Piercing
"Mr. Murakami's novels are filled with entertaining psychopaths."--The New York Times A pulsating cult-favorite psycho-thriller, the basis of the major motion picture starring Christopher Abbott and Mia Wasikowska *One of Literary Hub's "Ten Works of Literary Horror You Should Read (Even if You Don't Think You Like Horror)"* Kawashima Masayuki is a successful graphic designer living in Tokyo with his loving wife, Yoko, and their baby girl. Outwardly, their lives are a picture of happiness and contentment, but every night while his wife sleeps Kawashima creeds from him bed and watches over the baby's crib with an ice pick in his hand and an almost visceral desire to use it. One night, as this struggle unfolds once more, Kawashima makes a decision to confront his demons and sets into motion an uncontrollable chain of events seeming to lead inexorably to murder. The follow-up to In the Miso Soup from a cult favorite writer, Piercing confirms Murakami as the master of the psycho thriller--terrifying, sickening, and utterly gripping.
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Community Reviews
I enjoyed the introspection of trauma and the mental impacts it can have. It was more slow burn than I expected, with less gore than I expected as well, but I enjoyed it massively. It's a fantastic introduction to Japanese and body horror for someone who's wanting to explore it more.
Still trying to figure out how I feel about this book. I neither liked it nor disliked it...but it definitely left a weird aftertaste....I'm going to let this one settle before making a full review. Standby...
I'm not sure how I feel about this one. It was good, obviously, since I gave it 4 stars. My main issue about the whole thing was that there was so much that was supposed to happen, but nothing really does. I was taken through the plans of what Kawashima wants to do to the call girl, Chiaki. I'm still trying to figure out what exactly was the point of this entire plot.
Kawashima is a married man and a new father. Taking a look into his past, we find out that he was badly abused by his sadistic mother that loved his little brother and felt nothing for young Kawashima. One night, Kawashima watches as his baby sleeps but is overcome with the urge to poke her with an icepick. Instead of going through with it, Kawashima went for a walk, where he gets an idea from an imaginative talking package of diapers. He decides to take a vacation alone from his family and hire a call girl to use in replace of his daughter.
Now, Chiaki has demons of her own. She was also abused by a parent. Her father used to sexually abuse her constantly when she was a little girl. Due to that abuse, Chiaki found her libido gone when she gets older. When she meets Kawashima, Chiaki thinks he's going to be the one that snaps her out of it and will be the one for her.
There are so many things that I was waiting to happen, but they never do. Kawashima's entire plan to kill Chiaki never takes place. Chiaki never gets him to fall in love, or be her White Knight. The ending is so bland. It's disappointing.
The writing was exceptional. It was entertaining up until the very last line of the book.
Kawashima is a married man and a new father. Taking a look into his past, we find out that he was badly abused by his sadistic mother that loved his little brother and felt nothing for young Kawashima. One night, Kawashima watches as his baby sleeps but is overcome with the urge to poke her with an icepick. Instead of going through with it, Kawashima went for a walk, where he gets an idea from an imaginative talking package of diapers. He decides to take a vacation alone from his family and hire a call girl to use in replace of his daughter.
Now, Chiaki has demons of her own. She was also abused by a parent. Her father used to sexually abuse her constantly when she was a little girl. Due to that abuse, Chiaki found her libido gone when she gets older. When she meets Kawashima, Chiaki thinks he's going to be the one that snaps her out of it and will be the one for her.
There are so many things that I was waiting to happen, but they never do. Kawashima's entire plan to kill Chiaki never takes place. Chiaki never gets him to fall in love, or be her White Knight. The ending is so bland. It's disappointing.
The writing was exceptional. It was entertaining up until the very last line of the book.
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