Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Kafka On The Shore by Haruki Murakami

33 reviews

geerbeer's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

Wtf gewoon. Kon ook wel zonder alle rare seksuele fantasieën en onnodig dierenleed 😭 ben hier ook gewoon te dom voor ofzo. Wel interessante concepten over de ziel en soms mooi omschreven stukken.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

k49's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror and Gore

Minor: Transphobia

centaurstesticle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and War

ed_moore's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.25

“All I know is I’m totally alone, all alone in an unfamiliar place, like some solitary explorer who has lost his compass and map, is that what it means to be free?” 

 

I have so many emotions towards Murakami’s ‘Kafka on the Shore’, and it’s really difficult to determine how I feel about it. It is about a 15 year old boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home and settles in a library. His story is somewhat a retelling of the Oepidus Myth which is already a messed up tale, but combined with the elements of magical realism Murikami implements, this book just becomes really weird. 

 

The other protagonist of whom held the alternate view point is a sixty year old man called Nakata of whom brings many of the weird elements. I adored his storyline and he was so wholesome and just innocently went around talking to cats and making it rain fish while pursuing some goal which he never really knows the true purpose of or even where he is supposed to be going. Nakata was such a fun and wholesome character whose story was just repeatedly ruined by the enveloping perspective of Kafka who really was just a very horny teenager. 

 

On one hand the ‘weird’ of this book reminded me a lot of Bulgakov’s ‘The Master and the Margarita’ with the aforementioned fish and talking cats and unexplainable appearance of Colonel Sanders for a plot convenience which he really did not need to be the face of KFC to convey. The other kind of weird completely ruined all the magic and was just disturbing. Murikami couldn’t go two chapters without describing erection or sexual fantasies, and constantly felt a need to intimately describe the penis. There are two instances of rape which he hardly recognises and handles awfully, many attempts to describe periods and the female body that he clearly had no comprehension of, and though my comprehension is by no means great I can absolutely tell you Murakami’s was beyond awful, and numerous extremely violent episodes of animal cruelty and mutilation which did not need to be so intimate to convey the point that the plot aimed to. Also a lot felt unexplained in the ending, as is probably inevitable with such a wacky book, but that concern is far from the issues I had with the violence and erotica.

 

It is disappointing really, because the plot was captivating and at its heart I felt was about belonging, and not knowing where you truly belong until you are forced to spend time away from there. I adored Nakata’s character and the ending really struck me in the feels, but just so many times I was pulled away from the story with disgusting descriptions and depictions of erotica which were far from necessary and handled awfully. It was a brilliant plot completely ruined because Murakami can’t keep his sexual fantasies to himself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, and Rape

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and War

soton's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.0

2nd Murakami book. The author has a clear formula: two women, the one I (the protagonist) long for the most but who's out of reach, then the one who's unrealistically frank and open with from the second I meet who I have sex with. It's too formulaic, like the same book in different fonts.

I still think they're well written, and I like the magical realism aspects, but ultimately I didn't enjoy the fetish content which I feel like was a huge aspect of this book. The pseudo-incest foreshadowing "You are prophesized to sleep with your sister and mother", and the weird way Oshima was written about calling him a "he/she" who "becomes a woman when he sleeps" all just made me want to stop reading it. The intended thrill of the incest just manifested as dread for me, and the self-insert rape scenes were worse than I was expecting. It feels like reading someone's personal fantasy fulfillment for fantasies I don't have. It's clear Murakami books aren't for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Blood

Moderate: Death, Transphobia, and Murder

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Dysphoria

lio_ramon_dolor's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: War

kazamaria's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Sexism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

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

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

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