Probably many more Americans have seen the movie than read the book, but Battle Royale is a hell of a book. Be warned that this is not your typical American YA novel. I don't think such a distinction was/is made in Japan, or that the author wrote with a YA audience in mind, but when published in the U.S., it seems to be considered YA, content notwithstanding. (Google images suggests that the manga seems to be about hyper-endowed porn stars killing each other between sex scenes.) Second thing to point out is that I am not sure whether Battle Royale would be classified as "Young Adult" or not. A manga was made based on the novel, but I haven't read it. Criticized as violent exploitation when first published in Japan-where it became a runaway best seller- Battle Royale is a Lord of the Flies for the 21st century, a potent allegory of what it means to be young and (barely) alive in a dog-eat-dog world.įirst thing to point out is that this is a review of the original novel (and the movie, below), not the manga. Koushun Takami's notorious high-octane thriller envisions a nightmare scenario: a class of junior high school students is taken to a deserted island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are provided arms and forced to kill until only one survivor is left standing. Gollancz, 2003, 624 pages (English translation) Ohta Publishing, 1999, 616 pages (Japanese)
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