Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami

16 reviews

kathleendayle's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Murder

Minor: Pregnancy

amethystbutterfly's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective relaxing sad fast-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

I really loved this book. It is reflective, you see the world through a man who thinks he’s colorless and boring person. There’s some thinking about the line between reality and dreams, how something that you try to ignore/forget comes to you in one way or another and how you have to accept the things you can’t change. It has themes like depression, loneliness, friendships, trauma, abandonment and music. You see so clearly, without any filters to the maincharacters mind and it is so facinating! It normalizes humanity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

Moderate: Eating disorder and Miscarriage

q_bert13's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I’ve been recommended Norwegian Wood more times than I can count, but I decided to read this as my first Murakami book. A saddening story about loosing friendships- taking time to heal, and eventually returning back home to seek out those past friends. An emotional, reflective story full of complex, colourful characters. Despite how sad the themes could get, Murakami’s writing style is beautiful and warm. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Death and Rape

Minor: Miscarriage and Pregnancy

yasaman's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Abortion, and Pregnancy

Minor: Homophobia and Abandonment

ardour's review against another edition

very triggering for me, i intend to come back to it when I’m at a more stable place with community/belonging (as it seems really compelling/well written) —please see my trigger information (spoiler-free) if you related to my reason for putting the book down.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Gaslighting and Toxic friendship

if you currently struggle or have recently struggled with isolation from friendships/community (and some resulting existential grief/depression/meaninglessness, I would shelve this book for now and come back to it at a later date ❤️‍🩹 if you can relate, I can too and you’re not alone ❤️

risemini's review against another edition

emotional reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

cmcrockford's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

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

4.0

Really beautiful and strange, reminded me of Never Let Me Go though far less ambivalent in it's storytelling. Definitely the book I needed right now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, and Grief

Moderate: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcohol

sawshiwen's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-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? Yes

3.0

essentially, this feels like a rape fantasy book...?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Eating disorder and Sexual harassment

Minor: Child death

ellagriffin_'s review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

Brewed coffee & false allegations. Thinking all you are is grey. Tokyo skies & bullet trains. Chlorine & matching suits. The cold that comes after people abandon you. An unplanned strong first step into Murakami’s work, with sadly more relatable subject matter than I care to admit. A dark mirror into my mind for the past little while. 

I was hoping for a little more of the magical realism he is known for, and found the pace slower than necessary in parts. But at it’s core is beautiful prose, clear human observations & an infectious sense of place. Looking forward to rest of his collection. 🤍

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

jolienvandera's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

3.75

I liked it and found it eyeopening towards my own life. I understand some people not liking it, because it's not very Murakami-esk, in the use of magical realism, however the sexual aspect of a Murakami book is very present. I like this about his books but I can understand some people don't like it. The dreams were weird in the beginning, but they gave us a sense of foreshadowing.  However we, the readers, were left to fi ish the puzzle ourself without ever knowing the correct solution - very typical Murakami. Not my favorite, but a good one  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Abandonment