Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

La ballade de l'impossible by Haruki Murakami

44 reviews

lostinthelibrary's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

I wanted to give Murakami another try as this book was chosen for a book club I am part of but I can now say that he is not for me. All of the aspects that I disliked about The Wind Up Bird Chronicles: meandering plot, annoying characters, cringey sex scenes; they were also present here. It gets an extra .5 stars because of the lack of magical realism elements. Really it was pretty bleak with, as with WUBC, the main redeeming feature being the descriptive writing style and in-depth character searching monologues. Sorry Murakami, I tried.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity and Sexual content

Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Bullying

areaderheart's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual content, and Suicide

closelywatchedfilms's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-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

1.0

Haruki Murakami really irritates me as an author because he clearly has the ability to write beautiful, intense passages but seems to simultaneously possess a desire to make every single female reader feel as uncomfortable as possible. There were events in this book that made me visibly cringe and overall is incredibly problematic. Unfortunately, I think my time attempting to connect with Murakami is now over. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Homophobia

Minor: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Forced institutionalization, and Blood

mrsdalloway's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Dementia, and Grief