A review by angelicardale
Piercing by Ryū Murakami

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

5.0

wow! this book was soooo much to dissect and take in. personally, i annotated this just as much as i annotated in the miso soup, but i enjoyed this far more. i feel like the character studies and the complex relationships depicted in this book are just phenomenal. i think this book accomplished what earthlings didn't quite hit for me; not that the two books are particularly comparable, but they do both explore very similar themes and the way trauma and child abuse impacts people into their adulthood, creating an intricate relationship with dissociation and the fragmented sense of self, in the context of a horror story. i really really loved that there was no black or white thinking. every character in this is morally grey. every character is complex and screwed up and really needs therapy. the writing was lyrical and flowed very well. i genuinely loved it!