Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - Nekonečná, téměř průzračná modř

Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

Nekonečná, téměř průzračná modř by Jan Levora, Ryū Murakami

8 reviews

ccos's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Honestly? I couldn’t put it down. In a word: raw.

I found it to be an incredible depiction of 70s junkie culture in Japan (a subculture I had no reference point for) and furthermore a complete sucker-punch of gorgeously detailed depravity. It’s elevated above mere shock material by both its prose, believable characters, and clever overarching themes/motifs.

It’s, uh, not for everyone. The work is certainly graphic, contains racism and physical and sexual violence but IMO manages to avoid feeling merely exploitative due to its semi-autobiographical nature and how unapologetically human it portrays its characters. It documents the behavior but I think is far from glorifying it.

I read in Japanese, but the English translation seems solid, expecting the god-awful (and woefully common) localization of Osaka-ben as an extremely over-exaggerated Southern accent.

This was a really interesting book to read after 透明だった最後の日々へ (which unfortunately has no English translation and is woefully overlooked) as it clearly seems to have influenced that novel, given the similar ages of the somewhat unsympathetic protagonists, graphic nature, and beautiful descriptive prose. If you can read Japanese and enjoyed this book you should check that one out as well.

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kozumethan's review against another edition

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adventurous dark inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

very bold of murakami to write about all that fucked up shit at the ripe age of 24 all while shamelessly self inserting so we don’t miss the fact that it’s somewhat autobiographical :)

his writing is so raw and nauseous, it is truly inspiring and sensorily overwhelming, i love it. i also love how he just created his silly little characters who are all insane and doesn’t bother finding an actual story to write about them.
however in terms of pure content it’s not his strongest work, contains some racist slurs (in narration, not in dialogue) and depicts sexual violence among a group of “friends” in a cold-blooded way that does not seem to drive a point so i wouldn’t recommend it to just anyone !

Content Warnings