Reviews

Karaoke strave by Ryū Murakami

shumphrey's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

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

4.25

As I started this book, I really thought I didn't like it - a departure from anything I've read before. But, my god, as the war of the delinquents and the oba-sans escalates, I couldn't help but be drawn in.

ksifactory's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-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

3.75

This is such a quintessential '94, because it's basically book about japanese Beavis and Butthead. Storyline is very bizarre. 

theseventhl's review against another edition

5.0

A brilliantly macabre novel about revenge and how surprisingly easy it is to buy a rocket launcher in Japan. Well, maybe not that easy, but still. Naturally, it's very gruesome and gory with lots of detail, but I don't think anyone who reads Ryu Murakami can't stomach that kind of thing.

littlewitch_ruth's review against another edition

5.0

Dark. Gruesome. Punky. Irreverent. Satirical. Made me have awful, gory dreams but was entirely worth it. Made me laugh out loud. Made my jaw drop in shock. Made my skin crawl. Horrifically entertaining. Absurd. Weirdly sexual. Made me sad when the book ended. Was also so relieved I didn't have to read anymore. Awesome.

800slim's review against another edition

3.0

adapted as a movie with the title "Shôwa kayô daizenshû" aka "Karaoke Terror":

- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436769/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

- https://awesomeasianmovies.blogspot.com/2021/01/karaoke-terror-japan-2003.html

Haven't seen the movie myself, so no idea if the movie is any good.....

jujubeans13's review against another edition

if theres a bad ryu murakami novel out there i haven't found it yet!! :)

rodrovich's review against another edition

3.0

This is as absurdly funny and as gory in all its urbanized nihilistic glory as I expected from a Ryu Murakami novel (coming from his Audition movie adaptation). The social commentary isn’t as sharp and subtle as I hoped it would be, the narrative is like three fingers deep. One layer is a group of six, head-empty, mind-crazy type of cogs of the metropolitan machine who lead these detached, cold, lonely lives. They occasionally congregate for karaoke sessions and unwind with alcohol. The second layer is the absolute wackadoodlery of epic proportions (literally), the violence felt ridiculously gory, like I’m watching a Miike flick but with more absurdism tossed in. All the other side characters seemed to be equally apathetic to all the genocide, which made it even funnier - my favorite is the Tokarev seller. The third layer in the narrative is the six Midoris - the oba-sans whose lives are as empty as their enemies, their affectations as vapid as some real affluent aunties we come across once in a while. But these revenge plots and hunger for violence bring a new purpose to their existence; yes, they push it to the extremes but this shows that even this absurdly violent novel has humane elements in it.

7/10

shadedhue44's review against another edition

Didn't like the writing style and disliked the characters

yogarshi's review against another edition

2.0

Major WTF alert!

How far would you go to avenge the death of a friend? Shoot his murderer? Okay, accepted. Buy a rocket launcher and blow up people? Umm, not conventional but still plausible. Build a poor-man's nuclear bomb and wipe out an entire district just to kill three middle-aged women? Sanity just threw itself out of a window!

I find the weirdness of Haruki Murakami much more satisfying than the pointless display of nihilism of Ryu Murakami, thank you. I won't be picking up stuff written by him anytime soon.

tianabanana's review against another edition

2.0

I don't know. There were times where I thought this was a really engaging read (mostly when the instances of senseless violence appeared) but other times, I felt like I was trudging through the most boring, repetitive, pointless prose I've ever read. It came as a shock to me, after having read Almost Transparent Blue (which was so well written and unique that I breezed through it in one day), that the Other Murakami could write pages upon pages about young adults lost in the cracks of Japanese society laughing and laughing and making various strange noises. I mean, I'll read more Other Murakami but this one didn't impress me much.