‘Filled with light, satirical touches.’ — Donald Keene
Reckless but unfailingly honest, Botchan is the youngest son in a middle-class Tokyo family. Following his graduation from college, he takes a job as a math teacher on the island of Shikoku, far from the city. Thrust into this alien small-town environment, Botchan encounters nothing but trouble from his students and fellow teachers. Among his tormentors are the pompous, two-faced vice-principal; his fawning sidekick—the art teacher; the spineless principal; and a pack of brawny, prankster students — all of whom seem out to get him. Mayhem ensues, but in the end Botchan prevails through honesty and dogged determination.
A modern classic,
Botchan rivals Soseki’s famous
I Am a Cat in popularity in Japan. This is the funniest of Soseki’s novels, a penetrating portrait of a young man’s quest to survive the suffocating hypocrisy of everyone around him while remaining true to his beliefs.
Recommended for readers ages 14 and up due to explicit language