Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Kafka On The Shore by Haruki Murakami

396 reviews

emma_succubus's review against another edition

5.0

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Murakami's books are always a convoluted mess that leave you a bit like you just had a very realistic dream. This book is no different and leaves you a bit lost in the end. I think a very appropriate way to end this story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Incest, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia, Blood

Minor: Death of parent, War

das_'s review against another edition

0.5

mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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A quite interesting mystery full of self-discovery at its core, with quite an unusual narrative that tells this story from multiple angles at once, this book seemed quite promising from the start. However, the overly casual dialogues that oscillate between intentionally inarticulate and pseudo-intellectual quickly got on my nerves, and the subsequent attempts to make light of pedophilia as well as incest were only the last straw. I'm fairly confident that this is the worst book that I've read in the past decade or so.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Blood, Grief, Murder

geerbeer's review against another edition

3.0

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Wtf gewoon. Kon ook wel zonder alle rare seksuele fantasieën en onnodig dierenleed 😭 ben hier ook gewoon te dom voor ofzo. Wel interessante concepten over de ziel en soms mooi omschreven stukken.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail

k49's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Gore

Minor: Transphobia

_engy_'s review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging dark inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Incest, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood

samcsmith's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gore, Incest, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, Murder

Minor: Ableism, Rape, Self harm, Medical content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, War

centaurstesticle's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War

serenabean's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence

109inthesky's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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If I understood a thing about this book, I can't put it into words. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Incest, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Terminal illness

Minor: War

ed_moore's review against another edition

3.25

adventurous challenging dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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“All I know is I’m totally alone, all alone in an unfamiliar place, like some solitary explorer who has lost his compass and map, is that what it means to be free?” 

 

I have so many emotions towards Murakami’s ‘Kafka on the Shore’, and it’s really difficult to determine how I feel about it. It is about a 15 year old boy, Kafka Tamura, who runs away from home and settles in a library. His story is somewhat a retelling of the Oepidus Myth which is already a messed up tale, but combined with the elements of magical realism Murikami implements, this book just becomes really weird. 

 

The other protagonist of whom held the alternate view point is a sixty year old man called Nakata of whom brings many of the weird elements. I adored his storyline and he was so wholesome and just innocently went around talking to cats and making it rain fish while pursuing some goal which he never really knows the true purpose of or even where he is supposed to be going. Nakata was such a fun and wholesome character whose story was just repeatedly ruined by the enveloping perspective of Kafka who really was just a very horny teenager. 

 

On one hand the ‘weird’ of this book reminded me a lot of Bulgakov’s ‘The Master and the Margarita’ with the aforementioned fish and talking cats and unexplainable appearance of Colonel Sanders for a plot convenience which he really did not need to be the face of KFC to convey. The other kind of weird completely ruined all the magic and was just disturbing. Murikami couldn’t go two chapters without describing erection or sexual fantasies, and constantly felt a need to intimately describe the penis. There are two instances of rape which he hardly recognises and handles awfully, many attempts to describe periods and the female body that he clearly had no comprehension of, and though my comprehension is by no means great I can absolutely tell you Murakami’s was beyond awful, and numerous extremely violent episodes of animal cruelty and mutilation which did not need to be so intimate to convey the point that the plot aimed to. Also a lot felt unexplained in the ending, as is probably inevitable with such a wacky book, but that concern is far from the issues I had with the violence and erotica.

 

It is disappointing really, because the plot was captivating and at its heart I felt was about belonging, and not knowing where you truly belong until you are forced to spend time away from there. I adored Nakata’s character and the ending really struck me in the feels, but just so many times I was pulled away from the story with disgusting descriptions and depictions of erotica which were far from necessary and handled awfully. It was a brilliant plot completely ruined because Murakami can’t keep his sexual fantasies to himself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Rape

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, War