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Battle Royale: Volume
1
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Synopsis
In a country ruled by a ruthless totalitarian government, a group of ninth-grade students are confined to a small isolated island, armed only with a map, some food, and various weapons, where they are forced wear special exploding collars and must fight each other for three days until only one survi
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Those who have seen the movie, "Battle Royale," will be familiar with the story - 42 high school students, sent to a deserted island, must fight to the death until only one survivor remains. Being a huge fan of the film, I was eager to get my hands on the Koushun Takami novel, on which the movie was based. Never before have i read 600 pages in two days. I found the book extremely hard to put down and despite parallels with the film, it features enough differences to keep fans of the movie interested. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the novel is its portrayal of the thoughts of each student. This allows every single charater to be given a personality, making their inevitable deaths that much more horrifying. Learning more about the character backgrounds allows for greater knowledge that i feel makes the film more enjoyable too. While i have nothing but praise for the story, the translation is not always spot on and is, at times, a little confusing. Fortunately for those who have seen the film, each character (wth the exception of sakamochi, or kitano) has the same name in the book as the movie. Being able to put a face to the name aids greatly in understanding the book, despite taking something away from the imagination. I really enjoyed the book, but if i did not have some knowledge of the characters already, then remembering and identifying the 42 different players may have been difficult. The translation may let it down at parts, but overall this is a very touching and moving tale about love, friendship and loyalty. If you havnt seen the movie, i would recommend you read this. If you have seen the movie, then i insist you read this.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Imagine this: Japan is run by a totalitarian government, which occasionally selects groups of ninth graders to methodically destroy each other. On TV.
There now, isn't that chilling? It's the creepy, all-too-real premise of Koushun Takami's "Battle Royale," an intricate novel about a parallel universe, where Japan is part of a brutal, coldhearted empire. Takami's writing style is a bit too spare at times, but he's still able to inspire a sense of haunting terror in his readers.
A group of third-year high-schoolers are being transported on a bus, when they are gassed to unconsciousness, and taken to a distant island. When they awake, they have silver collars around their necks, and a man explains that they have been chosen for the Program: a military training exercise where you must kill or be killed. If you don't play, or stay in one place too long, the collars explode.
The teenagers slowly weed one another out, armed with weapons and random household tools, and monitored by the authorities to make sure they don't plot. Finally the entire class is weeded down to three young adults, including Shuya Nanahara and his girlfriend Noriko. But if they refuse to kill, then they must escape the fascist nightmare... which no one has done before.
"Battle Royale" was condemned in Japan for being so violent, and having a bunch of normal high schoolers killing each other off. So of course, it became a massive bestseller. But "Battle Royale" would have been striking even if it hadn't been publicized like that -- not only is it well-written, but it asks the question straight-out: how much will people do to survive?
Maybe it's also a parable about high-school life, and the struggle to succeed at all costs in Japan. However, Koushun Takami avoids any outright preaching or pondering. Instead he uncoils the tense plot, all about the kids fighting (they're told to "show no mercy") as they try to find a way out of their dilemma alive. Will any of them make it? There's a little glimmer of hope, since Shuya is trying to think his way out.
The pacing is pretty slow and intricate -- considering the large cast, it's not surprising. But the careful plot is punctuated with bursts of nasty action. And Takami writes in a spare, taut style, full of little details to add atmosphere and keep it from being TOO stark ("Under the moonlight, the bluish-white concrete pier gleamed like bone").
Shuya and Noriko are the main characters, and most of the novel's action is through their eyes. These are nice, normal, everyday kids like the ones who live down the street, but suddenly they're faced with their friends and classmates... wanting to kill them. Takami does a great job exploring their emotions as they struggle to keep their sanity and lives.
Violent, creepy and wonderfully atmospheric, "Battle Royale" is a brilliant cult novel that takes an exaggerated look at what it takes to stay ahead. Excellent piece of work.
There now, isn't that chilling? It's the creepy, all-too-real premise of Koushun Takami's "Battle Royale," an intricate novel about a parallel universe, where Japan is part of a brutal, coldhearted empire. Takami's writing style is a bit too spare at times, but he's still able to inspire a sense of haunting terror in his readers.
A group of third-year high-schoolers are being transported on a bus, when they are gassed to unconsciousness, and taken to a distant island. When they awake, they have silver collars around their necks, and a man explains that they have been chosen for the Program: a military training exercise where you must kill or be killed. If you don't play, or stay in one place too long, the collars explode.
The teenagers slowly weed one another out, armed with weapons and random household tools, and monitored by the authorities to make sure they don't plot. Finally the entire class is weeded down to three young adults, including Shuya Nanahara and his girlfriend Noriko. But if they refuse to kill, then they must escape the fascist nightmare... which no one has done before.
"Battle Royale" was condemned in Japan for being so violent, and having a bunch of normal high schoolers killing each other off. So of course, it became a massive bestseller. But "Battle Royale" would have been striking even if it hadn't been publicized like that -- not only is it well-written, but it asks the question straight-out: how much will people do to survive?
Maybe it's also a parable about high-school life, and the struggle to succeed at all costs in Japan. However, Koushun Takami avoids any outright preaching or pondering. Instead he uncoils the tense plot, all about the kids fighting (they're told to "show no mercy") as they try to find a way out of their dilemma alive. Will any of them make it? There's a little glimmer of hope, since Shuya is trying to think his way out.
The pacing is pretty slow and intricate -- considering the large cast, it's not surprising. But the careful plot is punctuated with bursts of nasty action. And Takami writes in a spare, taut style, full of little details to add atmosphere and keep it from being TOO stark ("Under the moonlight, the bluish-white concrete pier gleamed like bone").
Shuya and Noriko are the main characters, and most of the novel's action is through their eyes. These are nice, normal, everyday kids like the ones who live down the street, but suddenly they're faced with their friends and classmates... wanting to kill them. Takami does a great job exploring their emotions as they struggle to keep their sanity and lives.
Violent, creepy and wonderfully atmospheric, "Battle Royale" is a brilliant cult novel that takes an exaggerated look at what it takes to stay ahead. Excellent piece of work.
12 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I liked this as a film, but the overall idea of designing a program to get classmate to kill each other off one by one kinda didn't make sense to me. So i read the book. I love this book, it's still as gory as the film (but not unreadably gory) but fleshes out the character and the plot lines which makes everything make alot more sense :) well it did to me :) The translation also is good and the writing is addictive. Took alot of effort to put this book down once i started and that was with me knowing the story! It's a good book not a classic but a good and interresting read :)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Weird Mixture of Brilliance and Banallity
In many ways Battle Royale is a desperately difficult novel to review. Partly this is because it is, as my title implies, an uneven book, whose best sequences are gripping and... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Jon Rosenberg
Royale Battle to read
I was extreamly excited to get this in the mail however the translation of this is terrible. There are sentances where words are in the wrong places and its simply to hard to get... Read more
Published 20 months ago by honestjohn
film vs book, suffers by comparison
first off, i saw the film before i read the book and it's probably my fave film of all time - have reviewed it here too. so of course i was looking forward to the book. Read more
Published on 5 Mar 2006 by radio atlantis
Just Very Very Poor...
If you are a twelve year old boy who is keen on guns, bombs and war, you might enjoy this book. Otherwise don't bother. Read more
Published on 8 Feb 2006 by A. P. Hayes
Battle Royale; a very good read indeed.
This is the novel - not the graphic novel - manga.
The translation was fine for me.
Battle Royale focuses on a class of teenagers who have been taken on a study trip that... Read more
The translation was fine for me.
Battle Royale focuses on a class of teenagers who have been taken on a study trip that... Read more
Published on 18 Dec 2005 by Ms. E. Robinson
Intense, visceral genius
Could you kill your best friend? the tagline of the film summarises this perfectly. Set in a Japan run by an authoritarian dictator, every year thousands of teens are killed. Read more
Published on 13 Dec 2005
Prattle Royale
A book littered with transparent, two dimensional characters is a receipe for disaster and Battle Royale could be used in a Creative Writing course as an example on how to avoid... Read more
Published on 20 Oct 2005
Excellent read!!
Battle Royale is a government run programme (iniated for security reasons) that sees a third year junior high school class selected at random each year to fight to the death until... Read more
Published on 29 Aug 2005 by H. J. Wafi
Today's lesson...
You kill each other off, till there's only one left!
The movie of Battle Royale is fantastic but the book still undoubtedly surpasses it in quality. Read more
The movie of Battle Royale is fantastic but the book still undoubtedly surpasses it in quality. Read more
Published on 11 Aug 2005 by Ni
THE BEST BOOK YOU WILL EVER READ
battle royale is the best book you will ever read, as stated above, its fantastic its like the movie but better, buy it wether you've seen the movie or not buy it buy it!
Published on 28 April 2005 by "clarke70"
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