start date: 15/12/2021 | end date: 04/01/2022

summary: a class of junior high school students is taken to a deserted island where, as a part of a ruthless authoritarian progream, they are privided arms and fprced to kill one another until only one survivor is left standing

memorable moments: (spoilers ahead)

• killing kiriyama --> kawada turning on them --> turns oiur he DIDN'T --> shuya, noriko and kawada makinig it out alive
• shuya reuniting with kawada and noriko
• the lovers dying together
• takako killing that one guy and then reuniting with hiroki
• the lighthouse scene
• looking at the sunset and then having ~kawawda say that this is the last sunset that they will ever see~

quotes:

• 'then will not their flesh and blood live on for eternity, becoming one with this land of beauty passed down to us by our gods?'
• 'the newscase displayed the apparent "winner", a young girl in a tattered sailor-suit uniform, flanked by two soldiers, her face was twitching as she looked into the camera. at the edge of her long, dishebeled hair, her right temple was smeared dark red. but something preculiar about this image would remain fresh in shuya's memory: the corners of the girl's mouth working in contorted flashes that looked like a smile. shuya recognised now tha this wast the first time he had witnessed theface of insanity. but at the time, he hadn't distinguished it as such: he simplyu felt afraid, as if he were looking at a monster.'
• 'you're in this battle alone, just as in life.'
• 'the bonds of love preserved.'
• 'light spillling from the school's entrance revealed the large. uniformed figure kneeled over on the ground'
• "i didn't realise until now, but i don't really know anything about them, or what kind of people they are, really. you can't see inside a person's heart."
• noriko's poem: be it only a lie, be it only a dream, please turn back and look at me / not a lie, not a dream, your smile that day / but maybe my lie, but maybe my dream, that it was sent my way / it wont be a lie, it won't be a dream, only on the day you call my name / never a lie, never a dream, that.
• 'he had never seem kazuo kiriyama smile'.
• 'kazuhiko wished he weren't so young and iinarticulate, so that he could explain how he felt: the effect that she had on him, her expressions, her words, her movements, so tender, her soul, beautiful and perfectly pure; how important her very existence was to him. but he felt unable to express it. he was only a ninth grader and, worse yet, one with low marks in japanese.'
• 'she was gone before she could place any meaning to the blade beside her throat.'
• 'for the first time, shuya realised how fragile and malleable the human body was.'
• "it was just them, their jewelry, and a boy's corpse with crushed eyeballs. how lovely."
• kawada quotes:
  • hey, don't ask me too many questions at once. i'm not smart enough to handle one questiokn at a time.
  • easy with the fancy words there. i can't help if i don't look friendly i was born wirh these looks man.
  • kawada shook his head and grinned. "at the very least, i'm no good at lying to girls."
  • don't stare those pretty round eyes at me. i'm likely to get shy
  • i'm going to tear down this fucked up country-this country that dropped us into this fucked up game
  • "So what's the problem then?" kawadad contniued to look out the window as he smoked. "it's not too bad to be loved."
  • "don't make thatface at me," kawada said. "it hurts having a girl look at me like that."

thoughts:

• i can't believe they have to go thorugh this entire ordeal only for the prize to be a pension and a forbidden photo card
• why the fuck did it take so long for kiriyama to die ? like i know it was because he had the bulletproof vest on, but still !!
• kiriyama is highkey kazami corpse party core
• i wiosh shinji made it out alive / at least got to meet with shuya. he died pretty early on, but he had the biggest brain aside from kawada
• i am STILL mad that yoshitoki died RIIIGHT at the beginning
• i really hope noriko oand shuya live (since the book ended on a cliff hanger/open ending
• the imagery was really vivid, especially in people's deaths
• kawada was straight up my favourite character in the book. i think that his characterisation was nicely done. the fact that he had participated in the games before took me by surprise (nice plot twist)-- but i loved how witty he was, too. also the end where he like fake betrays them really threw me i was so upset i had to call sharmin on the train to rant about it. ANYWAY, ITS KIND OF FUCKED THAT HE DIED. LIKE? AFTER ALL THAT????

other notes:

• the way i am about to make this whole book my entire personality. its been a while since i've finished the book but i cannot stop thinking about it
• i watched the movie shortly after finishing the book, and unsurprisngly -- the movie was not as good as the book. i don't think that any of the characters, especially kawada, was fleshed out enough or given justice. and so many details were missed etc etc, but what are you really expecting when comparing a 700 page book to an hour long movie???
• far superior than the hunger games on GOD
• i would love to get my hands on the sequel, but idk where to find it :-(

would i reread this?: ABSOLUTELY!!

would i recommend this book?: OF COURSE. from the people on here, i think laura would enojoy this quite a bit