Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Audition by Ryū Murakami

37 reviews

ande13's review

dark mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

3.5

I’m always wary of foreign books translated into English because there’s so many things that could go wrong - a lack of understanding of one of the languages that results in flat writing, a lack of cultural understanding that results in a confusing story line, over explanation to try and avoid any potential misunderstandings, etc. but I’ve always heard such good things about Audition that I decided to give it a shot.

It wasn’t exactly the story I thought it would be. It was very slow in the beginning, but built up nicely. I wish they would have spent a little less time building to the climax, and I wanted there to be more wrap up at the end, but I enjoyed the overall plot. It was such a short book that the author definitely could have added more aftermath it to wrap things up better and it still wouldn’t have felt too long.

The only thing that seemed out of place was all the American pop culture references. It may have been what the author actually wrote, but it felt more like the translator was trying to make sports etc. more digestible for the English reader’s palette versus just keeping the original content. To me, it felt like a weird mashup you see in older anime where the English cast says something like, “gee, these cookies sure are great!” When the person is clearly eating rice balls. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Body horror, and Animal death

Moderate: Child abuse

ariellogram's review

dark 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

1.5

I finished it. So I guess there's that. But what a trite, boring little book. Local man decides to get a wife, much in the same way one decides to get a new car, and

bloodshed follows.

If any of the characters had depth, or if the female lead had a complex motivation, maybe it would be tolerable. As it is, it's just a snoozefest.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, and Gore

The animal death is graphic and takes many pages.

cviii's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

2.25

i think this might be the worst book i’ve ever read. the only reason i didn’t rate it lower is that i can imagine ways it could have been worse. also there were a few bits of prose that i liked. 

the antagonist had potential to be interesting and complex but she isn’t, she’s predictable and her motivations are explained via exposition from the narration. side characters hint at ways she might be more interesting (suggesting she’s lying about her background, describing her almost as if she’s a supernatural entity), but in the end she comes across like a very tired cliche. 

the protagonist is also pretty boring. he’s not exactly likeable (going along with a plan to trick young, aspiring actresses into thinking they’re auditioning for a movie when they’re really auditioning to be the protagonist’s future wife is pretty messed up) but he does have some decent qualities. not really enough to make me concerned with whether he’ll live to see the end of the novel but enough to keep me from actively rooting for him to die. 

the writing style didn’t work for me for the most part, aside from a couple lines of prose, as mentioned above. a lot of the book comes across as exposition which i didn’t enjoy much. i’m not sure how much of my issues with the writing can be explained by nuance getting lost in translation so i don’t hold this against the book too much. 

one thing i’ll give the book credit for is that it can easily be read in one sitting, maybe two, so you’re not investing much effort in reading it only to be let down in the end. i wouldn’t recommend reading it but you won’t lose much by giving it a couple hours of your day. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, and Physical abuse

lulsycc's review

dark tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Body horror, and Child abuse

Moderate: Gore, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Minor: Misogyny

readingsofaslinky's review against another edition

dark tense 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Animal death, Violence, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Body horror, Cancer, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Murder, Bullying, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Mental illness, Sexual violence, and Stalking

lain_darko's review

dark mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Animal death, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Pedophilia, Murder, Misogyny, and Child abuse

clarxvizconde13's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse

sephyy's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Gore

Moderate: Child abuse

stephanieluxton's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-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

3.5

This book starts out a little slowly and then definitely builds up a sense of dread. A friend once told me that you don't know if you're in a horror story or a romance until you've already made at least one bad decision and that idea really summarizes this book. The end is very violent and intense. I would have rated it harder if

there wasn't a very graphic and unnecessary torture and murder of an innocent dog. </Spoiler>

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Torture, Animal death, Body horror, Blood, Toxic relationship, and Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse and Emotional abuse

Minor: Alcohol, Death of parent, Drug use, and Grief

There's a very graphic scene of a

dog being tortured and killed, and a man having his foot cut off.

There's one sex scene and it's reasonably graphic.

akira_outofthegravity's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• 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

3.75

I support women’s rights, I also support women’s wrongs.

Similar to Piercing, this book focuses more on the build up to the climax than on the actual climax itself. It’s a well written critique of misogyny in modern Japan, and while I started feeling sorry for Aoyama his attitude towards women reflected by himself and Shige made me worry less about him over time. 

I really enjoyed it! I preferred Piercing both story wise and also gore wise, but I’m glad I read this and I’m excited to watch the film too!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Murder, Sexual content, Body horror, Blood, Misogyny, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Grief, Incest, Cursing, Death, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, and Emotional abuse