Reviews

Cult X by Fuminori Nakamura, Kalau Almony

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lori85's review against another edition

2.0

Cult X resembles 2666 in many ways, which the design of the English edition (which is gorgeous) seems to deliberately draw attention to with its interior cover depicting an artistic scene of violence and madness. Both books are weighty tomes centered on crime and mystery, but using these as springboards to explore the cosmic darkness surrounding human society. Both are quite graphic, but here is where I think Nakamura falls apart.

Now I've listened to my fair share of "The Last Podcast on the Left" cult episodes about Jonestown, the Children of God, Aum Shinrikyo (the inspiration behind Cult X) et al, so I know there's a lot of weird sex stuff that comes with the territory. But Nakamura's book is just straight up porn. We're meant to find women being raped and treated as blow-up dolls titillating. Even a 15-year-old girl is depicted as ultimately enjoying her violation by a grown man. While Nakamura did have some interesting ideas about spirituality and quantum physics, the whole thing is overshadowed by a rank misogyny. He reminds me of those dudebros who write explicit rape scenes of beautiful women and girls into historical fiction and claim it's for "authenticity." Blech.

theadequategatsby's review against another edition

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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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sea_pier's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

poisoned_icecream's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.5

I don't believe this book deserves all the 1 and 2 star ratings. It's not perfect though so 3.5 is a more suitable rating in my opinion. Despite the horrendous things many of the characters say and do, there are still some positive messages in this book, such as how all human life is valuable. I'm not sure I recommend this though because it's 500 pages and there's a lot of names to remember.

Content Warnings