Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Audition

While I do appreciate this novel, the two things that nearly brought me to give up on it was its slow pace and prose that felt longer than it should. However, it is not to say that it did not serve a purpose. You forget that you are reading a Ryū Murakami book and find yourself thinking you’re reading a little romance between lonely Aoyama and mysterious dream girl Yamasaki Asami. You, the reader, even glances over the explicit red flags the iconic villainess has left behind.

Content Warnings

cozyscones's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense medium-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? It's complicated

2.5

Content Warnings

sbjuliana's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

doomluz's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I love the film based on this book and the plot felt almost the same from what I can remember of the film. The book still has the sort of surreal/dreamy feeling as the movie though it goes into more detail on a few things.

Somehow the book felt more gruesome at the climax than I remember the film being. I remember the dog died in the film, but in the book Asami tortures it before it dies.

Content Warnings

chloseencounter's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious tense slow-paced

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

1.5

I really wanted to enjoy this novel considering the movie adaptation is a cult classic. I have never seen the movie adaptation, though I understand there are some large changes from the book but I wanted to read it first. The concept was interesting enough but honestly 3/4 of this book was just a romance novel and even though I knew it was going to switch up I got pretty bored listening to this manipulative man talk about how in love with this young girl he was. Before the “plot twist”, if you can call it that, there was a sex scene that felt as if it was written by a teenage fan fiction author. In fact I’ve read fan fiction much less cringe worthy. The ending was lack luster, I saw it from a mile away even without having seen the movie. I still have a few books by Ryu Murakami on my TBR so I hope to enjoy those better. I’ll give the movie a try soon.

Content Warnings

gasolinecupcake's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

I think the movie does the storyline more justice. But the book is still a great read.
The movie is my favorite movie of all time so maybe I'm a bit biased

Content Warnings

sphinxofblackquartz's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.25

Content Warnings

terroraaa's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

More...