Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

44 reviews

rafagina's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

1.0

Slow, repetitive and predictable. On top of that, every female character is written either in cringe and belittling ways or downright horrendously misogynistic. Every single chapter there are gratuitous sexual descriptions and abusive episodes happening that add nothing to the story. If this is Murakami I don't know why people recommended it so much.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Death, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Murder, Abandonment, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Medical content, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Sexual harassment, and Violence

mxpringle's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

This book was so so good in every way except one, and would have been 5 stars except for the sheer misogyny in describing every female character's breasts and

the horribly disturbing adult/minor relationship and blatant pedophilia

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Sexism, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Death, Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicide, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

Minor: Gore

lisas_novel_idea's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Suicide attempt

grace_tg's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.75

I genuinely really enjoyed the book. The first three days I was only reading it, managing to reach over 300 pages. Then life caught up, and although I was very much enjoying it, I was struggling to read a lot. I would describe it as a heavy book, in a sense that you need to really pay attention to it; it's not just an easy, flowy lightheaded book. 
Brilliant plot, with so many ties, and under-links, and layers. The characters are all described and portrayed with such detail even when scrutinizing detail is absent. The different voices and line of thought are also very nicely put, aiding with the coherence rather than hindering it. 
You get really immersed in that world. A book worth reading. 

The only reasons I am not giving it a 5, are because at moments the pace was a bit too slow for me, and perhaps a bit tiring (but those moments were truly rare) and because I am left with many questions... Which has its magic, I must admit, but also has me icky for the answers.

I was not particularly fond of that Aomame-Tengo romance- but I am also not a very romance-type person. And despite the unusual circumstances, their connections and ultirior plot was magnificently presented to us.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

Minor: Murder

tylermetz's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Sexual assault

delekelll's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Torture, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Dementia, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Body shaming, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

Minor: Death, Rape, Animal death, Death of parent, and Religious bigotry

Definitely unsettling, when it is not outright morally reprehensible. However, it was a very fascinating book and some of the triggering materials related to the above content warnings were justified in being included in the novel.

isaospina's review against another edition

challenging mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

I've been reading this book for months, next to Ana Karenina, 1Q84 is the longest book I've read to date.

It took me a while, the beginning is tough, Murakami female characters are... Sexist at best but once you go through the first book you learn to swallow it.

The second book was my favorite, it's where the plot thickens and the entire cult-murder deal is right down my alley. It's also the book that took me less time to read as I didn't have to deal with countless descriptions of boobs. 

Third book was Ok, I guess. It did feel like Aomame's character took some steps backwards. But the ending made me smile, so I'll give it that.

Not gonna lie, s my first Murakami read I don't feel excited for more, nor feel the need to blacklist him from authors I read or will read. Still this book is a little over the place, with too much repetition and plot holes, also sexism and flat as tortilla female characters. If you can power through that, it's an entertaining read.

I know he doesn't get better with female characters but I believe there must be better books that give him the reputation he has, this one isn't one of them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Suicide attempt, and Torture

bluemings's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

It was really hard to give this book a rating. On one hand, the monotonous 925 pages felt like forever, new questions popping up all the time with hardly any answers, demanding most of my time and my brainpower. Yet, after turning the last page, I felt like I had achieved great triumph, everything slightly coming together. But overall, this book was great. Sure, there were probably 300 pages of excess description, but that's part of the reason why this book felt so great: Murakami's intimate descriptions of the small moments of Tengo and Aomame's lives made the story jump off the pages, and really displayed reality: small, simple actions, like making dinner or listening to music. I will say, the ending felt a bit lackluster, and there were a million different plot threads which were left unresolved, but perhaps the ambiguity of the end gave light to the novel as a whole, to portray the beautiful sea of unknown which we all happen to be sailing in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

kibiiiariii's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Acephobia/Arophobia, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Pedophilia, Biphobia, Cancer, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Incest, Abandonment, Blood, Death of parent, Infertility, Abortion, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Violence, and Toxic friendship

kykai's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment