Reckless but unfailingly honest Botchan is the youngest son in a middle-class Tokyo family. Following his graduation from college, he takes a job as a math teacher on the island of Shikoku, far from the city. Thrust into this alien small-town environment, he encounters nothing but trouble from his students and fellow teachers, who are mercilessly satirized by...

Reckless but unfailingly honest Botchan is the youngest son in a middle-class Tokyo family. Following his graduation from college, he takes a job as a math teacher on the island of Shikoku, far from the city. Thrust into this alien small-town environment, he encounters nothing but trouble from his students and fellow teachers, who are mercilessly satirized by Soseki. There's pompous, two-faced Red Shirt, the vice-principal; his fawning Sidekick, the art teacher; Badger, the spineless principal; and a pack of brawny, prank-playing students--all of whom seem out to get Botchan. Mayhem ensues, but in the end Botchan prevails through honesty and determination.

A modern classic in Japan, Botchan rivals Soseki's famous I Am a Cat in popularity. This is the funniest of Soseki's novels, a penetrating portrait of a young man's quest to survive the suffocating hypocrisy of everyone around him while remaining true to his beliefs.

**Recommended for readers ages 14 and up due to explicit language