Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

23 reviews

3eggomelet's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

Yes, I read the whole thing. I ordered all three books in Japanese and referred to them throughout my reading. 
The premise and concept of this book carried me through. I wanted to know what would happen. I'm not gonna say it wasn't worth it, but I would recommend against reading this if you're not already super interested.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Gun violence, Infidelity, Terminal illness, and Abandonment

bookwort's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Pedophilia

Minor: Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy

qstew's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Dementia, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Confinement, Torture, and Suicide attempt

kypo's review against another edition

challenging mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book was good for around the first 2/3 of it but the last half dragged on unnecessarily. I got the feeling the author didn’t know how to end the story. The concept of the novel is intriguing though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Kidnapping, and Suicide attempt

bites_of_books's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.25

This one was a let down... 

Murakami can write really beautiful passages but this 1000+ book was just way too long and about 40% of it was just boring descriptions of mundane things. I do enjoy it when an author takes care to describe certain details but this was just too much.

We follow Aomame, a young woman who climbs down a staircase off a freeway and finds herself in a seemingly different world from her own. On the other hand we also follow Tengo, a young man who is tasked with ghostwriting a novel for a teenage girl by his editor. Aomame and Tengo live different lives and the first Book in this novel is spent trying to figure out how they fit together.

The themes explored in this book go from loneliness, religion, the power of literature, broken family dynamics, and more. Some of it did feel visceral and real, but others were just explored over repetitive and overdone writing. 

Then there are all the descriptions of women and anyone who isn't perfectly attractive in the author's eyes... it was just awful. The mysoginy was rampant throughout as well as deeply uncomfortable descriptions of certain intimate encounters that left me feeling like chucking the book in a corner and going for a walk. 

I do not recommend this novel, it's not magical realism in my eyes, it's fantasy/sci-fi. It's entirely way too long for what it is and it's not enjoyable in the least. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment

delekelll's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I think the max I can give this book is 4 stars, because I enjoyed it and it was enthralling, but THE sex scene  and the gratuitous focus on every single female characters boobs threw me off. (hey murakami is that something you can speak to ????) I enjoyed the way that the secrets of the novel were given out very slowly, and I thought the ending was great. I think that now I've read both favorite books of someone who was not the nicest to me I understand more about them. Also, I feel like I should have taken longer to read this book. 1170 pages in 4 days is a lot. But, I felt the need to finish and move out of the cat town while the train still stopped for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Body shaming, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Dementia, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death, Death, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Definitely unsettling, when it is not outright morally reprehensible. However, it was a very fascinating book and some of the triggering materials related to the above content warnings were justified in being included in the novel.

frosted_croissant's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I really enjoyed Murakami's writing but reading all three of the books in one big collection sometimes became a chore with his very descriptive writing style. I swear there were some facts that I read about 45 times throughout this book. Other than that this was a beautiful and TENSE story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Suicide, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Murder

bluemings's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

It was really hard to give this book a rating. On one hand, the monotonous 925 pages felt like forever, new questions popping up all the time with hardly any answers, demanding most of my time and my brainpower. Yet, after turning the last page, I felt like I had achieved great triumph, everything slightly coming together. But overall, this book was great. Sure, there were probably 300 pages of excess description, but that's part of the reason why this book felt so great: Murakami's intimate descriptions of the small moments of Tengo and Aomame's lives made the story jump off the pages, and really displayed reality: small, simple actions, like making dinner or listening to music. I will say, the ending felt a bit lackluster, and there were a million different plot threads which were left unresolved, but perhaps the ambiguity of the end gave light to the novel as a whole, to portray the beautiful sea of unknown which we all happen to be sailing in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Kidnapping

kibiiiariii's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

quixie's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I loved this book until about half way through then I started to trudge through it. The novel was too long and bloated, but I still liked it. Too many references to breasts and public hair, though, and the sex scenes made me laugh. Loved the fantasy element, didn't really feel the romance. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Dementia, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Pregnancy