Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

11 reviews

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.

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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

caseyreadslol's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

1.0

every mention of kafka listening to prince is meant to piss me off personally I think 

a decent magical realism road trip romp sandwiched between some of the most unbearable fake deep horrifying garbage I've ever encountered in fiction

*does absolutely nothing to escape fate past running away and barely has any sense of anguish and won't shut the fuck up about "are you my sister are you my mommy can we fuck oh shit five pages since talking about my schlong* wow oh my god I guess fate is inescapable that's wild

it is bugging me to give this such a low score when I've given higher ratings to works I find much worse in terms of prose/etc but seeing skill squandered is blindingly painful

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Animal cruelty, Violence, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Incest, and Pedophilia

Minor: Transphobia

toffishay's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

What a book! I had this copy of Kafka on the Shore for almost two years before I tackled it this month and once I started, I couldn't put it down. This is such a creative and intriguing exploration of memory and destiny, the connections that we might and how we come to be the people that we are. How we craft ourselves and are made new every day, while still being informed by all that comes before us. The way that time is used it so trippy and interesting. Time moves past us and through us. We can't get time back and we can waste our whole lives chasing it. And even with these really big ideas, at its core this is a story about a young boy trying to understand himself. The simplicity of that is what keeps the story so tight and I can see why people continue to come back to it. Some parts are tricky...definitely check content warnings and I think that some parts could have been scaled back for sure which stops me from going like up to a 5 star rating for this book. But sometimes the stars are a general guide and I would still recommend this book for sure. Hoshino is my favorite character!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Animal death, Death, Gore, Incest, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abandonment, Murder, Sexism, Toxic friendship, and War

Minor: Torture, Bullying, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Police brutality, and Self harm

star_witch's review against another edition

3.75

I honestly wished I had read the trigger warnings beforehand because it was brutal. Chapter 16? It scared me for life, it haunts me in my dreams. Life will never be the same.

Ofc we also have adult/minor relationship, with sexual content and Murakami sprinkled some incest there as well. It was... It was a time not gonna lie. Hated every second of it.

And yet, despite the fact that I absolutely hated some themes of this book and I definitely think that some things could have been altered and it would still capture the story the same way without traumatizing the reader, it was an unexpectedly good book. The writing style and the way the story was told managed to hold my attention. I couldn't figure out where the plot was going so that's why I kept reading even after some of the worst experiences I had while reading a book. The characters were unique, and while we definitely have some really problematic ones, imo

*cough* Ms. Saeki and Johnnie Walker *cough, cough*

, I overall liked them and their journey. One obviously stands out to me. Oshima.

Also serious question. What is Colonel Sanders doing in this book? And Johnnie Walker too.

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It is definitely not a book I would recommend to anyone. If you would like to read it I strongly advise you to check the trigger warnings before doing so. Don't make the same mistake I did.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, and Rape

Moderate: Abandonment, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic relationship

Minor: Emotional abuse

iamjanaq's review

dark informative mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, and Sexual assault

cutepatzie's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

It's a very interesting book and concept. Definitely something fresh. It's amazing how it's like reading to book but is one cohesive story. Amazing how the autor makes such an amazing story that makes you want to read more to find out every detail of what is happening. This story is for people to not read it sounds like maniac speach. But still such a good book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, Incest, Murder, Suicide attempt, Torture, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Death, Dementia, Gore, Medical content, Rape, Sexual content, Suicide, War, Vomit, Alcohol, Animal death, Chronic illness, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, and Transphobia

Moderate: Bullying

sunny_not's review

adventurous challenging dark reflective slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Incest, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Violence

daltonlaut's review

emotional mysterious reflective relaxing slow-paced

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

3.5

A nice relaxing read. This is my second Murakami after wild sheep chase and even though I enjoyed sheep chase a little more, Kafka was a very nice, slow read. A little confusing, as one can expect from the author, but ultimately one can piece the layers of mysticism into a nice story. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Pedophilia, and Incest

orlagal's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Murder, Mental illness, Medical content, Infidelity, Incest, Grief, Gore, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Death

kashila's review against another edition

challenging mysterious reflective 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Transphobia, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Grief, Emotional abuse, and Self harm