Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Kafka på stranden by Haruki Murakami

53 reviews

alec_i's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing slow-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

4.0

Reading this book was like taking a step back from an image and watching the blur form something beautiful. For me, this book offered a smooth medicine for trauma and reflection on how to cope with difficult things, especially the challenge of how we grow from our own resultant character flaws. As a trans guy, I personally don’t mind the portrayal of a transmasc character and the truth there felt real. The misogynistic tones in this book, however, are destructive flaws that hurt the narrative.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Misogyny

maizerbeam_16's review against another edition

adventurous funny reflective

• 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Child abuse, Incest, and Misogyny

sophramsay's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Incest, Sexism, War, Misogyny, Violence, and Sexual violence

sanikaaa___'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Dementia, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Blood, Animal cruelty, Sexism, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Transphobia and Death of parent

iris_lrf's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

This is one of the worst best books you will ever read. Murakami will sprout some of the most deep, poetic words imaginable, but it will be right after the fifteen-year-old protagonist

fucks the ghost of his still-alive maybe-mother

. It is a perfect example of the magic realism genre, and by that I mean it makes absolutely zero sense.

The ending, too, is ridiculously vague. I suppose I should be glad there's a chance she wasn't his mother, but potentially incestuous vampirism sure is something I hadn't considered before. Also, what the fuck was that worm thing about?

 

I haven't read anything else by Murakami (and I don't intend to), but according to others, a gripping style, adamant homo/transphobia, and obsessive Freudianism are all staples of his works. And this book is no different: a modern (at the time) retelling of Oedipus Rex where the protagonist is newly fifteen, fully aware of the prophecy, and - I cannot stress this enough - actively choosing to pursue it. It's technically not pedophilia because Japanese laws are different than in the west, but still. Come on. What the hell. Oh, and his sister's in the prophecy too. I'll let you guess which part. You think this review is running a little long? You haven't even SEEN the number of content warnings I'm going to slap on this bad boy.
All that said, even with one protagonist whose only character traits are "Oedipus complex" and "teenage boy," another who is just a walking autism stereotype (I mean, a child in a man's body? Come on), and a whole cast of chronically horny sociopaths, it SOMEHOW manages to be a page-turner. Truly one of the few books that you wish with all your heart you could put down, but are forced by some external power to continue reading until your sanity finally breaks. Because trust me, it will break. For me it happened around chapter five. 
So yeah, if multitudes of

needlessly graphic incest, VERY borderline pedophilia, pointless vagueness, childhood trauma, a trans man literally calling himself a woman of his own accord, gore, violence towards animals, AND MORE

are all things you can stand, sure. Go ahead. But don't say I didn't warn you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Transphobia, Murder, Violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual content

Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, Incest, Misogyny, Outing, Pedophilia, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Alcohol, Murder, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Transphobia

Minor: Cursing

lea333's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Incest, and Rape

Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Death, and Animal death

niccoryan0's review against another edition

Too much weird sexual shit for a book about a 15 year old boy and deeply misogynistic 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content and Misogyny

mandycollaud's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective relaxing 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? It's complicated

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Sexual content, Murder, Gore, Torture, Rape, Incest, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, and Misogyny

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: War and Suicidal thoughts

blackberryjambaby's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Incest, Rape, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, and Misogyny

Moderate: Death of parent

caseyreads998's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

1.0

every mention of kafka listening to prince is meant to piss me off personally I think 

a decent magical realism road trip romp sandwiched between some of the most unbearable fake deep horrifying garbage I've ever encountered in fiction

*does absolutely nothing to escape fate past running away and barely has any sense of anguish and won't shut the fuck up about "are you my sister are you my mommy can we fuck oh shit five pages since talking about my schlong* wow oh my god I guess fate is inescapable that's wild

it is bugging me to give this such a low score when I've given higher ratings to works I find much worse in terms of prose/etc but seeing skill squandered is blindingly painful

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Animal cruelty, Violence, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Incest, and Pedophilia

Minor: Transphobia