
Post a Comment