Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Cult X by Fuminori Nakamura, Kalau Almony

16 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.

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

zandria's review against another edition

While a fantastic book I found it to be very graphic. There are no warnings about the content in the book and it wad often very abruptly presented in the story. I wanted to continue, but I found scenes and content difficult to handle without warning they were coming.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual content

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content

Minor: Addiction, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

natalieanya's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Not what it says it is

hilbertscurve's review against another edition

1.5

Painful read.

But honestly I should’ve known it was gonna be a sex cult that one’s on me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

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

sophmcgraw's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

0.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, and Murder

machen27's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

It's curious to me that this is described in it's "blurb" as a magnum opus, a book about cults and those who fall into them. Perhaps I'm missing cultural context or I didn't read it thoroughly enough, yet I can't shake the feeling that if this is the pinnacle of Nakamura's work, I am not interested in reading his other works. It very much is a story that happens to the protagonists, filled with disjointed flashbacks and dumps of pseudoscientific philosophical nonsense, I found it hard to care about the characters or what happens to them. I think that this is somewhat intentional on Nakamura's part, the plot of the story reflecting the experience of falling into a cult, and I credit the author that. I also struggled with the choice to include gratuitous amounts of sexual content, of which there is much, both consensual and non-consensual. It felt unnecessarily and frankly unrealistic, though I'll admit I have no factual basis for that sense. As for how the book ends,

I found the escalation to an international crisis including conspiracies to engineer this crisis juxtaposed with the idea of it all being done for no reason completely unearned, especially with the protagonist having a seemingly peaceful ending

. Ultimately I think the book failed to grab me because I have no interest in the main subjects of cults, and found that there was little real mystery here, just confusion.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

cheyraisin's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault