Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Kafka On The Shore by Haruki Murakami

125 reviews

lena_2106's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

This book is really strange and I don’t know how to feel. Some parts I really did not enjoy reading and I don’t know why anybody would think it’s a good idea to write that down and publish it. But overall it was kind of a great book? Definitely loved the idea of different worlds and how that was done, but I think I’d be scared of recommending it to anyone because I don’t want people to think I’m sick. I am confused.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Murder, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Sexual assault

Minor: War

thequiltyreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Having finished this book I don't quite know what to make of it. I think I enjoyed it, it certainly kept me reading. I found it slow but intriguing. I also however felt there was unnecessary overuse of violence and sexual content. I was wondering how it was all going to come together in the end but I felt I got to the end and had no idea what happened. I think I need some time to dwell on the book and what I think of it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Animal death, Death of parent, Gore, Incest, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, and Violence

marsmartis's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Self harm, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Gore, Death of parent, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, and War

sanikaaa___'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Dementia, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Blood, Animal cruelty, Sexism, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Transphobia and Death of parent

abyss65's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual content, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death of parent, Murder, and Rape

risemini's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Rape, Sexual content, Death, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Self harm, Violence, and Incest

iris_lrf's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

This is one of the worst best books you will ever read. Murakami will sprout some of the most deep, poetic words imaginable, but it will be right after the fifteen-year-old protagonist

fucks the ghost of his still-alive maybe-mother

. It is a perfect example of the magic realism genre, and by that I mean it makes absolutely zero sense.

The ending, too, is ridiculously vague. I suppose I should be glad there's a chance she wasn't his mother, but potentially incestuous vampirism sure is something I hadn't considered before. Also, what the fuck was that worm thing about?

 

I haven't read anything else by Murakami (and I don't intend to), but according to others, a gripping style, adamant homo/transphobia, and obsessive Freudianism are all staples of his works. And this book is no different: a modern (at the time) retelling of Oedipus Rex where the protagonist is newly fifteen, fully aware of the prophecy, and - I cannot stress this enough - actively choosing to pursue it. It's technically not pedophilia because Japanese laws are different than in the west, but still. Come on. What the hell. Oh, and his sister's in the prophecy too. I'll let you guess which part. You think this review is running a little long? You haven't even SEEN the number of content warnings I'm going to slap on this bad boy.
All that said, even with one protagonist whose only character traits are "Oedipus complex" and "teenage boy," another who is just a walking autism stereotype (I mean, a child in a man's body? Come on), and a whole cast of chronically horny sociopaths, it SOMEHOW manages to be a page-turner. Truly one of the few books that you wish with all your heart you could put down, but are forced by some external power to continue reading until your sanity finally breaks. Because trust me, it will break. For me it happened around chapter five. 
So yeah, if multitudes of

needlessly graphic incest, VERY borderline pedophilia, pointless vagueness, childhood trauma, a trans man literally calling himself a woman of his own accord, gore, violence towards animals, AND MORE

are all things you can stand, sure. Go ahead. But don't say I didn't warn you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Transphobia, Murder, Violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual content

Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, Incest, Misogyny, Outing, Pedophilia, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Alcohol, Murder, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Transphobia

Minor: Cursing

minisaucisse's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

Murakami is a wierd dude who only write women to give sex partners to his male characters. The story is sometimes tedious but in general interesting, minus the moments when something ludicrously illegal and amoral happens and everyone is okay with it. This makes the message of the book very muddy

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Blood, Incest, Rape, and Sexual content

Moderate: Sexism and Transphobia

Women are useless and a transperson is used as a plot device ?

soyboysimon's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.5

Would have been a lot more enjoyable without the sexism. The way that Murakami thinks about women genuinely troubles me. He talks so lightly about serious topics like rape that shows you what he really thinks about them. The writing was enjoyable, the story was exciting and fast paced. I feel a little conflicted about the characters, some I love and some I absolutely despise. Would have been a better read without all of the sex scenes. We really don't need that much detail, its almost an obsessive amount of talk about d*ck. And ugh why is his first description of every woman how big her breasts are?!? There are also a couple of chapters that get very graphic. If you don't like gore maybe skip it, i sobbed over the amout of animal torture. It just left a bad taste in my mouth. Do i regret it? No. Will I be reading more Murakami? Also no

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, War, Body horror, Rape, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Murder, Blood, Sexism, Sexual content, and Transphobia

xaurarose's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Incest, Trafficking, Animal death, Ableism, Rape, and Sexual content