As per usual I’m often confused by the direction the characters are taking, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Love the parts near the end of the book

(Klasik cinsiyetçi kısımları görmezden geliyorum) yaşadığı ikilem, büyüme korkusu ve kaybolmuşluk hissini okurken kendi günlüğümü okuyor gibi hissettim

Tomorrow will probably be another day like today. Happiness will never come my way. I know that. But it's probably best to go to sleep believing that it will surely come, tomorrow it will come.

What a short, sweet and moving read.

This novella, despite being so compact, does an excellent job at portraying the kinds of struggles and thoughts that follow that awkward stage between being a child and a grown-up. Some of the parts seem like things I'd have said, verbatim, when I was twelve or so. So much heart, so many different feelings and internal struggles are successfully conveyed with very few words and the simplest of premises, and I admire that very much. I can easily see myself rereading it at least a couple more times.

The style of this story is so distinct, yet so easily digestible. It really did feel like I was reading the stream of consciousness of a young, angsty and confused girl. However, in some parts, I could feel the translation struggling to convey the true tone of the original text. I don't mean to criticize the people who worked on it, though - some things are just nearly impossible to translate across different languages. Of all the translated books I've read, this may be the one that I want to read the original version of the most. Maybe someday I will.

The one minor gripe I have about Schoolgirl is confined to a single page, a single paragraph, even - the main character's monologue about women was wholly unnecessary, or could have, at the very least, been worded much differently. I can't exactly argue that some young women don't have very complicated relationships with their own femininity, but it could have definitely been explored in a less hateful way, and the author being a man calls into question whether it needed to be explored to begin with.

Despite my previous point, I still think Schoolgirl is a wholly worthwhile read, and one that is so quick that it can be finished in under an hour. Many of the things said in the novella resonate with universal struggles and burdens, feelings most people are familiar with. Love and hate for yourself, the people around you, the world at large. The relationship between parent and child. Familial loss. The trials and tribulations that come with maturing... So even if you aren't a Japanese schoolgirl from 1939, chances are, you will still find something that speaks to you in this short yet masterful work.

9/10

This was a freaking amazing read. I vividly remember dozing off(not due to the boring nature of the book mind you, I was just exhausted) in the middle of the book, and the act of reading even filled my dreams. There is something immersive in Dazai's books which makes me wanna read more and more of him, I might read another novella for three in a row!!

It's actually quite a simple yet engaging novella encompassing a day in the life of a 'schoolgirl'. This slightly queer schoolgirl is a perfect balance between what you might expect of a normal schoolgirl, and a character written by Dazai. I have also come to realise that books with more thoughts than actions are way more engaging than the vice versa version. It perfectly captures the essence of being an adolescent, and the questions everyone has in those times, which are ignored by some, and embraced by the others. I don't have much to say ngl, coz all the stuff to be extracted from the book is right in it.

Ahh I guess I really am going to read that novella of Dazai(forgot the name :-/), let's dive into his writing and forget everything else!!