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4.03 AVERAGE
4.03 AVERAGE
Fun writing style and surreal vibes but plot confusing / went nowhere, didn’t like characters
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What. The. Fuck?
I am so confused. This book is kinda like the "they had me in the first half, not gonna lie" meme because I got so lost around the ~60% mark. The first book and most of the second at least had some flow and I liked the flashbacks to the war from the lieutenant, but I got so lost after that. I'm guessing some of it might come from being lost in translation, but the constant switch up of times, perspectives, and general confusion with the "magical realism" made this hard to read.
Spoiler time:Why the hell do we need to explicitly go over everytime this guy pisses or comes? There's a lot of that. I skipped the zoo chapters because I just couldn't read the parts about the poor animals. The human skinning was not a fun read either. And the fuck was going on with the Kanos? Malta was there, but not? Creta had a baby that was half him, half the lieutenant? WTF??? Prostitute of the mind? Ex-fucking-scuse me??? And then the wall he could go through and the woman and the room and the beating with a baseball bat? Consider me lost. I just kept skimming at that point because it didn't seem to matter if I read or skimmed since I couldn't follow it anyways. And Kumiko is in jail, he wants to have a baby with a lady who straight up admits she killed her brother by pulling his life support plug (tbh, justified. Dude sucked.) and slept with "tons of men". YOU DESRVE BETTER DUDE! Also Ushi was the most annoying, rambling, yesman character and his inclusion was dumb. I get that Wataya couldn't just show up all the time cuz he's "too important" but bleh. Hated him. Hated most of these characters, honestly.
I am so confused. This book is kinda like the "they had me in the first half, not gonna lie" meme because I got so lost around the ~60% mark. The first book and most of the second at least had some flow and I liked the flashbacks to the war from the lieutenant, but I got so lost after that. I'm guessing some of it might come from being lost in translation, but the constant switch up of times, perspectives, and general confusion with the "magical realism" made this hard to read.
Spoiler time:
slow-paced
Very good, found the inclusion of the Japanese invasion of Manchuria super interesting.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Fascinating - surreal but grounded in reality, like twin peaks, scary and haunted and horny and historical and funny all at the same time. (Almost) every interwoven side story gripped me
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
what just happened
A pretentious book about an alternate universe where no one has any real substance or depth. I don’t know if it’s that, Murakami’s sexualization of young girls, the line “I had an air of breeding about me that the other girls lacked” (among other problematic lines), the main married character saying he “couldn’t explain why exactly” he has never cheated on his wife after a description of him ejaculating in his pants while dreaming of another woman, or the overall objectification of female characters who feel like mere concepts Murakami uses... but it’s a hell no from me.
Overall: Fully agree with the reviewer who said Murakami cant write women (not concepts. not objects.) for shit. Say it louder for the people in the back.
Also, read half and DNF because I don’t hate myself
Overall: Fully agree with the reviewer who said Murakami cant write women (not concepts. not objects.) for shit. Say it louder for the people in the back.
Also, read half and DNF because I don’t hate myself
I like ponderous and existential but this is so contrived and self-aware that I just can’t face another 20 hours on audio