Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Cult X by Fuminori Nakamura, Kalau Almony

6 reviews

readwithev's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

⚠️ this book is very graphic and has many disturbing topics⚠️ 
 Pros:

• Multiple POVs with different genders and ages
• Unreliable narrators
• Unique and distinct voices
• Flashbacks
• A few characters have long monologues that may seem confusing but ultimately convey alot about their psyche, religious beliefs, etc.

Cons:

• ⚠️graphic and triggering
• Due to the abusive behavior some of the male characters, women are occasionally described in derogatory and belittling ways
• Lots of characters, sometimes difficult to remember all of them.

In order to truly appreciate and understand this book, I recommend Googling Japan’s work culture, their suicide rates, college entrance exam process, etc. This way you can understand why the characters in this book are experiencing alienation and frustration with their society.

Personally, I really liked this book. It is definitely not going to be for everyone. It has a lot of scenes with physical, sexual, and emotional abuse against women and children. Typical of cult leaders, terrorists and religious extremism, Sawatari (the leader of Cult X) lacks real empathy and compassion; instead, he enjoys manipulating others to feel powerful and only serves himself. He preys on weak, hopeless people to brainwash them and disposes of them without remorse. I was happy to see Narazaki grow a backbone by the end of the book. He slowly overcame his weakness for manipulation and uncontrollable lust for women. Tachibana learns to live without Takahara and takes responsibility for her role in Cult X. Even Meneno starts realizing her obsession and jealousy is childish and confesses to Tachibana.

It’s definitely a dense book and the long monologues about religion, metaphysics, and neuroscience are daunting but I liked them. It helped me understand what all theses characters are looking for - they’re searching for meaning in a world so overcome by war, technology, starvation, apathy, etc. i mean who isn’t?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Kidnapping

Minor: Pedophilia, Blood, Suicide attempt, and War

there are a few very graphic torture, rape, murder, and orgy sex scenes in the book that will be disturbing to many readers.

theadequategatsby's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.25

I don’t know what to say about the mass of text and pop philosophy I just read. I enjoyed the plot generally but the book feels all over the place with a lot of philosophical exposition all over the place. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

klamsc's review against another edition

so much rape and gratuitous sex. I was icked out so I had to stop

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Suicide attempt

em33l1's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Wouldn’t recommend. I can see how it could’ve been something actually worthy of being called an author’s “magnum opus” but the execution just wasn’t there for me. On to the next. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual assault

oliveseidler's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

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

1.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, and Murder

Minor: Misogyny, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

saltydough's review

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

To be frank, this book was not for me. I started it because I wanted to try something new,  but it quickly became a slog. The biggest problem was that I hated all of the characters. I thought they were all terrible people with no redeeming qualities, which made it hard to root for any one of them in particular. Though there was some action that some might find enjoyable, the story often got bogged down in extended side tangents about characters' backgrounds and psychological trauma. Much of the story was really quite repulsive, and some passages were difficult to read. The only part I enjoyed even a little bit were some of the deeper philosophical themes that were discussed, mostly drawn from Buddhism. But honestly, reading straight-up Buddhist theology would probably be more enjoyable than this story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Violence