Reviews

Cult X by Kalau Almony, Fuminori Nakamura

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klamsc's review against another edition

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so much rape and gratuitous sex. I was icked out so I had to stop

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em33l1's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Wouldn’t recommend. I can see how it could’ve been something actually worthy of being called an author’s “magnum opus” but the execution just wasn’t there for me. On to the next.

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zandria's review against another edition

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While a fantastic book I found it to be very graphic. There are no warnings about the content in the book and it wad often very abruptly presented in the story. I wanted to continue, but I found scenes and content difficult to handle without warning they were coming.

Content Warnings

franklyfrank's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense 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

3.25

maxholmes11's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad 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

3.75

hieronymusbotched's review against another edition

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2.0

For anyone who has read a moderate amount of philosophy, pop science, or generally nihilistic fiction, there really isn’t anything here that will shock you, other than some wafer thin portrayals of women in states of extreme trauma and/or situations designed around abuse. Fortunately(?), almost all the men are categorically weak and cartoonish in their desires as well, so at least the poor characterization is distributed evenly across the genders.

So! What else?

Basically, that there is a much better novel buried somewhere inside the rubble of what got published. Sometimes you can catch a glimpse of it between the lines. Once you hit the back half, you’ll realize it can’t be saved. The pop philosophy becomes thematic exposition, the hyper violence/sadism ends up so disconnected from reality that it lacks the necessary punch to shock or stir, and 99% of its characters have the charisma of a stoned spatula.

I do not know how this made so many end-of-year lists for 2018. Who are these critics? How are they so easily shocked?

Don’t be fooled by the blurbs. Dostoevsky (Camus (Ōe)) this is not. The last is a particular shame, as Ōe is a favorite of mine.

1.5* rounded up.