Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Bullet Train by Kōtarō Isaka

6 reviews

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

dark funny reflective tense

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Violence, Gun violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Car accident, Death, Gaslighting, Murder, Torture, and Transphobia

Moderate: Child death, Genocide, Fatphobia, Grief, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death of parent, Medical content, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Pedophilia, Classism, Mass/school shootings, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and War

oceanwriter's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

2.0

If you have knowledge of Japanese culture and literature, this is probably an enjoyable book. Unfortunately, I am not all too familiar with these things and found myself lost throughout most of the story.

The plot itself is fairly simple — five assassins on a train and a briefcase. I really couldn't tell you much more than that. The characters all blended together for me and I could never remember who was who (and I wasn't invested enough to put a great effort into doing so).

I got more of a heist vibe from this story than a thriller. I think I would have enjoyed the book a lot more if I was better acquainted with Japanese literature. It felt slow yet hectic which was an odd combination, and the names were confusing to me as well. Definitely a situation where the problem is my personal preference rather than the book itself (although I have nothing to compare it to in this genre). If not for this being a book club read, I wouldn't have bothered to finish it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Alcoholism and Animal cruelty

Minor: Death of parent, Pedophilia, and Bullying

rosie_valadez's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism and Animal cruelty

Minor: Death of parent, Transphobia, and Bullying

librariangeorgia's review

adventurous tense fast-paced

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

3.5

I tried reading this book a few months ago but I couldn’t get into it. I think it’s because there’s multiple characters to keep track of and it’s so detailed. Therefore, this time around I decided to make notes to make it easier to follow. 

 

I ended up really enjoying this book! And I’m especially looking forward to seeing the film this weekend to see how it compares! 

 

It’s a fast paced, locked-room style thriller with so much happening that it doesn’t seem like it’ll all line up. None of the characters are likeable, which is expected as they are all assassins. However, I did have a soft spot for Ladybird - he just has so much bad luck that I felt sorry for him! 

 

I always struggle with translated books as they don’t tend to be completely translated the way it’s originally written. For this one, the time periods within each chapter would jump quite a bit without notice. There’s also the sexist and transphobic comments which I’m not sure if they were intentional or mistranslated. 

 

Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable read. If you like translated works, I’d recommend reading this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Murder, Bullying, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Violence, and Transphobia

sarah984's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

This was a super fun popcorn movie of a thriller about several assassins and other shady types all trying to complete their missions on one crazy train ride. The characters are all larger than life and feel bold and unique. The tension never lets up and every tiny detail that ever comes up is tied up perfectly by the end.

I would have given this 5 stars but there's a minor side character who, while I enjoyed her, was constantly assailed by transmisogynist jokes and that bugged me. I'm hoping that gets fixed in the upcoming film version.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Transphobia

Minor: Bullying, Car accident, Child death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Pedophilia, Stalking, and Torture

madarauchiha's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

 ❤️ 🧡 💛 💚 💙 💜  my about / byf / CW info carrd: uchiha-madara 💜 💙 💚 💛 🧡 ❤️



I wanted to like it from the summary. I didn't really click with it, but finished it anyways just to see what the conclusion was. I was pretty happy with it. I think there was more fighting scenes than I cared for, but that's a personal issue rather than a problem with the book. At times the plot does feel contrived. I think I would enjoy this more as a action movie. It was fairly slow paced. The writing was alright, it's well translated. I think my least favorite character is The Prince. Imagine that guy from Death Note but much younger and just as edgy. 

content warnings [maybe incomplete]

minor parental death, domestic violence, 

medium child abuse, violence, heights, medical scenarios, ableism, transphobia, transmisogyny, child death, diseases, pedophilia, csa, genocide, Rwandan genocide, medical experimentation, animal cruelty, dogs, 

major guns, alcohol abuse, car accidents, death, murder, kidnapping, torture, 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Alcoholism, Car accident, Death, Kidnapping, and Torture

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Transphobia, Pedophilia, Genocide, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Death of parent and Domestic abuse