Reviews with content warning for Animal death - 1Q84

Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

14 reviews

angela_iseli's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

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

3.0

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allyem_reads's review against another edition

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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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flitch's review against another edition

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3.5

I found this to be an enthralling read, but ultimately a let-down. Much of the early symbolism felt meaningless by the end of the book, and many of the intriguing plotlines were simply abandoned. For a novel with a strong female lead - who I loved! - the misogyny was overwhelming. The obsession with breasts really detracted from my ability to enjoy the story.

I loved the surreal qualities of the story, especially the interplay between the intentions of the characters and the nature of reality. The writing itself is beautiful and thought-provoking.

I absolutely hated

the introduction of underage rape as a plot element, made even worse by the bizarre supernatural explanation "absolving" the perpetrator. Almost DNF after a sympathetic character described an assault and the resulting infertility in graphic detail front of the victim. Entirely unnecessary and disgusting.

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bites_of_books's review against another edition

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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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thepirsky's review against another edition

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Never ending sexual situations, especially abuse to children

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risemini's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-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? No

4.75

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delekelll's review against another edition

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challenging slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I think the max I can give this book is 4 stars, because I enjoyed it and it was enthralling, but THE sex scene and the gratuitous focus on every single female characters boobs threw me off. (hey murakami is that something you can speak to ????) I enjoyed the way that the secrets of the novel were given out very slowly, and I thought the ending was great. I think that now I've read both favorite books of someone who was not the nicest to me I understand more about them. Also, I feel like I should have taken longer to read this book. 1170 pages in 4 days is a lot. But, I felt the need to finish and move out of the cat town while the train still stopped for me.

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