-
The Setting Sun
- New Directions Book
- Narrated by: June Angela
- Length: 4 hrs and 28 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Prime member exclusive: pick 2 free titles with trial.
The Setting Sun
Buy for $14.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
No Longer Human
- By: Osamu Dazai
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 4 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,139
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 956
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 953
Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life, even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. Oba Yozo's attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a "clown" to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Reassuring in its bare-boned humanity
- By Michael - Audible Editor on 07-19-17
By: Osamu Dazai
-
Early Light
- Storybook ND Series
- By: Osamu Dazai
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 1 hr and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 4
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1
Early Light offers three very different aspects of Osamu Dazai's genius: the title story relates his misadventures as a drinker and a family man in the terrible fire bombings of Tokyo at the end of WWII. Having lost their own home, he and his wife flee with a new baby boy and their little girl to relatives in Kofu, only to be bombed out anew.
By: Osamu Dazai
-
Kokoro
- By: Natsume Soseki
- Narrated by: Matt Shea
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 458
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 401
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 401
The subject of Kokoro, which can be translated as 'the heart of things' or as 'feeling,' is the delicate matter of the contrast between the meanings the various parties of a relationship attach to it. In the course of this exploration, Soseki brilliantly describes different levels of friendship, family relationships, and the devices by which men attempt to escape from their fundamental loneliness. The novel sustains throughout its length something approaching poetry, and it is rich in understanding and insight.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Heart Of Things, Relationships & Feelings
- By Sara on 04-27-15
By: Natsume Soseki
-
The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea
- By: Yukio Mishima
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 4 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 394
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 342
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 343
A band of savage 13-year-old boys reject the adult world as illusory, hypocritical, and sentimental, and train themselves in a brutal callousness they call 'objectivity'. When the mother of one of them begins an affair with a ship's officer, he and his friends idealise the man at first; but it is not long before they conclude that he is in fact soft and romantic. They regard this disallusionment as an act of betrayal on his part - and the retribution is deliberate and horrifying.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Unsettling writing, flawed reading
- By Erez on 11-22-12
By: Yukio Mishima
-
I Am a Cat
- By: Soseki Natsume, Aiko Ito - translator, Graeme Wilson - translator
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 21 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 119
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 100
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 100
Soseki Natsume's comic masterpiece, I Am a Cat, satirizes the foolishness of upper-middle class Japanese society during the Meiji era. With acerbic wit and sardonic perspective, it follows the whimsical adventures of a world-weary stray kitten who comments on the follies and foibles of the people around him. A classic of Japanese literature, I Am a Cat is one of Soseki's best-known novels. Considered by many as the greatest writer in modern Japanese history, Soseki's I Am a Cat is a classic novel sure to be enjoyed for years to come.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great performance!
- By mz on 04-03-20
By: Soseki Natsume, and others
-
Sun and Steel
- By: Yukio Mishima
- Narrated by: Matthew Taylor
- Length: 2 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 128
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 104
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 103
In this fascinating document, one of Japan's best known - and controversial - writers created what might be termed a new literary form. It is new because it combines elements of many existing types of writing, yet in the end, fits into none of them. The road Mishima took to salvation is a highly personal one. Yet here, ultimately, one detects the unmistakable tones of a self transcending the particular and attaining to a poetic vision of the universal.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
SNOOZEFEST
- By Ivan Rueda on 04-17-21
By: Yukio Mishima
-
No Longer Human
- By: Osamu Dazai
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 4 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,139
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 956
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 953
Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life, even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. Oba Yozo's attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a "clown" to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Reassuring in its bare-boned humanity
- By Michael - Audible Editor on 07-19-17
By: Osamu Dazai
-
Early Light
- Storybook ND Series
- By: Osamu Dazai
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 1 hr and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 4
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1
Early Light offers three very different aspects of Osamu Dazai's genius: the title story relates his misadventures as a drinker and a family man in the terrible fire bombings of Tokyo at the end of WWII. Having lost their own home, he and his wife flee with a new baby boy and their little girl to relatives in Kofu, only to be bombed out anew.
