Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

25 reviews

amymarchlawrence's review

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual content, Gore, Blood, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Medical content

britanicadramatica's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

In this book, we have two converging perspectives. Kafka Tamura, a fifteen-year-old runaway; and Mr. Nakata, a man in his mid-sixties who is unable to read or write. Magical realism is a great way to describe this tale of two souls. I laughed and I gasped throughout this book. I strongly suggest looking at content warnings prior to picking this up, as some of the content took me extremely off guard. This book left me speechless and confused about my own feelings, but that's art, right? It's supposed to give you visceral reactions. It's sad, whimsical, gruesome, and harrowing at the same time. 

I gave this book four stars because of the graphic content, it was unsettling at times. 

This book reminds me of a much more sophisticated version of John Dies at the End. I say this because of the appearances of Johnnie Walker and Colonel Sanders, which seemed very silly. There were parts of this book that were so whimsical and spiritual, while other parts were so graphic and disturbing. Nakata's perspective is easily my favorite. I do wish it dove further into Nakata and Miss Saeki's timeline with the entrance stone and their experiences in the other world. I very strongly disliked the violent and predatory aspects of Kafka's perspective; as well as the animal cruelty in Nakata's timeline. Kafka's journey is essentially Oedipus Rex. Nakata and Hoshino go through huge character development.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Abandonment

maizerbeam_16's review against another edition

adventurous funny reflective

• 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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Child abuse, Incest, and Misogyny

thequiltyreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

Having finished this book I don't quite know what to make of it. I think I enjoyed it, it certainly kept me reading. I found it slow but intriguing. I also however felt there was unnecessary overuse of violence and sexual content. I was wondering how it was all going to come together in the end but I felt I got to the end and had no idea what happened. I think I need some time to dwell on the book and what I think of it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Animal death, Death of parent, Gore, Incest, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, and Violence

corpsepose's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective

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

Ambiwalentna w odbiorze. Lekka, ale nie prosta. Po przeczytaniu mam do niej stosunek "środkowy", ale w żadnym razie nie neutralny, może nawet nieco bardziej na minus. Na pewno do ponownego odwiedzenia, być może więcej niż raz.

Mitologizacja nie zatrzymuje się na przepowiedni, być może stąd trudna w ocenie przez pryzmat zwykłego, "dzisiejszego" zestawu norm i wartości. 

Historia, zdaje mi się, o pudełkach, drzwiach i ramkach, a także o połowach rzeczy, co zgrabnie podsumowują cytat przytoczony na okładce i wspomnienie o "Uczcie" Platona.

Z prostszych obserwacji: Murakami nie umie pisać kobiet, za to ciekawa transreprezentacja. Różnice kulturowe mogą dawać się we znaki czytelnikowi.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Sexual content, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, Torture, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, and Violence

sanikaaa___'s review

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Dementia, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Blood, Animal cruelty, Sexism, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Transphobia and Death of parent

thenoboshow's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

Prose felt like stumbling through a dream. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Murder, Sexual assault, Rape, Torture, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Grief, Incest, Suicide, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Child abuse

abyss65's review

mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual content, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death of parent, Murder, and Rape

10000hats's review

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.5

My first Murakami, so I don't really have anything to compare to but it was definitely hard to put down. It's one of those reread some lines over and over again books in order to really get what was going like. Very dreamcore, nonsensical/pos, and kinda absurd. Could almost say Kafkaesque but I wouldn't go that far. Left me in a bit of turmoil and frustration honestly, though I was very sad for some of the secondary characters. INTERESTING THOUGH, WOULD RECCOMEND.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Incest, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Abandonment and War

Minor: Child abuse

iris_lrf's review

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

This is one of the worst best books you will ever read. Murakami will sprout some of the most deep, poetic words imaginable, but it will be right after the fifteen-year-old protagonist

fucks the ghost of his still-alive maybe-mother

. It is a perfect example of the magic realism genre, and by that I mean it makes absolutely zero sense.

The ending, too, is ridiculously vague. I suppose I should be glad there's a chance she wasn't his mother, but potentially incestuous vampirism sure is something I hadn't considered before. Also, what the fuck was that worm thing about?

 

I haven't read anything else by Murakami (and I don't intend to), but according to others, a gripping style, adamant homo/transphobia, and obsessive Freudianism are all staples of his works. And this book is no different: a modern (at the time) retelling of Oedipus Rex where the protagonist is newly fifteen, fully aware of the prophecy, and - I cannot stress this enough - actively choosing to pursue it. It's technically not pedophilia because Japanese laws are different than in the west, but still. Come on. What the hell. Oh, and his sister's in the prophecy too. I'll let you guess which part. You think this review is running a little long? You haven't even SEEN the number of content warnings I'm going to slap on this bad boy.
All that said, even with one protagonist whose only character traits are "Oedipus complex" and "teenage boy," another who is just a walking autism stereotype (I mean, a child in a man's body? Come on), and a whole cast of chronically horny sociopaths, it SOMEHOW manages to be a page-turner. Truly one of the few books that you wish with all your heart you could put down, but are forced by some external power to continue reading until your sanity finally breaks. Because trust me, it will break. For me it happened around chapter five. 
So yeah, if multitudes of

needlessly graphic incest, VERY borderline pedophilia, pointless vagueness, childhood trauma, a trans man literally calling himself a woman of his own accord, gore, violence towards animals, AND MORE

are all things you can stand, sure. Go ahead. But don't say I didn't warn you. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Child abuse, Death of parent, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Transphobia, Murder, Violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual content

Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, Incest, Misogyny, Outing, Pedophilia, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Alcohol, Murder, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Transphobia

Minor: Cursing