Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Tokio blues (Norwegian Wood)

Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Tokio blues (Norwegian Wood) by Haruki Murakami

221 reviews

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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scouto's review against another edition

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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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vahala's review against another edition

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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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lisa00's review against another edition

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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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niallgoulding1's review against another edition

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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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jazsever's review against another edition

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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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fbarros's review against another edition

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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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