By: Osamu Dazai
-
Kokoro
- By: Natsume Soseki
- Narrated by: Matt Shea
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 458
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 401
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 401
The subject of Kokoro, which can be translated as 'the heart of things' or as 'feeling,' is the delicate matter of the contrast between the meanings the various parties of a relationship attach to it. In the course of this exploration, Soseki brilliantly describes different levels of friendship, family relationships, and the devices by which men attempt to escape from their fundamental loneliness. The novel sustains throughout its length something approaching poetry, and it is rich in understanding and insight.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Heart Of Things, Relationships & Feelings
- By Sara on 04-27-15
By: Natsume Soseki
-
The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea
- By: Yukio Mishima
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 4 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 394
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 342
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 343
A band of savage 13-year-old boys reject the adult world as illusory, hypocritical, and sentimental, and train themselves in a brutal callousness they call 'objectivity'. When the mother of one of them begins an affair with a ship's officer, he and his friends idealise the man at first; but it is not long before they conclude that he is in fact soft and romantic. They regard this disallusionment as an act of betrayal on his part - and the retribution is deliberate and horrifying.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Unsettling writing, flawed reading
- By Erez on 11-22-12
By: Yukio Mishima
-
I Am a Cat
- By: Soseki Natsume, Aiko Ito - translator, Graeme Wilson - translator
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 21 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 119
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 100
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 100
Soseki Natsume's comic masterpiece, I Am a Cat, satirizes the foolishness of upper-middle class Japanese society during the Meiji era. With acerbic wit and sardonic perspective, it follows the whimsical adventures of a world-weary stray kitten who comments on the follies and foibles of the people around him. A classic of Japanese literature, I Am a Cat is one of Soseki's best-known novels. Considered by many as the greatest writer in modern Japanese history, Soseki's I Am a Cat is a classic novel sure to be enjoyed for years to come.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Great performance!
- By mz on 04-03-20
By: Soseki Natsume, and others
-
Sun and Steel
- By: Yukio Mishima
- Narrated by: Matthew Taylor
- Length: 2 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 128
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 104
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 103
In this fascinating document, one of Japan's best known - and controversial - writers created what might be termed a new literary form. It is new because it combines elements of many existing types of writing, yet in the end, fits into none of them. The road Mishima took to salvation is a highly personal one. Yet here, ultimately, one detects the unmistakable tones of a self transcending the particular and attaining to a poetic vision of the universal.
-
2 out of 5 stars
-
SNOOZEFEST
- By Ivan Rueda on 04-17-21
By: Yukio Mishima
-
The Woman in the Dunes
- By: Kobo Abe
- Narrated by: Julian Cihi
- Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 297
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 252
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 252
After missing the last bus home following a day trip to the seashore, an amateur entomologist is offered lodging for the night at the bottom of a vast sand pit. But when he attempts to leave the next morning, he quickly discovers the locals have other plans. Held captive with seemingly no chance of escape, he is tasked with shoveling back the ever-advancing sand dunes that threaten to destroy the village. His only companion is an odd young woman. Together, their fates become intertwined as they work side-by-side at this Sisyphean task.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Nihilistic horror
- By Mr. Sagan on 07-20-19
By: Kobo Abe
![Kusamakura [Grass Pillow] Audiobook By Natsume Soseki, Meredith McKinney - translator cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41Jm7kmdUPL._SL320_FMwebp_.jpg)
-
Kusamakura [Grass Pillow]
- By: Natsume Soseki, Meredith McKinney - translator
- Narrated by: Kotaro Watanabe, Elizabeth Jasicki
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 15
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 12
Natsume Soseki's Kusamakura - meaning “grass pillow” - follows its nameless young artist-narrator on a meandering walking tour of the mountains. At the inn at a hot-spring resort, he has a series of mysterious encounters with Nami, the lovely young daughter of the establishment. Nami, or "beauty", is the center of this elegant novel, the still point around which the artist moves and the enigmatic subject of Soseki's word painting.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Aesthetic, but didn't strike me as overly deep
- By David Lariviere on 09-10-23
By: Natsume Soseki, and others
-
Mr. Emerson's Wife
- By: Amy Belding Brown
- Narrated by: Gabrielle de Cuir
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 135
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 124
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 123
