Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri

6 reviews

kukazashi's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Death, Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Alcohol, Murder, and Physical abuse

lucylou's review against another edition

reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

I picked this up because of the beautiful cover at my library, and never expected this short story to make me cry multiple times in such a short period. Some musings seemed fairly random, but at its heart it’s a story of people trying to live through the hardships that life gives them.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Pregnancy, Murder, Ableism, and Death of parent

squidknees's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Murder, Suicide, Ableism, Body horror, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Violence, Child death, Grief, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and War

chrisljm's review against another edition

reflective 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? It's complicated

3.0

The narration was very stream of consciousness, but unfortunately it wasn’t for me. However, something I did appreciate from the novel was how it lingered in my head and gave me things to think about afterwards. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, Child death, and Grief

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Torture, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexual content, Blood, and Suicide

thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

1.25

errrr...after reading it, i kinda get this book's overall ratings now. yu miri's tokyo ueno station does indeed crucially give voice to an often voiceless group esp in jpn society, but it's a brittle one that leaves me baffled by the overall middling effect.

certain novels have sparse writing that fits the tone and atmosphere of the story, but somehow the 'sparse' in this book imo doesnt fit its themes (that, or it's not effective enough), and unfortunately also applies to its surface-level scrutiny of many oft-overlooked social issues and inequalities in japan.

my feeling upon finishing this is "...ok..and??" bc while im aware that the main character kazu's sad, unfortunate life is supposed to encapsulate the plight of countless similar others, somehow i still dont feel anything; there's no emotional connection or weight here. i think this is bc the author barely spends time to mull over a scene (one thats of substance anyway), or let the reader get to know its characters.  how am i supposed to care abt them when the main character spends most of his life working away from home and his loved ones? some developments are also too out-of-the-blue; im still befuddled by kazu's decision to abandon his own friggin home, for example.

in conclusion, this sparse novel rightly criticizes under-portrayed social inequalities, but is also one thats bereft of any emotional impact.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Animal death, Murder, and Physical abuse

sirisolh's review against another edition

sad slow-paced

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

2.0

It's not that it isn't a good read, but I couldn't connect to it. It's still, sombre, elegant and makes you think. I guess I just didn't want to think to much.

2,5 would be more accurate.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Death

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Dementia, Hate crime, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide