First published in 1939, Schoolgirl is a short novella by Japanese author Osamu Dazai. The story follows an unnamed teenage girl over the course of an ordinary day, from the moment she wakes until she goes to sleep. Rather than relying on a traditional plot, Dazai draws the reader into her shifting thoughts about family, grief, identity, society and the expectations placed on young women.
Recommended for: Readers who enjoy introspective, psychological and deeply personal writing.
Schoolgirl feels more like thoughts written out loud. The book follows the inner voice of a young girl as she moves through her day, but what makes it powerful is how honest and raw her thoughts are. She questions everything—herself, her emotions and the people around her—and nothing feels stable or certain.
Dazai captures the feeling of being young and lost, of overthinking every small detail and trying to understand who you really are. Her thoughts shift quickly between confidence and insecurity, love and irritation, clarity and confusion. I feel that many people can relate to this book because it reflects how quickly the mind can change, even during the most ordinary moments.
One of the passages that stayed with me was:
“We have a vague notion of the best place we should go, or the beautiful places we should like to see, or the kinds of places that would make us grow as a person. We yearn for a good life. We have real hopes and ambitions. We feel impatient for an unshakable faith that we can rely on. But it would require considerable effort to express such things in our typical life as a girl.”
Reading this reminded me of how people who live in the wrong environments—especially girls—are always expected to meet society’s standards. When it comes to freedom, sometimes all they really want is to be seen in the same way as boys: without judgment and without having their strength taken away from them.
The novella is deeply personal because it does not try to give the narrator simple answers. Her emotions remain uncertain, contradictory and constantly changing, which makes her feel real. By the end, the reader is left questioning whether emotions reflect reality or whether the mind creates its own version of what is happening.
Perhaps the most important question the book leaves you with is:
How much of what you feel is real, and how much is just your mind?
