No Longer Human

I came across one of Buddha's core teachings when I was younger, “Desire is the cause of all sorrow” and while, at the time, i remember it making a lot of sense, this book really makes me question it.

Our narrator Yozo here, is completely devoid of desire. In fact he is devoid of any feelings at all. 

There are many disturbing things about this book, one being this is apparently the second most bestselling book of Japan of all time (??), two, the absolutely horrific way women are treated here, three, how relevant the ideas in this book are even though it was published in the 1930s, and four the fact that the author committed suicide a few months after the release of the book and there are many striking parellels between his and Yozo's life that has people questioning if this is his long and winded suicide note. 

DO NOT read this book if you are mentally ill or suicidal. 

Yeah, the more I think about this book the more I realise maybe that the desire to live, the desire to be happy is what keeps us all going, and desire is the all encompassing reason why we're all alive.