Nip the Buds Shoot the Kids
by Paul John Mackintosh; Maki Sugiyama; Kenzaburo Oe
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Editions of Nip the Buds Shoot the Kids
 |
ISBN |
Binding/Format Paperback |
Publisher Grove Pr |
Date 1996 |
Price $2.00 |
 Good |
Publisher Notes
Oe's dark musings on moral failure have come to symbolize an alienated generation in postwar Japan. This novel recounts the exploits of 15 teenage reformatory boys evacuated to a remote mountain village in wartime. When plague breaks out, the villagers flee, leaving the boys blockaded inside the empty village. The boys' brief, doomed attempt to build autonomous lives of self-respect, love, and tribal valor fails in the face of death and the adult nightmare of war.
Media Reviews
"This angry, engrossing novel was first published in 1958, when Kenzaburo Oe...was 23. It is an extraordinary first novel, an amazing achivement for a writer of any age....Mr. Oe has deliberately pared down the particularities of his setting. Apart from a handful of details, the events described could be taking place in any country, at any time, and this translation, though decidely British, skillfully perserves that effect. His uncompromising honesty is what gives the story its universality and what makes its grim ending such a persuasive warning."
First Line
Two of our boys had escaped during the night, so at dawn we still hadn't left."
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