Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Kafka på stranden by Haruki Murakami

50 reviews

lyndsea's review against another edition

0.25

The initially enjoyably imaginative magical realism of this book is let down irretrievably by tropes and one dimensional characterisation. Ultimately, this novel only serves to uphold antiquated patriarchal ideas of men, women, and those divine enough to be in between, that we can now well do without. Disappointing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Sexual violence

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

das_'s review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

0.5

A quite interesting mystery full of self-discovery at its core, with quite an unusual narrative that tells this story from multiple angles at once, this book seemed quite promising from the start. However, the overly casual dialogues that oscillate between intentionally inarticulate and pseudo-intellectual quickly got on my nerves, and the subsequent attempts to make light of pedophilia as well as incest were only the last straw. I'm fairly confident that this is the worst book that I've read in the past decade or so.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Grief, and Murder

wmelissa's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Murder, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

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

serenabean's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Sexual violence, and Violence

reversemedusa's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Incest, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder

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

bazigigi's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.5

I feel very conflicted about this book so I'll post my review below but I definitely understand why some people love and some find it too disturbing 

 
Let me start with the bad and get that over with. Miyazaki always seems to struggle writing complex and well thought out female characters and simply cannot seem to write any female character (regardless of age) without explicit commentary at the very least. I know fans are inclined to chalk it up to the flawed and often young male main characters' viewpoint but it happens with such consistency across all his novels that it doesn't feel like an unreliable narrator it feels like an unreliable author. 

Moreover alot of the explicit violence and sexual content adds nothing to the story and is included to create shock value. This gives the impression that because the author feels he is writing a deep commentary on deep topics it must contain shocking content (however relevant) to earn it's grittiness. This lack of sincerity leaves this unnecessary violence pretentious and cheap. Although it is of course still very stomach turning. 

All that said, the actual subject matter of the book and the journey of the characters is extremely interesting. It is easy to get into the POVs of multiple characters and understand their thoughts and motivations and the ambiguity of what exactly is happening or what things mean is very well done. It is engaging precisely because it doesn't spell out for the reader what everything means instead allowing you to draw your own conclusions. In a way it is like watching a painting develop the purpose of each addition seems unclear until you reach the end and the reader is presented the finished piece to make of what they will. Ultimately this makes it a really compelling book to re-read, analyze and discuss with other because theories and takeaways can vary. To me this book was in large part a commentary about the nature of time and trauma. But I won't say much more so everyone can find their own meaning the way I got to! 
As long as you go in with your eyes wide open about the story's relation to the Oedipus Myth, the graphic violence and sexual content and Miyazaki's style of writing women and girls (and you think you can stomach those things) I recommend this book, it is compelling and you will want to read it again (perhaps skipping certain parts). I'm taking away points for the pointless disturbing/violent content, typically bad sex scenes and the poorly fleshed out over-sexualized female characters but it was otherwise a thought provoking good book if you don't mind some pretentious prose 3.5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

ericispublius's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.0

A lot of mysteries in this piece, unraveled slowly unto the end — we walked away with some unanswered. Murakami knits a world that rhymes with ours, but is eerily different. He taps into Japanese folklore in a way that is easy to pick up for the novice

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Incest, Rape, Transphobia, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual violence, and Violence