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dishwaterpossum's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This was almost a really good book. It t started to spiral for me at one point that was the beginning of the end. Then it just went way off the deep frenetic and of chaos. The end was so poignant but it was lost because of the rest of the wild ass dream world .
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Murder, and Homophobia
jamesfromblub's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? It's complicated
1.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fatphobia, Misogyny, Rape, and Homophobia
theseventhl's review
3.0
Scientists are finding new ways to treat mental illnesses every day. Some treatments border on the science-fiction. So what about a device that enters the dreams of a patient, can let the person treating them directly access the other's subconscious world and alter it? When the line between reality and dreams blur, where will science stand? Paprika, the basis for the Satoshi Kon film of the same name, tackles these massive issues and somehow manages to come out on the other side intact. If anything, Paprika is a battle to control reality as we know it.
You can read my complete review of the novel PAPRIKA at my blog.
You can read my complete review of the novel PAPRIKA at my blog.
pekoegal's review against another edition
4.0
It gets a bit confusing at the end. I prefer the Atsuko Chiba of the movie adaptation, but for the way the book works, her character is okay. The pacing is a bit slow for my tastes, but once things get "weird" it picks up rather abruptly.
The movie rolls a few characters into one package, which helped its pacing, and I think that would have corrected the pacing problem I had with the book.
The book introduces a lot of interesting ideas about psychology, technology, ethics, and office politics. It would be fun to discuss this in a book group.
The movie rolls a few characters into one package, which helped its pacing, and I think that would have corrected the pacing problem I had with the book.
The book introduces a lot of interesting ideas about psychology, technology, ethics, and office politics. It would be fun to discuss this in a book group.
sashasghost's review
1☆
this is the first book i've DNFed. the first alarm bells started with the blatant fat shaming/fatphobia. very cruel descriptions of the fat characters.
alarm bells continued with the misogyny. we have a female lead, a scientist who's shortlisted for the Nobel Prize, and the focus is always on her beauty. when another woman, a nurse at the institute, is introduced she's immediately compared in beauty to the lead. it's all quite gross.
i didn't get far enough into the book to meet the homophobia and repeated disgusting rape scenes.
mental illness is discussed from a strong Freudian and Jungian perspective and it all just screams of dismissive heteronormativity. the person treated for anxiety issues is cured after a few sessions, three i think. the application of dream devices shows the author has little to no understanding of the complexity of mental illness, instead pushing the idea that there's a single root cause. as deal with a rather nasty disorder i find the view of mental illness very insulting and ignorant.
the science fiction aspect of these devices and scientific ethics isn't explored in any interesting way. it's all highly dismissive of following proper protocol in relation to new technologies, which is an extremely dangerous view. the dream devices are used illegally to treat patients who aren't schizophrenic and the characters who question and criticise this are all selfish and power-hungry. there's only 'evil', untrustworthy characters who bring up these ethical concerns, resulting in them being dismissed as ploys to remove the protagonist and her allies from the institute.
TLDR: interesting concept that isn't actually critically explored. this book is just a mush of misogyny, sexism, homophobia, fatphobia, and insulting views of mental illness.
this is the first book i've DNFed. the first alarm bells started with the blatant fat shaming/fatphobia. very cruel descriptions of the fat characters.
alarm bells continued with the misogyny. we have a female lead, a scientist who's shortlisted for the Nobel Prize, and the focus is always on her beauty. when another woman, a nurse at the institute, is introduced she's immediately compared in beauty to the lead. it's all quite gross.
i didn't get far enough into the book to meet the homophobia and repeated disgusting rape scenes.
mental illness is discussed from a strong Freudian and Jungian perspective and it all just screams of dismissive heteronormativity. the person treated for anxiety issues is cured after a few sessions, three i think. the application of dream devices shows the author has little to no understanding of the complexity of mental illness, instead pushing the idea that there's a single root cause. as deal with a rather nasty disorder i find the view of mental illness very insulting and ignorant.
the science fiction aspect of these devices and scientific ethics isn't explored in any interesting way. it's all highly dismissive of following proper protocol in relation to new technologies, which is an extremely dangerous view. the dream devices are used illegally to treat patients who aren't schizophrenic and the characters who question and criticise this are all selfish and power-hungry. there's only 'evil', untrustworthy characters who bring up these ethical concerns, resulting in them being dismissed as ploys to remove the protagonist and her allies from the institute.
TLDR: interesting concept that isn't actually critically explored. this book is just a mush of misogyny, sexism, homophobia, fatphobia, and insulting views of mental illness.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, and Sexism
Moderate: Fatphobia
why_balloo's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I really loved the first 300 pages of this, it's incredible and terrifying and thought provoking but boy oh boy did it not know how to stick the landing. Not bad, just a very perfunctory "I guess we better wrap this up" home stretch.
germangfeler's review
4.0
Kosaku Tokita es un brillante científico, responsable de crear los "dispositivos de psicoterapia" que permiten ver (o incluso entrar a) los sueños de los pacientes. La protagonista de este libro, Atsuko Chiba, es la otra pata de este singular equipo y está encargada de tratar a pacientes depresivos o esquizofrénicos usando los dispositivos de Tokita. Cuando entra en este rol de "detective de sueños" toma una personalidad más juvenil y desdenfadada a la que llama Paprika. El eje de la historia es el robo de uno de estos dispositivos por parte del vicepresidente del instituto donde ellos trabajan, quien lo utiliza con fines oscuros.
Tsutsui nos sumerge de lleno en este mundo de psicoanálisis, máquinas futuristas y escenas oníricas. Me resultó interesante como intruducía conceptos del psicoanálisis en la historia, particularmente porque es un tema que no me atrae para nada, así que es todo mérito del autor que me haya enganchado. Las escenas de los sueños son espectaculares y muy bien narradas, aunque el final me pareció un poco ambicioso.
Como puntos negativos, el autor muchas veces cae en la misoginia y la homofobia. Personajes femeninos que "se dejan violar" o justifican las violaciones por la belleza del perpetrador. También se habla negativamente de gays y lesbianas en varios pasajes del libro. Creo que este es el mayor error de Tsusui.
No vi aun la versión animé de esta historia aunque pienso hacerlo en breve. Me gustaría que se filmara una versión live-action también, creo que lo amerita. Aunque Nolan ya se robó varias ideas de esta novela en Inception, je.
Tsutsui nos sumerge de lleno en este mundo de psicoanálisis, máquinas futuristas y escenas oníricas. Me resultó interesante como intruducía conceptos del psicoanálisis en la historia, particularmente porque es un tema que no me atrae para nada, así que es todo mérito del autor que me haya enganchado. Las escenas de los sueños son espectaculares y muy bien narradas, aunque el final me pareció un poco ambicioso.
Como puntos negativos, el autor muchas veces cae en la misoginia y la homofobia. Personajes femeninos que "se dejan violar" o justifican las violaciones por la belleza del perpetrador. También se habla negativamente de gays y lesbianas en varios pasajes del libro. Creo que este es el mayor error de Tsusui.
No vi aun la versión animé de esta historia aunque pienso hacerlo en breve. Me gustaría que se filmara una versión live-action también, creo que lo amerita. Aunque Nolan ya se robó varias ideas de esta novela en Inception, je.
acanthae's review against another edition
Lost interest. Honestly forgot I was reading this?
haishuneva's review
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
0.25