In this novel about Ralph Waldo Emerson’s wife, Lidian, Amy Belding Brown examines the emotional landscape of love and marriage. Living in the shadow of one of the most famous men of her time, Lidian becomes deeply disappointed by marriage, but consigned to public silence by social conventions and concern for her family’s reputation. Drawn to the erotic energy and intellect of close family friend Henry David Thoreau, she struggles to negotiate the confusing territory between love and friendship while maintaining her moral authority and inner strength.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Best book I have heard
- By Eliza Chisholm on 10-23-22
-
The Myth of Sisyphus
- By: Albert Camus
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 870
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 732
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 733
One of the most influential works of this century, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays is a crucial exposition of existentialist thought. Influenced by works such as Don Juan and the novels of Kafka, these essays begin with a meditation on suicide; the question of living or not living in a universe devoid of order or meaning.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Brilliant work, excellently narrated
- By Richard B. on 04-30-19
By: Albert Camus
-
The Stranger
- By: Albert Camus
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 3 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,758
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,703
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,694
Albert Camus' The Stranger is one of the most widely read novels in the world, with millions of copies sold. It stands as perhaps the greatest existentialist tale ever conceived, and is certainly one of the most important and influential books ever produced. Now, for the first time, this revered masterpiece is available as an unabridged audio production.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Is amorality bad?
- By Rolando on 03-10-14
By: Albert Camus
-
The Sound of Waves
- By: Yukio Mishima
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 188
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 150
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 151
Set in a remote fishing village in Japan, The Sound of Waves is a timeless story of first love. A young fisherman is entranced at the sight of the beautiful daughter of the wealthiest man in the village. They fall in love, but must then endure the calumny and gossip of the villagers.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Remote Japanese island beautifully depicted
- By Bruce on 09-17-15
By: Yukio Mishima
-
Life for Sale
- By: Yukio Mishima
- Narrated by: Kotaro Watanabe
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 69
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 57
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 57
After botching a suicide attempt, salaryman Hanio Yamada decides to put his life up for sale in the classifieds section of a Tokyo newspaper. Soon interested parties come calling with increasingly bizarre requests and what follows is a madcap comedy of errors, involving a jealous husband, a drug-addled heiress, poisoned carrots - even a vampire. For someone who just wants to die, Hanio can't seem to catch a break, as he finds himself enmeshed in a continent-wide conspiracy that puts him in the crosshairs of both his own government and a powerful organized-crime syndicate.
-
1 out of 5 stars
-
Book is good - Narration is just terrible
- By Vyacheslav Varlakov on 03-12-21
By: Yukio Mishima
-
They Both Die at the End
- By: Adam Silvera
- Narrated by: Michael Crouch, Robbie Daymond, Bahni Turpin
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 7,301
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 6,503
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 6,490
On September 5, a little after midnight, Death-Cast calls Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio to give them some bad news: They're going to die today. Mateo and Rufus are total strangers, but, for different reasons, they're both looking to make a new friend on their End Day. The good news: There's an app for that. It's called The Last Friend, and through it Rufus and Mateo are about to meet up for one last great adventure - to live a lifetime in a single day.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
My heart..
- By Shay on 10-03-17
By: Adam Silvera
-
Norwegian Wood
- By: Haruki Murakami
- Narrated by: John Chancer
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 2,199
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,921
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 1,927
Toru, a serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before. As Naoko retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Sorry, but I didn't like the narrator.
- By Kelly McCarty on 10-30-15
By: Haruki Murakami
-
Spring Snow
- By: Yukio Mishima
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 14 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 260
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 226
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 228
Spring Snow is set in Tokyo in 1912, when the hermetic world of the ancient aristocracy is being breached for the first time by outsiders -- rich provincial families unburdened by tradition, whose money and vitality make them formidable contenders for social and political power. Among this rising new elite are the ambitious Matsugae, whose son has been raised in a family of the waning aristocracy, the elegant and attenuated Ayakura.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An extraordinary work.......
- By Raj Saberwal on 05-29-14
By: Yukio Mishima
-
Sanshiro
- Penguin Classics
- By: Natsume Soseki, Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin
- Narrated by: Andrew Koji
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
One of Soseki's most beloved works of fiction, the novel depicts the 23-year-old Sanshiro leaving the sleepy countryside for the first time in his life to experience the constantly moving 'real world' of Tokyo, its women and university. In the subtle tension between our appreciation of Soseki's lively humour and our awareness of Sanshiro's doomed innocence, the novel comes to life. Sanshiro is also penetrating social and cultural commentary.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
This story had no point.
- By icelandicponies on 12-30-21
By: Natsume Soseki, and others
-
Crime and Punishment
- Pevear & Volokhonsky Translation (Vintage Classics)
- By: Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Narrated by: Peter Batchelor
- Length: 25 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 258
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 213
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 210
With the same suppleness, energy, and range of voices that won their translation of The Brothers Karamazov the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Prize, Pevear and Volokhonsky offer a brilliant translation of Dostoevsky's classic novel that presents a clear insight into this astounding psychological thriller. This audio edition of Crime and Punishment is expressively brought to life by Peter Batchelor.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
waited for this translation
- By L. Kerr on 12-22-20
Publisher's summary
This powerful novel of a nation in social and moral crisis was first published by New Directions in 1956 - and now, for the first time, is available in audio, with the spellbinding narration of June Angela.
Set in the early postwar years, it probes the destructive effects of war and the transition from a feudal Japan to an industrial society. Ozamu Dazai died, a suicide, in 1948. But the influence of his book has made "people of the setting sun" a permanent part of the Japanese language, and his heroine, Kazuko, a young aristocrat who deliberately abandons her class, a symbol of the anomie which pervades so much of the modern world.
More from the same
What listeners say about The Setting Sun
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Gokuss5
- 05-29-22
Better tragedy than Shakespeare
I am not a fan of Japanese literature simply because it is Japanese. I am a fan of good literature. This is good literature. Please set aside time to read it. The narrator is very good and easy to listen to. The story is excellent.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ashlynn Jade Coach
- 05-08-23
i really enjoyed this
tbh i started this because of bungo stray dogs, but i stuck around for the good story. it’s not a happy one, and there are times where i questioned the purpose of the book. but as i reached the end, i felt for the main character, and i almost wish there was more to read
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall1 out of 5 stars
-
Performance1 out of 5 stars
-
Story1 out of 5 stars
- Princess
- 01-07-23
The main character was a pick me girl & annoying
Imagine writing a man over and over who doesn’t want you especially one whose a drug addicted alcoholic with a wife and mistress… then when he continuously doesn’t respond she finds him? Terrible story
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lucky
- 10-19-22
MORE OSAMU DAZAI TRANSLATIONS PLEASE!!!!!
That is all. More of this master's works to explore the human condition. Thank You.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mado
- 08-11-22
Beautiful and Sad Recording
The Narrator has a real empty, sorrowful, and monotone expression, as someone who is tired and wishing for change, the ending really touched me personally, in a hopeful way.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 08-06-22
Simpleand complex all in one
The story is sweet and tragic. the story is sad and entertaining. You struggle with the characters and live through them. You pity their struggle,but you envy their place. Though much time has passed the lives of aristocrats in a far away place is not much different than the middle class of today.it is pitiful but you envy the place they live
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Israel Carpenter
- 08-12-21
a worthwhile read in every sense.
