Reviews tagging 'War'

Kafka på stranden by Haruki Murakami

66 reviews

noeul's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Sexual content, and Violence

Moderate: Animal death and Emotional abuse

Minor: War

emma_succubus's review against another edition

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

5.0

Murakami's books are always a convoluted mess that leave you a bit like you just had a very realistic dream. This book is no different and leaves you a bit lost in the end. I think a very appropriate way to end this story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Incest, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia and Blood

Minor: Death of parent and War

ambivalentneb's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

My favorite book I’ve read thus far, at the start simple but it slowly gets more and more metaphysical until it’s confused and then it all just falls into place.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Sexual content, Blood, and Abandonment

Moderate: Death, Rape, Grief, and Murder

Minor: War

samcsmith's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gore, Incest, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Ableism, Rape, Self harm, Medical content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and War

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

drymice's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, and Murder

Minor: Torture, Transphobia, and War

jodean's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

If I understood a thing about this book, I can't put it into words. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Incest, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, and Terminal illness

Minor: 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

jayvdw's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

This book is a fever dream. It may not feel like it while reading, but the moment you close the book and try to really think about everything, that is the moment it hits you.

After finishing the book the first thing I did was browse the internet for almost an hour, reading and listening to different theories. The book is complex and like Murakami said: the book consists of several riddles with no answers, instead the riddles combine, and the possibility of an answer emerges. In my eyes, this means there is no one way to interpret the book. Each and every person will have their own view of the meaning and full story. 

I loved how the book combined Western and Eastern philosophy and mythology. This only enriches the fever dream-like feeling of the book. In addition to this, the book talks about many different important themes and makes you think about them. 
 
Overall, the book is wild and crazy, it brings out the magic within the mundane. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in a more complex story. Even after finishing the book, it will still haunt your mind and you will wonder what it all could really have been about.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Sexual content, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Incest, Suicide, Grief, and War

clusterf_cked's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail