Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

41 reviews

jennifer_'s review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

1.5

i have a few things to say about this one. number one being: somebody needs check this man's hard drive!!!!!!! the hyper-sexual descriptions of actual children and mentally-childlike girls, the gratuitous descriptions of child rape, the very strange (and very difficult to believe) perspective of the female narrator towards sex, sexuality, and her body.... all of these elements were inescapable for the duration of the book. they did nothing to contribute to the novel's plot, themes, or character development. i would consider myself to be tolerant to mature themes in books when they are tactfully incorporated into the book's larger message, but i left this book just feeling very disturbed. my biggest takeaway from this story was not the revered complex storyline, themes of absurdity and surrealism, or enduring true love, but ultimately the pedophilia, misogyny, and perversion that the reader was subjected to for 1000(!) pages.

sadly, this has to be the most disappointing book i've ever read due to my hopefulness going in. this was my first time reading murakami, and i had heard rave reviews about his work, including this series. while i am giving this book 1.5 starts instead of 1 star, it is only because of the slight bit of merit in the book's prose and unique premise. 

however, i can't recommend it, and i'm sad to think about the other books that i could have read during the long and tedious hours spent on this book. please, learn from my mistakes, and spare yourself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual violence

princepluto_'s review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Sexual content, and Sexual violence

kerrence30's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious 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? No

4.0

The main idea of the story was good, the complexities of the magical realism part were a bit forced, in my opinion, as at times it made sense, but other times it didn’t, and was covered up by characters saying “I can’t explain it, I just know” and you’re expected to roll with that. If you do then fine, it’s a fun story of parallel universes. My only sticking point is the gratuitous sex. There is a fair amount of description of the bodies of minor characters, of which doesn’t add anything to the story. For example, going into detail about how the two underage girls touched eachother doesn’t then lead her to realise she as attracted to women… it’s unnecessary, and I can’t imagine why… I listened to the audiobook and eventually skipped 30 seconds once I realised where it was going. 
That’s the only reason why I could rate this so high. It was otherwise a well written and unique story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Pedophilia and Pregnancy

Minor: Child abuse and Rape

allyem_reads's review against another edition

 

Y'all I just can't do it. Not only are there a multitude of triggers in here (including suicide, rape, sexual abuse of a minor, animal death, murder, and religious trauma) it's also uncomfortably slow and the weirdness is not enough to keep me invested. Plus I feel like this was Murakami at his most Murakaminess, and you couldn't read a single page of this book without getting at least two mentions of women's bodies in a derogatory way. I need to stop for the sake of my sanity.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Murder

3eggomelet's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

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

1.5

Yes, I read the whole thing. I ordered all three books in Japanese and referred to them throughout my reading. 
The premise and concept of this book carried me through. I wanted to know what would happen. I'm not gonna say it wasn't worth it, but I would recommend against reading this if you're not already super interested.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Minor: Gun violence, Infidelity, Terminal illness, and Abandonment

kwims's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Sexual assault

Moderate: Murder

qstew's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Dementia, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Confinement, Torture, and Suicide attempt

kypo's review against another edition

challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

This book was good for around the first 2/3 of it but the last half dragged on unnecessarily. I got the feeling the author didn’t know how to end the story. The concept of the novel is intriguing though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Kidnapping, and Suicide attempt

vivectelvanni's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Child abuse and Rape

bites_of_books's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.25

This one was a let down... 

Murakami can write really beautiful passages but this 1000+ book was just way too long and about 40% of it was just boring descriptions of mundane things. I do enjoy it when an author takes care to describe certain details but this was just too much.

We follow Aomame, a young woman who climbs down a staircase off a freeway and finds herself in a seemingly different world from her own. On the other hand we also follow Tengo, a young man who is tasked with ghostwriting a novel for a teenage girl by his editor. Aomame and Tengo live different lives and the first Book in this novel is spent trying to figure out how they fit together.

The themes explored in this book go from loneliness, religion, the power of literature, broken family dynamics, and more. Some of it did feel visceral and real, but others were just explored over repetitive and overdone writing. 

Then there are all the descriptions of women and anyone who isn't perfectly attractive in the author's eyes... it was just awful. The mysoginy was rampant throughout as well as deeply uncomfortable descriptions of certain intimate encounters that left me feeling like chucking the book in a corner and going for a walk. 

I do not recommend this novel, it's not magical realism in my eyes, it's fantasy/sci-fi. It's entirely way too long for what it is and it's not enjoyable in the least. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment