Reviews with content warning for Transphobia - Kafka på stranden

Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

Kafka på stranden by Haruki Murakami

66 reviews

lumari3's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective medium-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

4.0

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robiinav's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Das Buch war leider absolut nichts für mich. Ich lese gerne weirden stuff, aber abgesehen von Transphobie, Ableismus, usw. finde ich vieles in dieser Geschichte unnötig oder unsinnig. Vielleicht versteh ich einfach die Komplexität eines Meisterwerks nicht, aber so oder so hat es mir nicht sonderlich gefallen - weder der Schreibstil (keine Ahnung ob das vielleicht an der Übersetzung liegt) noch der tatsächliche Inhalt.

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sanikaaa___'s review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

2.0

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iris_lrf's review against another edition

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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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minisaucisse's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

Murakami is a wierd dude who only write women to give sex partners to his male characters. The story is sometimes tedious but in general interesting, minus the moments when something ludicrously illegal and amoral happens and everyone is okay with it. This makes the message of the book very muddy

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soyboysimon's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.5

Would have been a lot more enjoyable without the sexism. The way that Murakami thinks about women genuinely troubles me. He talks so lightly about serious topics like rape that shows you what he really thinks about them. The writing was enjoyable, the story was exciting and fast paced. I feel a little conflicted about the characters, some I love and some I absolutely despise. Would have been a better read without all of the sex scenes. We really don't need that much detail, its almost an obsessive amount of talk about d*ck. And ugh why is his first description of every woman how big her breasts are?!? There are also a couple of chapters that get very graphic. If you don't like gore maybe skip it, i sobbed over the amout of animal torture. It just left a bad taste in my mouth. Do i regret it? No. Will I be reading more Murakami? Also no

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_danichuu's review against another edition

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2.5

I really wanted to enjoy this. I thought the main through line of trying to escape fate but still ending up succumbing to it was interesting. But every Kafka chapter felt like a slog because I had to hear about this 15 year old’s genitalia in every section. Even when there was nothing sexual happening. It happened so much that I was just exhausted by the end of this.

I know that’s Murakami’s shtick but it just felt so excessive in this book. I’ve read one of his other novels and a short story and they both obviously include sex as a random topic but it didn’t feel like it happened enough for me to be dreading the next one.

Also didn’t love listening to someone describe in detail a man murdering cats. And I know the whole story was this Oedipal situation. But you’d think once you convince yourself a woman is your mother you wouldn’t want to have sex with her so many times???
Like I though he was gonna do it once on accident and stop. But no. Mans was allll about it.
Not even going to go into his assaulting his sister. Even if it was in a dream it still felt so gross and like it was just tossed in at the end to wrap up the prophecy.

This was just not the book for me. If this book had been all about Nakata I would have loved it. His chapters are the only thing that got me through.
But Kafka really made me want to stop reading this so many times.

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cheriepie's review against another edition

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dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? No

2.0

A contender for "most frustrating book I've read this year." Incredibly well-written with prose I am taken with and surrealism that I think is fantastic. Each chapter with Nakata is a breath of fresh air. Each Kafka chapter feels like a slog, with "I'm 15 and this is deep" level ideas.

The idea of "fighting fate" but succumbing to it anyway is a through line of this book. As it starts, Kafka is running away to fight his Oedipal fate, which positions him as someone who's at the very least willing to try fighting it. This doesn't carry through the rest of the book -- I don't think Kafka tries ONCE to avoid the parts of the quasi-prophecy beyond running away. And I don't think that dissonance between what Kafka says and what he does is the point.

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caseyreads998's review against another edition

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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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larsisreadingweirdly's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-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

4.25

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