Book Review: Battle Royale by Koushun Takami, translated by Yuji Oniki

Title: Battle Royale
Author: Koushun Takami
Translator: Yuji Oniki
Published: San Franciso: VIZ Media, 2006 (1999)
Rating: 4 of 5
Page Count: 616
Total Page Count: 85,550
Text Number: 245
Read Because: personal enjoyment, purchased used at a local bookstore
Short Review: Every year, one class of junior high students is selected to participate in a game: isolated on a deserted island, provided with weapons, they must kill each other until just one student survives. When Shuya's class is picked, he must discover who to trust, how to fight, and if it is possible to survive—and perhaps even fight back against the system. A tense and grotesquely violent book, Battle Royale is addictive and boldly confrontational. Some characterization and psychological insight give depth to the violence, making it more than a cheap thrill. Despite a sometimes-awkward writing style, this is an engrossing read and which packs a wallop. Moderately recommended.

( Long review. )

Review posted here on Amazon.com.

On jury summons and agoraphobia, or: I'm scared.

I got a jury summons the other day. Now I know that there's probably no one out there that wants one, but I am dreading the whole thing.

I responded to the summons online because that's an opinion now, thank goodness. But the next day I got an email telling me that, as per my request, I had been excused from duty. This would be welcome news, but I didn't request as such—and I don't want to defer and then be at the top of the next list and otherwise postpone the inevitable, that I may have it hanging over my head for months and months. But can this be resolved online, as the summons response was? Oh no. I had to call in to the court house and let the nice lady on the other end of the phone know that something had gone wrong, as I just did.

It took about five minutes but it was all alone more social contact that I can do, today.

I am scared of phones. I'm scared of other people. But really what terrifies me is the idea that I may have to come into court daily to be surrounded by strangers, to sit in a little room in them for hours, and to not be allowed to leave. I think agoraphobia is a bit out of fashion these days as a diagnosis—it certainly took me years to get mine—but for those that suffer from it, there is nothing truer than figuring out that that is what it is. It's not social anxiety, it's not anxiety NOS—it's the crippling fear of inescapable social situations. It doesn't matter if it's one person or a group, in a room or in the open: the anxiety roots in the fact, and is worsened by the fact, that you can't get out of it. There will be people there, people to see you and watch you and judge you, people who would be frightened by a public outburst or a nervous breakdown, people to remember your face, and you are not able to, not allowed to, leave them.

Sitting in horrible chairs without being able to stand every half hour would do a number to my back, too, in the worst possible way. But I can cope with pain. I can't cope with being scared shitless.

So I've been fretting about it, been and am and it is unpleasant. You can be excused for mental or physical health reasons with a doctor's note, but I haven't seen a doctor since I was in Portland—for years, now. I stopped going because there's nothing either a doctor or physical therapy or a psychiatrist can do to help me, really, and because—here's another surprise!—getting out into public to see someone is stressful for me, too. So no note, here.

I know this seems petty—a very elaborate "dun wanna." And even if I were normal, average, or otherwise well-adjusted I doubt I'd be clamoring for my chance to sit through a boring local trial. But I'm losing sleep over it already, and I don't go in for the first "let us pick from among you" until the 22nd. This is more than a lack of desire. This is fear.