Battle Royale | 
| Author: Koushun Takami
Publisher: VIZ Media LLC
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy Used: $6.35
You Save: $9.60 (60%)
New (33) Used (28) Collectible (1) from $6.35
Rating:  145 reviews
Sales Rank: 11642
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 624
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 4.9 x 1.3
ISBN: 156931778X
Dewey Decimal Number: 895.635
UPC: 782009113331
EAN: 9781569317785
ASIN: 156931778X
Publication Date: February 26, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: Cover has corner wear and light stain mark on bottom outside pages. Free USPS confirmation. Will mail Standard shipping in padded envelope. Will mail Expedited shipping in Priority flat rate envelope.(3096)
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Battle Royale, a high-octane thriller about senseless youth violence in a dystopian world, it is one of Japan's best-selling - and most controversial - novels. As part of a ruthless program by the totalitarian government, ninth-grade students are taken to a small isolated island with a map, food, and various weapons. Forced to wear special collars that explode when they break a rule, they must fight each other for three days until only one "winner" remains. The elimination contest becomes the ultimate in must-see reality television. A Japanese pulp classic available in English for the first time, Battle Royale is a potent allegory of what it means to be young and survive in today's dog-eat-dog world. The first novel by small-town journalist Koushun Takami, it went on to become an even more notorious film by 70-year-old director Kinji Fukusaku.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 140 more reviews...
 Multi-leveled socio-political powerhouse December 20, 2003
Zack Davisson (Seattle, WA, USA)
33 out of 40 found this review helpful
"Battle Royale" is a gripping, intense socio-political novel in the tradition of "Brave New World" and "1984." When first hearing the subject matter, a government-sponsored game where a Jr. High School class must kill each other until only one remains, it seems sensationalistic and more action-thriller than thought-provoker. However, there is far more hear than ultra-violence and simplistic teenage slaughter.First, the writing is brilliant, combing the subtlety of classical Japanese literature with the aggression and confrontation of European/American political literature. Each of the 40 students are individuals, with unique motivations and personalities. There are no throw-away scenes or off-screen deaths, and each student's demise is made to feel intimate and important. Each life matters. Second, the issues dealt with are legion, from the conformity of Japanese schools to the insane bureaucracy and immobility of the Japanese political system. Along with this are more personal issues of loyalty, pain and loss. "Battle Royale" is a thick book, with a lot packed inside. I would imagine that those more fluent in modern Japanese politics and social issues would grasp some of the subtler messages, but there is still something here for everyone.
A minor complaint is that the students act nothing like Jr. High School students, especially not Japanese ones. Maybe this is how they would like to be, but there are a few too many "super-heroes" amongst them, a a few too few crybabies. However, as this is an alternate-reality setting, perhaps in the "Battle Royale" world kids grow up a little faster.
"...And we wont stop till we win." April 3, 2004
Bruce A. Gardner (Delaware, OH United States)
19 out of 21 found this review helpful
This book is awsome. I will not bother with a summary, there are plenty on this page, however this book blew my mind.I picked up this book in the back of a Borders book store and read the cover which said that Battle Royal was a "Lord of the Flies for the 21 century". Having just completed Lord of the flies for the 4th time ... this time for my tenth grade humanities class ... I decided to buy it. I have heard from a lot of people, including my teacher, that Lord of the Flies was a chilling psychological tale, yet I felt that even though it was a great allusion to the world situation at the time, the Lord of the Flies did little in the respects of exploring the individual psyche.... Battle Royal does just that. One of the reasons for the book being so long (616 pages) is that it splits itself into many different perspectives and what is going through their heads during the "game", the most prominant beng that of the antagonist, Shuya Nanahara. Battle Royal brilliantly sums up the basic human steriotypes and their perspectives on life. Even though some situations may be a little unbelievable (like how Kazuo ends up the way he is) Battle Royal is a great concept and presented (even through it was translated) beautifly. One of the best things about this book is the way nothing is held back, nothing is censored. Battle Royal is not for the faint of heart, or the altruistic, because if you have that attitude twords life you woudn't last an hour on that island in "The Program" and would also find it hard to believe some of the choices made in the novel. If you can stand a little discriptive gore and know that the real world isn't all fun and fair, then this is a must read. Being a 16 year old myself, i can say that nothing in Battle Royal is beyond each and every one of us.
|
|
|
