Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

8 reviews

m4rtt4's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.25

Naoko❤️‍🩹 I truly loved her.
Actually I really liked all the female characters, though they all more or less were also used as vessels for fulfilling the author's sexual fantasies — especially Midori, her personality at times was so pick-me-girly for the sole purpose of getting Watanabe's sexual attention.

This one was a re-read, and I must say I felt it so much more now at 20 — the main characters' age — than when I first read it at 16 years old. I've read all Murakami's novels, and even though I kind of miss the magical realism that was almost nonexistent in this book, it didn't really need it either as it was deep enough just like this. I just wish the metaphor of the "well" Naoko talked about in the beginning had appeared later on in the story, it should have had a greater purpose. Overall a very melancholic yet great reading experience, but for your own good, do consider skipping this if things related to suicide trigger you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Medical content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Violence, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

roseblossom999's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Terminal illness, and Violence

afk2022's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

A very challenging book. I really feel for our main character, struggling to adapt to an adult world full of grief. In many ways the book is about the death of youth. The character work is great, and the language, especially the similes, are beautiful. The world feels both vivid and alive, and sad/mournful at the same time. This novel will be with me for some time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide and Violence

matiisanchez's review against another edition

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

samchase112's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.5

Media — especially books and movies — about grief have hit me quite hard, affected me a lot, in the past year, and this novel is absolutely no exception. Intimate, nostalgic, it's a dreamy exploration of living and living with death. I'm not quite sure how exactly I feel about it, but I know that I do feel because of it. I've pasted some quotes below that I couldn't help dog-earing, but beyond that there's nothing more to say.

Death exists, not as the opposite but as a part of life… Death exists — in a paperweight, in four red and white balls on a billiard table — and we go on living and breathing it into our lungs like fine dust.

Death was not the opposite of life. It was already here, within my being, it had always been here, and no struggle would permit to forget that.

I miss you awful sometimes, but in general I go on living with all the energy I can muster.

And I'm just going to keep on getting stronger. I'm going to mature. I'm going to be an adult. Because that's what I have to do. I always used to think I'd like to stay seventeen or eighteen if I could. But not anymore. I'm not a teenager anymore. I've got a sense of responsibility now. I'm not the same guy I was when we used to hang out together. I'm twenty now. And I have to pay the price to go on living.

By living our lives, we nurture death. True as this might be, it was only one of the truths we had to learn.

What I learned from Naoko's death was this:

No truth can cure the sorrow we feel from losing a loved one. No truth, no sincerity, no strength, no kindness can cure that sorrow. All we can do is see it through to the end and learn something from it, but what we learn will be no help in facing the next sorrow that comes to us without warning.

And when I awoke I was alone, this bird had flown…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Rape, Vomit, and Medical content

ellen_nicholson's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

3.0

Midori was the best character this book. it had an interesting discussion abt death, sex and mental illness, but it spoke really uncomfortably about women and had some disturbing scenes. if I ever have to read about

a grown woman being fingered by a 13 yo girl

I am never reading again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Pedophilia, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Rape and Suicide

Minor: Violence

nube's review against another edition

emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Suicide, and Grief

Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer, Physical abuse, and Violence

homuraa's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Minor: Sexism