Reviews tagging 'War'

Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami

7 reviews

m4rtt4's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-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? No

3.0

Not necessarily bad, but boring and wayyyy too long. The magical realism was good as always, too bad there was so little of it.

If I took a shot every time Murakami mentions breasts, I would have died of alcohol poisoning only a couple of chapters in. It also disgusted me that Akikawa Marie existed as a character only so that he could sexualize a 13-year-old🫠

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Death, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Violence, and Stalking

lilreddress's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I really enjoy Murakami, but find him hard work (possibly as a result of the translation rather than the original writing) and the female characters are comically awful at times.

I think nothing would have been lost if we just didn't mention the aunt or child's breasts at any time. It was pretty irrelevant to the story, and was pretty uncomfortable coming from a male writer. I think a female author would have probably left them out, or at least would have written female voices in a more realistic way.

The length is also questionable. I kept stopping reading to go read something else instead and coming back to it. I don't mind slow paced, and in fact the artist holed up in the country cottage gave some nice cosy vibes, and I loved reading about the everyday parts of life. However, this was truly glacial. Could have cut a hundred pages and still had the story intact, I think.

This is one of his weaker ones, but still very good. And definitely matches the level of weirdness I have come to expect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Sexual assault, Stalking, Rape, Alcohol, and Confinement

Minor: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide, War, Abortion, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Dementia, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Infidelity, and Murder

bella613's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book, but to be honest, after finishing it I still can’t really explain what it was about. I can remember all the pieces and how it made me feel, but it’s very difficult to put any real name to what the book is. A summary of events that happen makes it sound like a silly story and yet it’s strangely powerful. I think it’s meant to be like a great painting, one that you have to let sink in for a long time. Some parts of the book go into almost  uncomfortable detail but the descriptions are also what I loved most about the authors writing. Clearly the work of an artist. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Sexual violence, Grief, Dementia, and Murder

Minor: Genocide, Suicide, Rape, Infidelity, and War

risemini's review

mysterious slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, War, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Grief

williamgideon's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

I like the plot but it was wayyyy too dragged out. Could easily be edited down to 250/300 pages. Not worth the time it takes to read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Incest, and Violence

Minor: Sexual assault

frankahilde's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• 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

4.75

Killing commentatore is a beautiful book. It reminds me a lot of the wind up bird chronicles because it has a lot of similar motives (a dreamworld colliding with reality, a middle aged man left abruptly by his wife not really knowing what to do with his life, that man having a strange friendship with a young teenage girl, a house that is much more than that and sitting for hours in a dark confined space under the earth with only one other person knowing) But I really did prefer Killing Commendatore. Maybe because I am an artist as well, the topic of paintings and their meaning really fascinated me. I only think that the book was a little bit too long and could have been shortened at some points.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Suicide, War, and Rape

Minor: Abortion

jameslyons's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War, Sexual content, and Violence

Minor: Genocide