Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Tokio blues (Norwegian Wood) by Haruki Murakami

215 reviews

kyoe983's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional relaxing sad medium-paced

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

3.0

The one thing that this book keeps consistent throughout the story it's aesthetic. Through Murakami's writing style and the translator's work, we're transported in the somber and full-of-death world of Toru Watanabe, with every scene, place, thought, and dialogue seeming extremely vivid. This clearness of the story seems very entertaining while reading, but if you take it away you'll realize that Murakami writes about a bunch of nonsense. The flaws of this book are numerous, and even if it seems you're following a story while reading, you're not. There are just events. Rememberings of a 40-year-old man. Are his thoughts even real? He does mention in the first chapter that he doesn't remember much, and then proceeds to write a full book, very vividly and detailed, about his life 20 years ago. Maybe that also explains why the ending is so fucking bad. Maybe.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Rape, and Grief

Moderate: Cursing and Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol, Chronic illness, and Suicidal thoughts

mengzhenreads's review against another edition

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

2.75

I really am not sure how to feel about this book. On one hand, the writing was seriously top-shelf high quality stuff, with a style that is deceptively simple but really beautiful. On the other hand, I really felt weird about how Murakami wrote all of the female characters in this book. I felt like they were all written and described in ways that were questionable at best, and while I really got the idea of the whole reminiscent, nostalgic view at Toru's college life, the way that all of the women in the story were described just took me OUT. I did still enjoy parts of it, but overall I have really mixed feelings about this novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Rape

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Suicide

Minor: Death of parent

mjones14's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

Jesus christ. The amount of times I thought 'oh' whilst reading this. I get why it's such a red flag of a book now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Grief, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Death

kiinhi'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

4.0

so beautifully written...its almost hard not to get sucked in and transported into the world that murakami writes. There are definitely some parts of the book that I don't like--and I'm still on the fence about the way he writes naoko / midori / reiko, but the book overall felt like a dark, rainy april night. It's melancholic, lonely, and feels like a dull heart ache that never fully goes away. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Death, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

scouto's review against another edition

reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide, and Terminal illness

vahala's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

lisa00's review against another edition

dark reflective sad 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Death, Sexual content, Grief, and Mental illness

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, and Lesbophobia

niallgoulding1's review against another edition

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

3.25

Mixed feelings about this. I found the book very odd. 

In one sense, I can see why it is so well loved. Murakami writes beautifully. He writes through the eyes of a teenage boy dealing (or not dealing) with his childhood friends suicide. In this I think the author is successful as you feel like you're inside the characters head and they're are some beautifully insightful sections on grief and isolation. I can see why someone who feels a little bit lost or out of kilter with the world might feel heard by this book.

However, as many have commented before some of the events of the story are just bizarre. You could argue that some of this is the author reflecting a teenage boys mindset (i.e. the female characters are 2d heroines in need of rescuing not due to bad writing but rather because that is how the central character perceives them). However, that's undercut by sections which demonstrate a really weird relationship with women in general and don't orginate from the mouth of the protagonist. In particular, the scene where a 13 year old girl basically seduces and sexually assaults an adult woman is beyond the pale and served no purpose that I could see. Equally the ending where the protagonist continues to be irrestible to every woman he meets for no apparent reason seemed like fanfic. 

Even a month later I'm not sure what to make of this book. Just a strange experience

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

jazsever's review against another edition

dark sad 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide, and Adult/minor relationship

fbarros's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

Murakami has a beautiful way with words, making any bad story seem good. 
This book only has death and sex in it, but death is not explored as it should be, and sex is explored too much. 
The main character has nothing going for him, and every time a woman appears in his life, it's only to give him sexual pleasure of some kind. The characters aren't lovable or relatable and are vague even though they seem to talk a lot. 
The two stars are only given because I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of places as well as the flow of the plot and the way the author writes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts