Alice’s Reviews > Marshland > Status Update

So far Atsuo reminds me a lot of Jean Valjean from Les Mis (ex-convict who feels that he can never really re-integrate with society meaningfully, living an orderly life without acknowledgement of his past), and the book itself is quite similar in some respects (student barricade), but the elements of Japanese military history much more visceral and disturbing than in Hugo's work, which almost glorifies war/soldiers.