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flitch's review against another edition
3.5
I loved the surreal qualities of the story, especially the interplay between the intentions of the characters and the nature of reality. The writing itself is beautiful and thought-provoking.
I absolutely hated
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide
Moderate: Animal death, Incest, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Murder
bookwort's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
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
bites_of_books's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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
rafagina's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment
mxpringle's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Murder, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Gore
delekelll's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
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
- 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
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Suicide, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Murder
stooby's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
ktnkrbl's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, and Murder
chrisljm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
1.0
No wonder this book was originally released in three parts because I genuinely don’t think there is any reason this book should’ve been 1500+ pages (ebook) long. It definitely could’ve been reduced a third of its length because there were parts that were so lengthy and repetitive, and just dragged on for seemingly forever. There was a whole ass scene where the narrator went over the complete instructions of how a pregnancy test worked, what the results shown meant, as well as the science behind it. I think if just the sentences that mention breasts were cut out, that alone could reduce the book by at least 1-2 chapters. (After a quick ctrl+f, breasts were mentioned an astounding 77 times)!
I’ve heard plenty of times before that Murakami is terrible at writing women, but he’s genuinely so terrible at it that I can’t even get mad. In my opinion he should just stop including female characters in his books completely. And if he wanted to have a romance arch, he should just consider having those characters be gay, because writing this sentence, “Aomame mourned the deaths of these two friends deeply. It saddened her to think that these women were forever gone from the world. And she mourned their lovely breasts—breasts that had vanished without a trace.” is insane to me.
The book also contained so many content warnings. Literally any tw you can think of, it’s most likely included. Luckily, I’m not adverse to reading things that contain content warnings, for the most part, but the stuff in this book definitely made me uncomfortable. And if you’re someone who hates sexual assault being used as a plot device, definitely don’t read this.
And since I’m on the topic of content warnings, the one that I sensed from the beginning was an adult minor relationship. I also just want to point out that an adult talking about a minor’s chest and ‘beautiful curves’ is already disgusting, but it doesn’t cancel out just because he throws in that there is no sexual meaning. However, out of all the foul parts I read (there were many) the one that was the most revolting to me was a scene where these two characters found themselves waking up naked together and there was a descriptive contrast made where one of the things being compared was referred to as ‘adult penis’. I’m sure you can guess what the opposite thing being described was. Having to read that full scene made me want to die.
There were so many times throughout the book where I wanted to dnf, because I have truly never disliked a book more than this one. But above all, more than disliking this book, I am a hater, and so I finished it even though I wanted to unalive myself the whole time, so that I could properly write this review.
TLDR:
Badly written female characters
Too many mentions of breasts
CW: adult minor relationship, sexual assault/rape as a plot device, incesty (mommy issues), suicide, sex scenes
Unnecessary sex scenes
Long and boring
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, and Death of parent
Minor: Religious bigotry