Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Kafka en la orilla by Haruki Murakami

22 reviews

thequiltyreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense 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? Yes

3.5

Having finished this book I don't quite know what to make of it. I think I enjoyed it, it certainly kept me reading. I found it slow but intriguing. I also however felt there was unnecessary overuse of violence and sexual content. I was wondering how it was all going to come together in the end but I felt I got to the end and had no idea what happened. I think I need some time to dwell on the book and what I think of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Animal death, Death of parent, Gore, Incest, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, and Violence

corpsepose's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective

• 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

Ambiwalentna w odbiorze. Lekka, ale nie prosta. Po przeczytaniu mam do niej stosunek "środkowy", ale w żadnym razie nie neutralny, może nawet nieco bardziej na minus. Na pewno do ponownego odwiedzenia, być może więcej niż raz.

Mitologizacja nie zatrzymuje się na przepowiedni, być może stąd trudna w ocenie przez pryzmat zwykłego, "dzisiejszego" zestawu norm i wartości. 

Historia, zdaje mi się, o pudełkach, drzwiach i ramkach, a także o połowach rzeczy, co zgrabnie podsumowują cytat przytoczony na okładce i wspomnienie o "Uczcie" Platona.

Z prostszych obserwacji: Murakami nie umie pisać kobiet, za to ciekawa transreprezentacja. Różnice kulturowe mogą dawać się we znaki czytelnikowi.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Sexual content, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, Torture, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, and Violence

sanikaaa___'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Dementia, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Blood, Animal cruelty, Sexism, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Transphobia and Death of parent

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

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

10000hats's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

My first Murakami, so I don't really have anything to compare to but it was definitely hard to put down. It's one of those reread some lines over and over again books in order to really get what was going like. Very dreamcore, nonsensical/pos, and kinda absurd. Could almost say Kafkaesque but I wouldn't go that far. Left me in a bit of turmoil and frustration honestly, though I was very sad for some of the secondary characters. INTERESTING THOUGH, WOULD RECCOMEND.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Incest, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Abandonment and War

Minor: Child abuse

iris_lrf's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

This is one of the worst best books you will ever read. Murakami will sprout some of the most deep, poetic words imaginable, but it will be right after the fifteen-year-old protagonist

fucks the ghost of his still-alive maybe-mother

. It is a perfect example of the magic realism genre, and by that I mean it makes absolutely zero sense.

The ending, too, is ridiculously vague. I suppose I should be glad there's a chance she wasn't his mother, but potentially incestuous vampirism sure is something I hadn't considered before. Also, what the fuck was that worm thing about?

 

I haven't read anything else by Murakami (and I don't intend to), but according to others, a gripping style, adamant homo/transphobia, and obsessive Freudianism are all staples of his works. And this book is no different: a modern (at the time) retelling of Oedipus Rex where the protagonist is newly fifteen, fully aware of the prophecy, and - I cannot stress this enough - actively choosing to pursue it. It's technically not pedophilia because Japanese laws are different than in the west, but still. Come on. What the hell. Oh, and his sister's in the prophecy too. I'll let you guess which part. You think this review is running a little long? You haven't even SEEN the number of content warnings I'm going to slap on this bad boy.
All that said, even with one protagonist whose only character traits are "Oedipus complex" and "teenage boy," another who is just a walking autism stereotype (I mean, a child in a man's body? Come on), and a whole cast of chronically horny sociopaths, it SOMEHOW manages to be a page-turner. Truly one of the few books that you wish with all your heart you could put down, but are forced by some external power to continue reading until your sanity finally breaks. Because trust me, it will break. For me it happened around chapter five. 
So yeah, if multitudes of

needlessly graphic incest, VERY borderline pedophilia, pointless vagueness, childhood trauma, a trans man literally calling himself a woman of his own accord, gore, violence towards animals, AND MORE

are all things you can stand, sure. Go ahead. But don't say I didn't warn you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Transphobia, Murder, Violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual content

Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, Incest, Misogyny, Outing, Pedophilia, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Alcohol, Murder, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Transphobia

Minor: Cursing

stbyleth's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

Overall, I did enjoy this book. It gave me impressions of being a dream within the waking world within a dream. 

Conceptually, this book is rather interesting and profound. There's a lot to chew on and Murakami himself has said you need to read it several times (I don't like it that much, unfortunately) to fully understand it naturally. Everything is a metaphor but, at the same time, everything is literal. In the same vein, everything makes perfect sense, but at the same time, it's pure nonsense. The pinnacle of combining meaningless phrases such as "it just happens because it does" with answers that delve deep into philosophy. "It just happens because it does" is also philosophy. 

Basically, this book is highly paradoxical, which is the point, which renders it not paradoxical, which is the point, which... 

In a more personal opinion, though, there were some things that held the book back from reaching its full potential. Kafka himself is dreadfully boring and monotonous, which is the point; however, I realized that I really just didn't care much for what happened to him (I was only interested in how he'd further Nakata's narrative). The oedipal prophecy seems hindering, especially since it's only mentioned close to the halfway point, after which it becomes the full focus of everything Kafka does (perhaps a little more foreshadowing would have suited my tastes, not just for this specific part). The book was very heavy handed and unsubtle while simultaneously being far, far too vague, enough to make many conclusions the reader has come to dissatisfying. 

I did, however, enjoy other aspects. Nakata and Hoshino were very refreshing in between Kafka's chapters. I loved the both of them and would have much preferred the story focused more on them rather than Kafka. I also really love the implication of

the In Between World being close to "death" physically, which, with the other hints of it being a representation of someone's trauma, make for a fun thought

. 

Again, pretty solid overall. This is the first Murakami work I've written and I've come to understand it might be his weakest. I intend to read more of his works because I do like the dreamy atmosphere. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, and Rape

Moderate: Child abuse and Incest

lambclown's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad medium-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Blood, Sexual violence, Animal death, Incest, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual content, Gore, Animal cruelty, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Dysphoria, Child abuse, Body horror, Abandonment, and Death of parent

Minor: Chronic illness

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, Sexual content, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Animal death, Death, Gore, Incest, Murder, and Blood

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

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