Dazai Osamu truly writes characters in a mesmerizing way, and June narrated this book perfectly.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Yoshay
- 12-18-21
Fantastic Narration. Worth the listen
A poignant tale of post-war catastrophic effects on human psyche when Japan transitioned from feudal society to an industrial one. This book charts the heartbreaking fall of Kazuko's family from high class aristocracy to poverty, sickness and loneliness. Dazai's prose is like a slow burning pain that gradually eats away your heart. Beautiful sad book with fantastic narration that makes the story even more heartbreaking.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
The Flowers of Buffoonery
- By: Osamu Dazai
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 1 hr and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 4
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 4
The Flowers of Buffoonery opens in a seaside sanitarium where Yozo Oba—the narrator of No Longer Human at a younger age—is being kept after a failed suicide attempt. While he is convalescing, his friends and family visit him, and other patients and nurses drift in and out of his room. Against this dispiriting backdrop, everyone tries to maintain a lighthearted, even clownish atmosphere: playing cards, smoking cigarettes, vying for attention, cracking jokes, and trying to make each other laugh.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Quick Read
- By ALICE on 06-17-23
By: Osamu Dazai
-
No Longer Human
- By: Osamu Dazai
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 4 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,139
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 956
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 953
Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life, even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. Oba Yozo's attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a "clown" to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Reassuring in its bare-boned humanity
- By Michael - Audible Editor on 07-19-17
By: Osamu Dazai
-
Early Light
- Storybook ND Series
- By: Osamu Dazai
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 1 hr and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 4
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1
Early Light offers three very different aspects of Osamu Dazai's genius: the title story relates his misadventures as a drinker and a family man in the terrible fire bombings of Tokyo at the end of WWII. Having lost their own home, he and his wife flee with a new baby boy and their little girl to relatives in Kofu, only to be bombed out anew.
By: Osamu Dazai
-
Kokoro
- By: Natsume Soseki
- Narrated by: Matt Shea
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 458
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 401
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 401
The subject of Kokoro, which can be translated as 'the heart of things' or as 'feeling,' is the delicate matter of the contrast between the meanings the various parties of a relationship attach to it. In the course of this exploration, Soseki brilliantly describes different levels of friendship, family relationships, and the devices by which men attempt to escape from their fundamental loneliness. The novel sustains throughout its length something approaching poetry, and it is rich in understanding and insight.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Heart Of Things, Relationships & Feelings
- By Sara on 04-27-15
By: Natsume Soseki
![Kusamakura [Grass Pillow] Audiobook By Natsume Soseki, Meredith McKinney - translator cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41Jm7kmdUPL._SL320_.jpg)
-
Kusamakura [Grass Pillow]
- By: Natsume Soseki, Meredith McKinney - translator
- Narrated by: Kotaro Watanabe, Elizabeth Jasicki
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 15
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 12
Natsume Soseki's Kusamakura - meaning “grass pillow” - follows its nameless young artist-narrator on a meandering walking tour of the mountains. At the inn at a hot-spring resort, he has a series of mysterious encounters with Nami, the lovely young daughter of the establishment. Nami, or "beauty", is the center of this elegant novel, the still point around which the artist moves and the enigmatic subject of Soseki's word painting.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Aesthetic, but didn't strike me as overly deep
- By David Lariviere on 09-10-23
By: Natsume Soseki, and others
-
No Longer Human
- Confessions of a Faulty Man
- By: Osamu Dazai
- Narrated by: Simon Jackson
- Length: 3 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 10
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars 9
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 9
No Longer Human was an attack on the traditions of Japan, capturing the postwar crisis of Japanese cultural identity. Framed by an epilogue and prologue, the story is told in the form three notebooks left by ba Yz, whose calm exterior hides his tormented soul.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Not for everyone
- By Anonymous User on 02-22-23
By: Osamu Dazai
-
The Flowers of Buffoonery
- By: Osamu Dazai
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 1 hr and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 4
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 4
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 4
The Flowers of Buffoonery opens in a seaside sanitarium where Yozo Oba—the narrator of No Longer Human at a younger age—is being kept after a failed suicide attempt. While he is convalescing, his friends and family visit him, and other patients and nurses drift in and out of his room. Against this dispiriting backdrop, everyone tries to maintain a lighthearted, even clownish atmosphere: playing cards, smoking cigarettes, vying for attention, cracking jokes, and trying to make each other laugh.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Quick Read
- By ALICE on 06-17-23
By: Osamu Dazai
-
No Longer Human
- By: Osamu Dazai
- Narrated by: David Shih
- Length: 4 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,139
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 956
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 953
Portraying himself as a failure, the protagonist of Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human narrates a seemingly normal life, even while he feels himself incapable of understanding human beings. Oba Yozo's attempts to reconcile himself to the world around him begin in early childhood, continue through high school, where he becomes a "clown" to mask his alienation, and eventually lead to a failed suicide attempt as an adult. Without sentimentality, he records the casual cruelties of life and its fleeting moments of human connection and tenderness.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Reassuring in its bare-boned humanity
- By Michael - Audible Editor on 07-19-17
By: Osamu Dazai
-
Early Light
- Storybook ND Series
- By: Osamu Dazai
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 1 hr and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars 4
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 1
Early Light offers three very different aspects of Osamu Dazai's genius: the title story relates his misadventures as a drinker and a family man in the terrible fire bombings of Tokyo at the end of WWII. Having lost their own home, he and his wife flee with a new baby boy and their little girl to relatives in Kofu, only to be bombed out anew.
