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lulsycc's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Alcohol, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Gun violence, Incest, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual violence, and Pregnancy
sm_moon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Murder
Moderate: Infertility, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, and Vomit
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
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
maac's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Graphic: Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Grief, Incest, Kidnapping, Death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Stalking, and Suicidal thoughts
GODD THIS WAS SO EW i would rather put my finger in a mouse trap before i interact with this ok basically EVERY SINGLE WOMAN (which totaled to about 6) had a sexual relationship with the men. INCLUDING a 17 year old girl. which murakami attempts to justify?!??!??? the only reason i finished this was because i was so far in. all the women are over sexualized, the plot drags on but is still somewhat interesting to keep you reading (or bc u got like 500 pages in and figured u might as well finish it), all of it just makes you feel sick and while there’s some interesting parts none of the sickening parts needed to be addedajhoppel'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
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
juliecantread's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Drug use, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Violence
notsayingrevolutionbut's review
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
Not in the same way that TSOA broke me, where I turned into a husk, but more like I think I saw the time-knife from The Good Place flash before my eyes
Anyway, this review will be unstarred because I don't know how to place such values on this book and I do not care to try. As for my thoughts: I have no thoughts. I present only a bulleted list of stream-of-consciousness reactions for posterity (includes mentions of canonical self-harm, rape, blood, and murder):
- the reading experience goes from good to GREAT if you listen to Janáček's Sinfonietta at the same time
- the content warnings needed for this book could form a robust companion novella
- if I hear about the size of someone's breasts one more time, I will eat my hat and yours too
- I would probably do anything for Tamaru
- (whispers softly) what the fuck is going on
- I, too, would like to corrupt my blood vessels by way of various literary intrigues
- found family assassin! style is the surest way to my heart
- have I mentioned Tamaru
- even though my brain is burning, I can appreciate how masterfully this is written
- looking at the moon? IN THIS ECONOMY???
- I haven't seen pacing this good since Nirvana in Fire, and that is the highest compliment I can possibly give
- singing a little Broadway ditty to myself in order to cope
- hELP
And now, on to quotes that present Liz thinks future Liz might enjoy:
"The moon had been observing the earth close-up longer than anyone. It must have witnessed all of the phenomena occurring-- and all of the acts carried out-- on this earth. But the moon remained silent; it told no stories. All it did was embrace the heavy past with cool, measured detachment." [p. 244]
"But decent motives don't always produce decent results. And the body is not the only target of rape. Violence does not always take visible form, and not all wounds gush blood." [p. 275]
"Tamaru is a man who keeps his word. He might kill you without hesitation if necessary, but even so, he would care for your rubber plant to the end." [p. 610]
"This is what it means to live on. When granted hope, a person uses it as fuel, as a guidepost to life. It is impossible to live without hope." [p. 705]
"'I'm like a rock wall,' Tamaru said. 'Plus, when it comes to being gay, I'm in the big leagues.'" [p. 742] [you and me both, Tamaru. You and me both]
"Hi, how are you? Check out the process of elimination." [p. 775]
"They were not very healthy-looking blood vessels-- blood vessels damaged by years of drinking, smoking, an unhealthy lifestyle, and various literary intrigues." [p. 878] [new life goal unlocked]
"To him, this was no longer a fictional world. This was the real world, where red blood spurts out when you slice open your skin with a knife. And in the sky in this world, there are two moons, side by side." [p. 880]
"That's fine. It's my gift to you. If it gets troublesome to have, just toss it into Tokyo Bay. The world will take one small step closer to disarmament." [p. 976] [quoth Tamaru my beloved]
"That familiar, yellow, solitary moon. The same moon that silently floated over fields of pampas grass, the moon that rose-- a gleaming, round saucer-- over the calm surface of lakes, that tranquilly beamed down on the rooftops of fast-asleep houses. The same moon that brought the high tide to shore, that softly shone on the fur of animals and enveloped and protected travelers at night. The moon that, as a crescent, shaved slivers from the soul-- or, as a new moon, silently bathed the earth in its own loneliness. That moon." [p. 1015]
And that's all, folks! I don't know what just happened in this book, I don't know if I will ever be the same again, and you should probably read it if you also wish to experience those feelings. I am going to lie down and not get up for the foreseeable future.
Graphic: Violence and Sexual content
Moderate: Rape, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Torture and Self harm