Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids

Kenzaburō Ōe
3.81
5,304 ratings 550 reviews
Nip the Buds, Shoot the Kids recounts the exploits of 15 teenage reformatory boys evacuated in wartime to a remote mountain village where they are feared and detested by the local peasants. When plague breaks out, the villagers flee, blocking the boys inside the deserted town. Their brief attempt to build autonomous lives of self-respect, love, and tribal valor is doomed in the face of death and the adult nightmare of war.
Genres: FictionJapanJapanese LiteratureAsiaHistorical FictionWarClassicsNobel PrizeNovelsLiterature
189 Pages

Community Reviews:

5 star
1224 (23%)
4 star
2269 (43%)
3 star
1443 (27%)
2 star
312 (6%)
1 star
56 (1%)

Readers also enjoyed

Other books by Kenzaburō Ōe

Lists with this book

Norwegian Wood
Kafka on the Shore
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Best Japanese Books
766 books3235 voters
The Catcher in the Rye
Fahrenheit 451
Lord of the Flies
Best Books of the Decade: 1950s
1190 books1499 voters
To Kill a Mockingbird
Pride and Prejudice
1984
Memoirs of a Geisha
Kafka on the Shore
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Japanese Fiction
411 books331 voters