By: Osamu Dazai
-
Kokoro
- By: Natsume Soseki
- Narrated by: Matt Shea
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 458
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 401
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 401
The subject of Kokoro, which can be translated as 'the heart of things' or as 'feeling,' is the delicate matter of the contrast between the meanings the various parties of a relationship attach to it. In the course of this exploration, Soseki brilliantly describes different levels of friendship, family relationships, and the devices by which men attempt to escape from their fundamental loneliness. The novel sustains throughout its length something approaching poetry, and it is rich in understanding and insight.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
The Heart Of Things, Relationships & Feelings
- By Sara on 04-27-15
By: Natsume Soseki
-
Kusamakura [Grass Pillow]
- By: Natsume Soseki, Meredith McKinney - translator
- Narrated by: Kotaro Watanabe, Elizabeth Jasicki
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 15
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 12
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 12
Natsume Soseki's Kusamakura - meaning “grass pillow” - follows its nameless young artist-narrator on a meandering walking tour of the mountains. At the inn at a hot-spring resort, he has a series of mysterious encounters with Nami, the lovely young daughter of the establishment. Nami, or "beauty", is the center of this elegant novel, the still point around which the artist moves and the enigmatic subject of Soseki's word painting.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
Aesthetic, but didn't strike me as overly deep
- By David Lariviere on 09-10-23
By: Natsume Soseki, and others
-
No Longer Human
- Confessions of a Faulty Man
- By: Osamu Dazai
- Narrated by: Simon Jackson
- Length: 3 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 10
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars 9
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 9
No Longer Human was an attack on the traditions of Japan, capturing the postwar crisis of Japanese cultural identity. Framed by an epilogue and prologue, the story is told in the form three notebooks left by ba Yz, whose calm exterior hides his tormented soul.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Not for everyone
- By Anonymous User on 02-22-23
By: Osamu Dazai
-
Sanshiro
- Penguin Classics
- By: Natsume Soseki, Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin
- Narrated by: Andrew Koji
- Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 31
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 29
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
One of Soseki's most beloved works of fiction, the novel depicts the 23-year-old Sanshiro leaving the sleepy countryside for the first time in his life to experience the constantly moving 'real world' of Tokyo, its women and university. In the subtle tension between our appreciation of Soseki's lively humour and our awareness of Sanshiro's doomed innocence, the novel comes to life. Sanshiro is also penetrating social and cultural commentary.
-
3 out of 5 stars
-
This story had no point.
- By icelandicponies on 12-30-21
By: Natsume Soseki, and others
![Kokoro [Heart] Audiobook By Natsume Soseki, Meredith McKinney - translator cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41qA5wXdU3L._SL320_FMwebp_.jpg)
-
Kokoro [Heart]
- By: Natsume Soseki, Meredith McKinney - translator
- Narrated by: Kotaro Watanabe, Elizabeth Jasicki
- Length: 9 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 4
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 3
-
Story5 out of 5 stars 3
No collection of Japanese literature is complete without Natsume Soseki's Kokoro, his most famous novel and the last he completed before his death. Published here in the first new translation in more than 50 years, Kokoro - meaning "heart" - is the story of a subtle and poignant friendship between two unnamed characters, a young man and an enigmatic elder whom he calls "Sensei".
