I stumbled upon 『終わった人』 (Owatta Hito) by Uchidate Makiko (内館 牧子) when browsing Amazon reviews and was immediately intrigued by the huge amount of positive reviews. Seeing that it was a relatively recent book (published in 2018) and, even better, was free for Kindle Unlimited members, I decided to give it a shot.

As is my custom, I read the free sample first to see if the style would catch my attention. What initially hooked me was the premise: it was something I hadn’t really read before.

The Setup: Finishing a Career, Not a Life

We encounter the main character as he is being sent off at his farewell party after reaching mandatory retirement age. I haven't read many books focused on characters who have already passed this stage, so that alone made it interesting.

We quickly discover that the main character is incredibly sour about the whole event. He views being reluctantly shown off by his now-former coworkers as a farcical disgrace, maintaining a kind of wry resentment about the entire spectacle. We quickly discover that he is not looking forward to retirement life at all, and that he feels like he is now an owatta hito—a finished person—which is, of course, where we get the title of the book.

The quality and pace of the writing were exceptionally good, along with the promise of some kind of drama that was surely going to unfold. If the story is starting with the guy’s career ending and not looking forward to retirement, I felt like there was some kind of mystery coming. With all this setup in the first chapter, clearly something interesting, unexpected, maybe even a mystery (?!) had to be coming later in the book. So I read on with high hopes about finding out what would happen next.

The Flaw: So Much Whining, So Little Warmth

Unfortunately, without giving away any major spoilers, not much happens. Or, to be fairer, a lot does happen, but it never amounts to much.

Despite the high quality of the writing, after a while the reading experience started to feel somewhat laughable. We are essentially following a somewhat self-aware grumpy old man (some, including the character himself, would argue he’s not that old) complain about absolutely everything with a hugely negative attitude the majority of the time. Like, people are paying to spend 300 pages (okay, it was free with Kindle Unlimited, but still) reading about some dude constantly whine and self-pity? That’s kind of funny in a sad way.

The problem isn't just the main character’s negativity. Few, if any, of the other characters display much human sympathy or empathy. The way the author writes them makes them seem like a bunch of negativity robots who are incapable of thinking in any way other than the cynical conclusions they inevitably reach. It starts to feel heavy-handed, and you begin to wonder if you’re catching a glimpse of the author’s own worldview—perhaps a grumpy old lady herself (she was 70 at the time of publishing).

All in all, while the excellent writing quality kept me reading until the end, I was hoping the book would just wrap up soon as I realized what a pathetic conclusion it would reach at about the 75% point.

The Verdict: Worth It for the Insider View

Am I happy I read the book? In some senses yes, in others no.

On the positive side, the book offers an interesting insider perspective on what it's like to work as a Japanese salaryman and all the superficial socialization that goes along with it. We genuinely get the perspective of someone who deeply valued their career and thus can’t easily turn over one day and begin to enjoy retirement life. In this sense, the book offers something valuable, as this perspective is likely new to most of us readers. Especially for younger readers (still in your 20s or 30s), this fresh perspective forces you to think about life's trajectory and how chance can have a drastic effect on where you find yourself.

On the other hand, the general negativity of the book was not well-balanced. The main character is generally negative in his personality, to the point where he even annoys most of the other characters in the story. He simultaneously somehow thinks he is better than everyone else while struggling with an inferiority complex. those around him while wrestling with an intense inferiority complex. While this is a reasonably complex human character, the other characters don’t do enough to balance this out, and the final taste in your mouth at the end of the book is a bit... yuck.

I like what the author was trying to do, especially for the first half of the book, but I just wish she had made different decisions for the second half and conclusion. While I don’t agree with her heavy-handed lessons, one can’t deny her ability to tell a good story, narrated beautifully (even among the negative crap), and with great pacing that doesn’t have any real slumps.

I would recommend the book, with caution, to those who find the premise interesting. Despite its flaws, it is a great way to learn a bit about the Japanese business scene, the life of salarymen, and their social worlds.