Reviews tagging 'Blood'

In The Miso Soup by Ryū Murakami

82 reviews

jan_coco_day's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Ryu Murakami is the superior Murakami. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Blood, Misogyny, Murder, Hate crime, Violence, Physical abuse, Death, Gore, Torture, Cursing, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

heyjudecrochets's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Mental illness and Self harm

kozumethan's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Gore, Gaslighting, Body horror, and Blood

melodyseestrees's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

1.75

This is a gore-filled book and has a lot of violence against women characters. The majority of the killer's victims are women somewhere between high school age and their thirties. The killer talks about sex with the dying bodies of women in a particularly grotesque manner.

He slits one woman's throat, exposes her vagina, tries to get another man to fuck her as she is dying and then ends up putting a severed ear inside her. He also rants about dead woman's "pussy being the best best" because "the brain is dead but the pussy is still alive so there is no resistance."

There is one man killed as brutally as some of the women. There are two other men killed but not much detail is given. There is a homeless person who also dies with details given via the news.
The killer's motives for their actions are lackluster and dissatisfactory.

The killer has no motives behind killing or whom he chooses to kill. He just kills.

The killer's backstory and skillset are also very lackluster.

He learned how to slit throats without them gushing blood from people in reform schools. Even though he was 4-7 years old when he attacked his mom, killed a swan, or killed two people that are never described in detail. Oh and he was also into black magic and hypnosis too, of course.

This is a story to read if you love gore, hate women, and aren't fussed about the details. This is not what I look for in horror and I think it should be categorized as Gore Porn or light Splatterpunk instead.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Death, Body shaming, Child death, Gore, Body horror, Fatphobia, Murder, Animal cruelty, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Torture, Animal death, and Rape

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Toxic friendship

The main character is in his twenties and dating a sixteen year old, at least one on-page victim is also a high schooler and may have been a minor.

sisa_moyo's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

This is Murakami at his most dark and twisted. This is about an American Frank who comes to Japan to tour the red light district through the services of Kenji, the tour guide. But as the night darkens and the 2 walk through the streets of Japan the mood and tone get darker, deadlier and murderous.
I think Murakami excels most in these shorter books. Compared to his longer book Coin locker babies which at times felt like it meandered into tangents a bit, this felt more whittled down and straight to the point.
In the miso soup is well written in my opinion, the descriptions of Frank, of Japanese night life are so vivid you can clearly picture it, and also feel the creeps from Frank. There was wonderful commentary on America vs the other, of Japanese condition, loneliness and poverty that made the book a spectacular read. 
I think while the ending was vague and extremely open ended I quite enjoyed it, the lack of concrete, blatant resolution keeps one thinking about the book long after it, about what happened to each character afterward. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Mental illness, Gore, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Self harm

jordanpmck's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Body horror, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Animal death, Murder, Violence, and Torture

Moderate: Cannibalism, Mental illness, and Medical trauma

Minor: Pedophilia, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Rape, and Classism

hqgazzet009's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Body horror

perpetually_isolated_being's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Trafficking, Murder, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Violence, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore

calamitydane's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

3.0

I liked the first two sections but I really didn't like section 3. The descriptions were disturbing, but I like that. The last part and especially the ending, didn't seem to mesh with the rest.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Murder, Body horror, Suicide, Blood, Self harm, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Death, Suicide attempt, and Fatphobia

Minor: Cannibalism

ksuiter0221's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Body horror, and Death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Classism