Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

17 reviews

thedinosaurkid's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

This book was pretty good. 
Obviously (or maybe not) I went into this comparing it to Hunger Games. It faired pretty well. If anything I probably liked it more. If you're looking for a book like Hunger Games but with more murder (first off get therapy), this is a good pick. It has the potential to be a 4-5 star read.
However, that is not what I'm giving it.
Despite the good characters, twists, and overall plot, this book was very obviously written in the 1990's (specifically 1999). There is major misogynistic language throughout the book. Nothing outright,

in fact there is a character who is shown to have horribly sexist thoughts, like  "women are property" type stuff. The author makes it clear that this is a horrible person.

but there is a lot of stuff like "oh I can never beat this boy because I'm a girl and girls are weak". It's not as overt as that but it conveys a similar message. 
Another reason for the rating is because of a specific chapter that follows a gay character and how homophobic it feels.

The gay character is described as following a character who is particularly brutal and looks like might win. The gay character is then described as having "stalker behavior" and being super feminine. The author mentions that he has the audacity to care about his looks during this murder game. He has a mirror that he holds to make sure he looks good.

Generally, the way this character is portrayed is very homophobic and uses lots of homophobic stereotypes. 
The plot is good, don't get me wrong, but its hard to ignore the misogynistic tones throughout the book. The ending was enjoyable and my attention was kept during the whole book but reading about "weak girls" really brought me out of the experience. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Death, Child death, Blood, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Trafficking, Torture, Stalking, Sexism, Physical abuse, and Pedophilia

woona's review

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Child death, and Violence

leftovercarnage's review

adventurous dark tense fast-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? Yes

5.0

This book lives up to its hype. The short and fast paced chapters pack a punch. It was one of those books that I couldn’t put down. Definitely a classic of the thriller horror genre and makes me want to read the manga. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Sexual assault, Gun violence, Violence, Sexual violence, Torture, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Gore, Car accident, Bullying, Body horror, and Blood

taleofabibliophile's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Cursing, Murder, Child death, Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Confinement, Death, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Death of parent, Sexism, Misogyny, Car accident, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, Vomit, and Grief

Minor: Medical content and Homophobia

johnreadsthings's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

THIS IS INCREDIBLE AHHHHH

It lost me in the middle a bit, but that introduction and conclusion were so brilliantly constructed. The menace was so palpable. And the characters, alive!

During the middle part, Takami introduced most of the students, something that could be daunting to write and not rewarding in the end. It did get a bit repetitive and predictable every time a new student was presented because you'd know that they'd be dead by the end of the chapter. But I'd have to commend Takami because each student had their own lives and personalities, and were not treated as merely numbers and side characters that would forward the story to its eventual and inevitable end or serve as a respite from the leads. In fact, some of the kids really left a mark. My personal favorites among them were Takako Chigusa and Sho Tsukioka.

I wasn't feeling Shuya and Noriko as the main leads right at the beginning and I only somewhat tolerated them coming at the ending, but I did grow to like them! I'd still like read more about Shinji Mimura and Hiroki Sugimura whose arcs were brilliantly written. But I guess it's safe to say that Takami's best constructed character here was Shogo Kawada. I'm not going to spoil anything by talking about Shogo, so let's leave it at that.

The game itself was relentlessly violent and gore. The author didn't shy away from giving the whole picture, along with its dirty, disgusting bits. And his political critique was equally scathing and explicit. He didn't sanitize and bow down to anything. And this made the novel much more revolting, effective, and memorable.

That ending came like Shogo's rushing truck across the island. It was the cherry on top of this really, really good book.

At first I thought that Koushun Takami's Battle Royale simply had the advantage of being one of the first of its kind (it's not lost in me that this is called a somewhat of a  retelling of Golding's The Lord of the Flies), but it's more than that: this was also an intelligent, well-constructed, and amazing piece of work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Cursing, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Violence, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

akira_outofthegravity's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? No

5.0

An incredible book. I wondered how it would manage to keep me hooked for over 600 pages- but it did! I was hanging onto every sentence. A very dark book though, I did have to put it down at times to calm down, but I loved this book and the ending made me cry a lot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Murder, Violence, Gun violence, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Grief, and Suicide

Moderate: Bullying and Child abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, and Sexual harassment

cheybrary's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Cursing and Medical trauma

Minor: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Rape, and Vomit