By: Natsume Soseki, and others
-
The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea
- By: Yukio Mishima
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 4 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 394
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 342
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 343
A band of savage 13-year-old boys reject the adult world as illusory, hypocritical, and sentimental, and train themselves in a brutal callousness they call 'objectivity'. When the mother of one of them begins an affair with a ship's officer, he and his friends idealise the man at first; but it is not long before they conclude that he is in fact soft and romantic. They regard this disallusionment as an act of betrayal on his part - and the retribution is deliberate and horrifying.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Unsettling writing, flawed reading
- By Erez on 11-22-12
By: Yukio Mishima
-
The Sound of Waves
- By: Yukio Mishima
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 188
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 150
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 151
Set in a remote fishing village in Japan, The Sound of Waves is a timeless story of first love. A young fisherman is entranced at the sight of the beautiful daughter of the wealthiest man in the village. They fall in love, but must then endure the calumny and gossip of the villagers.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Remote Japanese island beautifully depicted
- By Bruce on 09-17-15
By: Yukio Mishima
-
The Temple of the Golden Pavillion
- By: Yukio Mishima
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 230
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 206
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 205
A hopeless stutterer, taunted by his schoolmates, Mizoguchi feels utterly alone until he becomes an acolyte at a famous temple in Kyoto. But he quickly becomes obsessed with the temple's beauty, and cannot live in peace as long as it exists.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
A difficult and disturbing paradox
- By Dan Harlow on 04-18-14
By: Yukio Mishima
-
The Woman in the Dunes
- By: Kobo Abe
- Narrated by: Julian Cihi
- Length: 6 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 297
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 252
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 252
After missing the last bus home following a day trip to the seashore, an amateur entomologist is offered lodging for the night at the bottom of a vast sand pit. But when he attempts to leave the next morning, he quickly discovers the locals have other plans. Held captive with seemingly no chance of escape, he is tasked with shoveling back the ever-advancing sand dunes that threaten to destroy the village. His only companion is an odd young woman. Together, their fates become intertwined as they work side-by-side at this Sisyphean task.
-
4 out of 5 stars
-
Nihilistic horror
- By Mr. Sagan on 07-20-19
By: Kobo Abe
-
The Complete Stories
- By: Clarice Lispector, Katrina Dodson, Benjamin Moser
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 22 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 22
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 22
Here, gathered in one volume, are the stories that made Clarice a Brazilian legend. Originally a cloth edition of 86 stories, now we have 89 in all, covering her whole amazing career, from her teenage years to her deathbed. In these pages, we meet teenagers becoming aware of their sexual and artistic powers, humdrum housewives whose lives are shattered by unexpected epiphanies, old people who don't know what to do with themselves - and in their stories, Clarice takes us through their lives - and hers - and ours.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
Wonderful Collection
- By XX on 04-25-20
By: Clarice Lispector, and others
-
Spring Snow
- By: Yukio Mishima
- Narrated by: Brian Nishii
- Length: 14 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 260
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 226
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 228
Spring Snow is set in Tokyo in 1912, when the hermetic world of the ancient aristocracy is being breached for the first time by outsiders -- rich provincial families unburdened by tradition, whose money and vitality make them formidable contenders for social and political power. Among this rising new elite are the ambitious Matsugae, whose son has been raised in a family of the waning aristocracy, the elegant and attenuated Ayakura.
-
5 out of 5 stars
-
An extraordinary work.......
- By Raj Saberwal on 05-29-14
By: Yukio Mishima
-
The Gate
- By: Natsume Soseki, Pico Iyer - introduction, William F. Sibley - translator
- Narrated by: Cindy Kay
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged