Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

10 reviews

nesilla's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Alcohol, Death, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Sexism, Suicide, Grief, Self harm, Cancer, and Misogyny

leabharlady's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Ableism, and Sexism

mmatti300's review

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I feel like I have given Haruki Murakami such a good shot at this point with 3 and an eighth of his books read, and yet I still just don't know what it is about him that I can't fully click with. I found myself incredibly bored during this one, which I hadn't experienced with any of his other books and was disappointing since this is probably one of his most popular books. I just did not gel with any of the characters and I still find his obsession with ejaculation disturbing and unnecessary. I think that this is probably between Kafka and Wind Up Bird for me and I might still try, if I can figure out how to get over his strange descriptions of women.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Suicide, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

dugfromthedirt's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol and Mental illness

Moderate: Ableism, Vomit, Death, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, and Sexism

Minor: Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Outing, Cancer, and Abandonment

bcooper21's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful reflective sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Blood, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, and Forced institutionalization

risemini's review

dark 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? No

0.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Mental illness, Misogyny, Death of parent, Confinement, Rape, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, and Death

flamesocks's review

challenging emotional reflective sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

jademrosas's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, and Mental illness

lostinthelibrary's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-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

2.5

I wanted to give Murakami another try as this book was chosen for a book club I am part of but I can now say that he is not for me. All of the aspects that I disliked about The Wind Up Bird Chronicles: meandering plot, annoying characters, cringey sex scenes; they were also present here. It gets an extra .5 stars because of the lack of magical realism elements. Really it was pretty bleak with, as with WUBC, the main redeeming feature being the descriptive writing style and in-depth character searching monologues. Sorry Murakami, I tried.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Infidelity

Moderate: Misogyny, Suicide, Chronic illness, Death, Forced institutionalization, Terminal illness, and Mental illness

Minor: Bullying

closelywatchedfilms's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

1.0

Haruki Murakami really irritates me as an author because he clearly has the ability to write beautiful, intense passages but seems to simultaneously possess a desire to make every single female reader feel as uncomfortable as possible. There were events in this book that made me visibly cringe and overall is incredibly problematic. Unfortunately, I think my time attempting to connect with Murakami is now over. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Homophobia

Minor: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, and Blood