Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids

'The War sent its mass insanity flooding into the convolutions of people's feelings, into every last recess of their bodies', 7 Mar. 2013
By
sally tarbox

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This review is from: Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids (Hardcover)
A harsh yet utterly compelling read, narrated by a boy from a reformatory, evacuated with his mates into a village while World War 2 rages elsewhere. And while the war itself doesn't touch the characters, it infects the adult villagers around them, who treat the youths brutally:
' "Anyone caught stealing, starting fires or making a row will be beaten to death by the villagers. Even so we'll shelter and feed you. Always remember that in this village you're only useless vermin." '
Amid freezing show more conditions and with bad food, the kids are soon called up to bury a heap of decaying livestock, in a grisly scene. But it soon appears that the animals are dead from plague, and for five days the adults flee the village, leaving the youths to fend for themselves. Yet they are not alone: there's a young girl, a Korean, a friendly dog and a runaway army cadet...

Often horrifying, yet with moments of great beauty and innocence...as they wash to keep free of plague, they find a crab; the narrator has a close relationship with his kid brother, lending him his camel tin-opener and watching him play with his dog; and the kids make a skating rink when it snows. But such moments just emphasize the brutality that forms the major part of the work all the more. A memorable work. show less

A very powerful book, misery and dread seem to permeate throughout every word of every page. Not the easiest read given the subject matter, but well worth it for the sharpness of vision and brutal strength of its story.

Though on the surface it could be easy to write Oe's book off as a variation on Golding's Lord of the Flies, I think one would be completely dismissing this books historical and social context in doing so. For Golding, the adults of the world simply weren't present. As for Oe, the adults were there, detached and apart at first, but there, and eventually (spoiler) returning with a bloody and almost righteously unjustified anger and malice towards the reformatory boys.

Again, not the easiest read, and it certainly won't show more leave you with a smile or any sort of life affirmation. But this book should be read as both a statement on both the (at times) miserable potential of humanity and the incredible survival instinct that can in certain moments be all that keeps a person going. show less

Very poignant. Very raw. A booked that rocked Japan when published just 13 years after the Japanese surrender in 1945.

This is Japan’s Lord of the Flies with important exceptions: adults are always on the periphery and the children work together for survival.

During WW2, a group of boys is left to fend for themselves in a village deserted due to a viral outbreak. Despite most surviving against the odds, when the adults return, they force them into secrecy about how they have been treated. Only the narrator escapes to an unknown fate – clearly a metaphor for the author.

The storytelling is vivid and heartbreaking. Their plight is visceral and easy to get drawn into. Their betrayal and treatment at the hands of the adult villagers is show more harsh. The metaphors abound.

Oe was 23 when he wrote this. It’s a youth’s response to the intertia of mass denial as his nation lay crushed by the unbearable weight of the shame of surrender. This is captured well by John Dower in his excellent Embracing Defeat.

In a few hundred pages, Oe wrested his nation’s conscience into consciousness. He forced them to face questions about what being Japanese was all about. Had he been Russian, he would have faced the Gulag.

A powerful and important book in the literature of Japan, it needs to be understood in its context. With the passing of time and the necessary cultural chasm between English and Japanese, this is becoming harder and harder to do. My advice would be to read it as soon as possible. show less

A beautifully written book about a horrible situation. A group of young male delinquents are relocated into he interior of Japan during WWII. The village to which they are sent has a plague scare and the boys are abandoned by the villagers, barricaded in to suffer whatever fate has in store for them. As their isolation lasts only a short time & the assumption is that the villagers will return, the boys in this novel do not attempt to create a functioning society or suffer its eventual breakdown as depicted in Lord of the Flies; these boys endure. They redefine their role, considering themselves as occupiers of the deserted village rather than accept the role of abandoned, unwanted vermin. Instead of demonstrating the inhumanity of and show more between individuals, the book demonstrates how the society fails the boys. show less

Esta novela ha sido mi introducción a la obra de Kenzaburo Oé.
Quince niños que, en período de guerra, deben abandonar el reformatorio al que habían sido confinados. Son trasladados al que será su nuevo "hogar": una aldea minúscula en medio de la montaña. Doblemente parias, deben luchar contra el rechazo absoluto del resto de la población.
Distópica hasta el cringe, uno se debate entre sumirse en una desesperanza infinita, y alegrarse de que nuestra infancia NO haya sido como la del narrador. O la de cualquiera de sus compañeros. Es muy cruda, aunque la penmanship es de otro mundo; haciendo imposible dejar el libro. O tal vez es cierto sentimiento de empatía que nos genera el desafortunado grupo, que nos obliga a velar por show more él y a aguardar por la luz al final del túnel. Una suerte de [b:El señor de las moscas|8665110|El señor de las moscas|William Golding|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1280257076s/8665110.jpg|2766512] pero en el que la mayor parte de la crueldad la proporcionan los adultos. show less

This incredibly harsh novel about hate, violence and pestilence is definitely an emotional investment. The reader is torn with sympathy for these children desperate for guidance and love and with horror at their violence and wildness. Oe, with few words, is able to portray a world of betrayal, fear, anger and love. While I had tossed all eventuality of hope, the masterful ending actually leaves room for redemption. A tremendous book which will not leave the reader indifferent.

This is one of those must read classics, especially since the author was awarded the Nobel for Literature. While never naming the place or time, or most of the characters, it centers on a group of reform school boys marched into the mountains around the time of World War II. Classism and racism feature prominently. The narrator's struggle to survive starvation and hatred long enough to escape, even though escape doesn't offer salvation, builds a hopelessness that is difficult to read. Many focus on the near apocalyptic setting and the spare details to push the book into an almost magical realism category, especially as examined against the author's other work, but it is squarely a flat realist narrative. On balance, it's not the show more difficult substance of the book, but the lack of much else but increasing violence that foils the book. It's one thing to describe hopelessness, and an altogether different thing to withhold hope. Also, an odd side note - there's a fair amount of homosexuality in the text that reads like it was meant to shock rather than as a true part of a character's life. Oe dropped it in at odd times, in odd ways, always trying to express vulgarity, which is an odd note to strike with the topic. The true success of the book for me was the author's deft hand with the natural world around his characters - the descriptions of the forest evidenced a poet's mind. That alone brought the rating of the book up for me.

3 bones!!! show less