Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Kafka sur le rivage by Haruki Murakami

39 reviews

soumil_da_vinci's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

It's like fine wine.
Everyone won't like it.
You will have to read some other stuff,other classic books, a taste of magic realism and all that before you get here.
The ending is criticised by many but once you start reading it you will understand the flow, how the story is and by the time you reach the end you will understand why it ends like that even though you might not agree to the ending. Hell, you might not like the whole story but the time won't surely be wasted.
I highly recommend it to one and all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Incest, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

mirandyli's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

A trippy combo of Catcher in the Rye and Oedipus Rex. Slow moving at times. Not sure what the takeaway was supposed to be.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Transphobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abandonment, and War

jppineda's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Sexual content, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment

thenoboshow's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Prose felt like stumbling through a dream. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Torture, Grief, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child abuse

abyss65's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

burnsys_books_811's review against another edition

1.5

I hate this book. I think honestly that Murakami is just not for me. While interesting in it's surrealist elements, there is far too much description of the 15y/o mc's penis to be an enjoyable read. I also don't like the aloof way a lot of really serious topics are handled in this book, as though they mean nothing. It's just a grossly uncomfortable read and I don't feel as though anything was gained from reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Incest, Rape, Grief, and Murder

mariekeroos's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Death, Incest, Rape, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, and Murder

madamenovelist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

To elaborate on content warnings: Two different instances of incest, both involving an adult & a minor. One was consensual in the real world and another was rape in a shared dream. The animal cruelty is extremely gruesome and involves cats, so cat lovers should brace or skip this book altogether.

toffishay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

What a book! I had this copy of Kafka on the Shore for almost two years before I tackled it this month and once I started, I couldn't put it down. This is such a creative and intriguing exploration of memory and destiny, the connections that we might and how we come to be the people that we are. How we craft ourselves and are made new every day, while still being informed by all that comes before us. The way that time is used it so trippy and interesting. Time moves past us and through us. We can't get time back and we can waste our whole lives chasing it. And even with these really big ideas, at its core this is a story about a young boy trying to understand himself. The simplicity of that is what keeps the story so tight and I can see why people continue to come back to it. Some parts are tricky...definitely check content warnings and I think that some parts could have been scaled back for sure which stops me from going like up to a 5 star rating for this book. But sometimes the stars are a general guide and I would still recommend this book for sure. Hoshino is my favorite character!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and War

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Police brutality, and Medical content

hannah_cogo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Murakami keeps his unique and brilliant writing style in this book, with a totally unique plot that keeps you guessing. but his portrayal of women has not changed, and it is clear that he really only sees women as nothing more than sexual objects. a part of me feels like most of this book was just Murakami exploring his own messed-up fantasies, as there is not a single woman in this book who is not objectified, talked about or described sexually, or has nothing to do with sex at all. overall it is overly sexual and proves that Murakami still cannot write women. at all. the only reason it's not zero stars is for Mr Nakata and his talking cats.

there are scenes where the main character rapes his sister in their dream, and he also has sex with his mother more than once. also, the main character's genitals are talked about a lot considering he is 15</spoler> it's a lot to take in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, and War

Minor: Child abuse and Chronic illness