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chrisljm's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
1.0
No wonder this book was originally released in three parts because I genuinely don’t think there is any reason this book should’ve been 1500+ pages (ebook) long. It definitely could’ve been reduced a third of its length because there were parts that were so lengthy and repetitive, and just dragged on for seemingly forever. There was a whole ass scene where the narrator went over the complete instructions of how a pregnancy test worked, what the results shown meant, as well as the science behind it. I think if just the sentences that mention breasts were cut out, that alone could reduce the book by at least 1-2 chapters. (After a quick ctrl+f, breasts were mentioned an astounding 77 times)!
I’ve heard plenty of times before that Murakami is terrible at writing women, but he’s genuinely so terrible at it that I can’t even get mad. In my opinion he should just stop including female characters in his books completely. And if he wanted to have a romance arch, he should just consider having those characters be gay, because writing this sentence, “Aomame mourned the deaths of these two friends deeply. It saddened her to think that these women were forever gone from the world. And she mourned their lovely breasts—breasts that had vanished without a trace.” is insane to me.
The book also contained so many content warnings. Literally any tw you can think of, it’s most likely included. Luckily, I’m not adverse to reading things that contain content warnings, for the most part, but the stuff in this book definitely made me uncomfortable. And if you’re someone who hates sexual assault being used as a plot device, definitely don’t read this.
And since I’m on the topic of content warnings, the one that I sensed from the beginning was an adult minor relationship. I also just want to point out that an adult talking about a minor’s chest and ‘beautiful curves’ is already disgusting, but it doesn’t cancel out just because he throws in that there is no sexual meaning. However, out of all the foul parts I read (there were many) the one that was the most revolting to me was a scene where these two characters found themselves waking up naked together and there was a descriptive contrast made where one of the things being compared was referred to as ‘adult penis’. I’m sure you can guess what the opposite thing being described was. Having to read that full scene made me want to die.
There were so many times throughout the book where I wanted to dnf, because I have truly never disliked a book more than this one. But above all, more than disliking this book, I am a hater, and so I finished it even though I wanted to unalive myself the whole time, so that I could properly write this review.
TLDR:
Badly written female characters
Too many mentions of breasts
CW: adult minor relationship, sexual assault/rape as a plot device, incesty (mommy issues), suicide, sex scenes
Unnecessary sex scenes
Long and boring
Graphic: Incest, Torture, Violence, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Infidelity, Sexism, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Stalking, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Suicide, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Gun violence, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, and Violence
Minor: Religious bigotry
dafidaf's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Graphic: Rape and Incest
Moderate: Torture
j_abby's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.75
Graphic: Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Dementia, Misogyny, and Stalking
Minor: Homophobia, Infertility, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, and Torture
shelbytheduck's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Pedophilia, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Child abuse, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Kidnapping, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, and Sexual assault
ajhoppel's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Torture
lonaargh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
All in all a disappointing read that left me longing for a story.
Moderate: Pedophilia, Murder, and Torture
kkmk's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Torture
Minor: Dementia, Incest, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Stalking
ktrecs's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Dementia, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, and Violence
Minor: Gun violence
qi_'s review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
5.0
- book 1 = a much slower character study and can see that people might stop reading at this point since the plot meanders for while. however, since i enjoy character driven stories i didn't mind.
- book 2 = plot picks up but not as fast as i expected. start to uncover the background but still was left unsure of where the plot would go because it was still a little bit stagnent.
- book 3 = plot picks up again but it didn't feel rushed and was actually still quite slow and i was approaching the end and was still like so what is gonna happen. it did feel a little repetitive between the perspectives though.
- ending = i have so many questions but im not mad about it ?? i would have gladly read another couple hundred pages just to answer the questions. however, i still felt satisfied which is quite weird.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder
Moderate: Death of parent, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault
Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence
blueberryhotel's review
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual content
Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Death, and Incest
Minor: Death of parent, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence