Battle Royale by Koushun Takami Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Battle Royale
Book Review: 21st century literature
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is addictive. The experience of reading it is more like watching a film or riding a rollercoaster. It moves at a pace that is fast enough to give the reader whiplash. The subject matter (kids killing kids) is of coarse controversial but undeniably compelling. It's important to note however that this book isn't simply about death, because the human element, the development of the characters, how they interact and connect and how they live is ultimately the glue that holds this piece together.Book Review: A Game of Death
Summary: 4 Stars
Originally submitted for a literary competition, Koushun Takami's *Battle Royale* was hotly contested and eventually rejected in the final round, condemned for its caustic blend of violence, satire and pulp-extravagance. If anything, this reaction helped assure its bestseller status in Japan - uproar always sells copy - and the novel's shelf-life was then immeasurably augmented by the ensuing film-adaptation and comic serialization (...I saw issues of it crowding manga-bins in Thailand). Stateside, however, *Battle Royale*, in any form, existed as a media-indefinite, praised throughout the cyberverse by those 'in the know' but unavailable through any mainstream outlet. Thankfully this has changed, with the primary text now translated and sleekly packaged for round-eyes, and the movie slated for a `special edition' Region-One release date.
The story itself is a *Lord of the Flies*-style update, cynically embellished with the hallmarks of tech-dystopia. In essence: forty-two schoolchildren are shipped to a remote location, provided weapons, and ordered to kill or be killed, thrive or die, until the last is standing. In Takami's alternative universe, Japan has devolved into a totalitarian dictatorship; the 'game' of *Battle Royale* keeps the mainland inhabitants in line and also provides an exciting gambling venture for those in power. As for the children involved? The author employs the pivotal theme of William Golding's mid-20th century masterpiece, in that under extreme circumstances, human beings face a psychological choice: to become the beast (or at least to ~mimic~ it), or to rise above. *Battle Royale* thus chronicles the individual decisions of these schoolchildren. Some choose the beast. Others struggle to retain their basic human dignity. Some choose death, others love - and damn the consequences. And the rest do their best to simply survive, as the clock ticks down and the territory of the killing ground diminishes every six hours. For in this game of death, there is only one possible survivor.
The premise of *Battle Royale* is irresistible, with great potential...almost too much potential. In the hands of a lesser author, the story could easily spin out of control, descending into bloodbath extremes and overt melodrama; and in the very least, losing its focus among the multitude of players and total range of situations. Takami's overall control of his concept - establishing the rules early on, and concentrating primarily on a select group of characters, with brief digressions for the minor players - is commendable on a sheer technical level; and the skill in which he develops, and disposes, of these schoolchildren makes it easy to see why *Battle Royale* sparked controversy and gained a strong following upon its release. The concept of children murdering children, and some gleefully and/or efficiently at that, is uncomfortable to those who envision peace and prosperity as the principal goal of the human race: it's not surprising that *Battle Royale*, for some, inspires a knee-jerk reaction of negativity before a page is turned. Yet there is more here than typical grindhouse exploitation. The concept of love under extremities is the primary thematic nucleus of the novel, developed carefully and powerfully; and Takami wisely sets the protagonist view on Shuya, who feels the exact same way as most (sane) people would. "They won't do it... impossible..." he constantly reflects at the beginning, honestly believing it so until graphically proven otherwise; and for the remainder of the contest he strives to survive without playing the game, as much out of spite for the evil propagating it as his own moral code.
There are several aspects that elevate *Battle Royale* above the genre of pulp. The first and foremost, IMO, is the masterful development of the characters. It has been six months since I read this novel, and I still have vivid images of the main players: battle-scarred Shogo with his shotgun; the chillingly psychotic Kazuo Kiriyama; prey-turned-predator Mitsuko (perhaps the saddest character of the lot); the stoic and utterly focused martial-arts master Hiroaki Sugimura. And Tahara Sakamochi, of course. I've rarely seen a more villainous portrait 'come to life' from the printed page. The environments and action, although only adequately described, do take hold the mind's eye, and I can correlate these characters with some very poignant - and brutal - moments, attaining the hallucinatory power of the inner-cinema.
Another aspect is developed more powerfully in the film, being a satire on the repressed, media-drenched, violence-devouring Japanese culture. Although *Battle Royale's* 'game' is inconceivable, at least for the present, let us reflect on the state of modern television: how many murders occur on a primetime night? How many children are watching CSI and/or any number of its clones/competitors at this moment? Rape, exploitation, death - these are primal triggers for easy cash - and it's only going to get more explicit. This book barely hints at competition-as-entertainment satire, but inspires enough internal thought about the matter that, when coupled with the psychological trauma/adaptation that this sort of situation might create, makes *Battle Royale* a worthy read in its own right.
Along with the violence, of course - there is enough triune-stroke here to satiate even the most rabid gore-hound.
The translation suffers from grammar-errors and awkward transitions, and I think they were going a little too much for the 'punchy' effect, but Takami's raw material more than makes up for the occasional blunder...and the ending, in a word: incredible. *Battle Royale* is powerful, compelling material, some of the best pulp on the market.
Four and 1/2 Stars.
Book Review: A Painful Read
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought this book because of the interesting premise: in a dystopian Japanese society, the totalitarian, repressive government forces classes of middle-school students into a bloody, brutal winner-take-all tournament where losing means death, and society accepts this violent ritual as a twisted rite of teenage passage. Originally written in Japanese by Koushun Takami, this book has elements of other well-known books such as The Most Dangerous Game and The Lord of the Flies, but weaves those elements in a unique way, resulting in a bloody, violent, but entertaining work of fiction.
So why the two stars? If you are a fan of writing, particularly good writing, the English translation of this edition is marginally better than a babelfish-translated technical manual (if you've never had to rely on a machine-translated version of foreign material, consider yourself lucky). The writing is formulaic and prosaic; in short, the book seems to have been translated by someone without a firm grasp of the English language, with colloquialisms and subtlety seemingly given a literal translation -- those elements (and others) made the book extremely (and painfully) difficult to read.
While the style of writing may work and be acceptable in the original Japanese language form, or in manga format (and Battle Royale does have a multi-volume manga version), it is extremely disappointing that the publisher did not see how poorly such a style of writing translated into English. Thus, while I give credit to the originality and creativity of the story, I found the poor execution of the novel to be unforgivable. If you can put up with the writing (and I think most well-read readers will have a difficult time doing so), then you are in for an moderately enjoyable, bloody read -- if not, get ready for a painful ride.
Book Review: A bit of a letdown, but certainly worth a look.
Summary: 3 Stars
With Battle Royale, it seems like Takami came up with a really innovative, potentially groundbreaking idea for a plot, and then proceeded to fumble around blindly in the darkness of his own poor prose and foolish philosophical notions. There are brief glimpses of what this book could have been-scenes of intense grief, stark moral ambiguity, moving moments of love and friendship in the face of death, and cutthroat, back-to-the-wall fighting. But it's ruined by unbelievable characters and scenarios. The real flaw in this book is that the characters do not behave like humans. There aren't any believable background stories, emotions, or even simple conversations.
Additionally, Takami is stylistically abominable. The writing is laughably absurd, although this may be from the Japanese-to-English translation. The weak, clunky prose repeatedly took me away from the story and the characters.
Battle Royale could have been an amazing, moving, humbling tale. It could have been a modern day Lord of the Flies. It could have been insanely entertaining. It could have been genius. There were moments of this tale, the true tale, that really shook me. But on the whole, Battle Royale stumbles and falls on its own rudimentary shortcomings.
In the disjointed English of the novel, this book is sad. That's right, Takami didn't live up to his promises. In other words, I was disappointed.
Book Review: A bit of the old ultraviolent
Summary: 5 Stars
I practically stumbled over this book at my local book store, the cover intrigued me. After reading the back I bought it. First of all its not really that violent, until you realize the players in the game are so young. As you read you will think back to when you were that age and if you would have hidden from the other players and refused to play, or would have decided to play. I did find the dialogue a bit clumsy but that can be attributed to it being a translation. But lets face it, this is not Shakespeare so certain aspects can be overlooked. All in all this is an entertaining and fast read.