Reviews with content warning for Transphobia - Scattered All Over the Earth

Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

Scattered All Over the Earth by Yōko Tawada

46 reviews

bethsarah's review

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No

1.0

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chrisljm's review against another edition

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reflective slow-paced

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

1.0

Girl what the hell. First of all there was so much yapping I kept falling asleep. The amount of inner monologues where the narrators would just drone on and on was honestly slowly killing me because there wasn't really any sort of plot to push it forward, and so I really didn't give a fuck. And as much as I disliked the book, I was still kinda baffled at the ending because it goes so off the rails.

I truly did not care about any of the characters and honestly I think Yoko Tawada was trying to do too much in too little pages. There was so much backstory and thought while also trying to interweave various themes, which leads to all the rambling done by all the characters. I also strongly disliked the way each character was handled and found myself getting irritated reading about them. Not only individually, but also reading the way these characters interacted and how they connected to each other was bewildering. The first thing I'll mention is how all the female characters for some reason immediately fall in love/are obsessed with the male characters. It's to the extent where Nora basically becomes Tenzo's mother and even fills out job applications and does his job for him. Like what?? This relates to the second point I want to mention which is Akash, a trans character, who is also depicted as being obsessed with Knut and showing possession over him right from the moment they meet. This is mentioned in plenty of other reviews but Akash is such a poorly handled trans character, and is consistently getting misgendered with no discussion or correction whatsoever, and so it seems like Tawada just brought on a trans character in order to have someone "eccentric" within this makeshift group of friends. This also brings me to my last criticism, one I don't see as often in other reviews, which has to do with Nanook, who is Inuk, and the insistent usage of the slur es*imo within the book. It's definitely one thing for other characters to use this slur due to ignorance and to depict someone as racist, but it's another when Tawada herself mentions in the book how that term is viewed as a racist slur that many people don't use anymore, and then proceeding to use it as regular vocabulary. It's also crazy to me for her to have Nanook himself constantly referring to himself and other native things using that slur when many Inuit find it offensive, especially since it is a term forced on them due to colonization.

I'm not sure if the author was trying to do something when touching on race and gender, but it came off frustrating and offensive instead.

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kerikat26's review

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adventurous lighthearted relaxing medium-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

4.25

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sadhbhprice's review

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challenging reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

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lsbyl's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

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

2.25

Oh gosh I wanted to love this book so much. The premise of the book grabbed my attention immediately as it wasn’t one I had seen before in any other dystopian futures literature: the idea that your nation disappears and you might be the only person left on earth speaking your mother tongue. The book attempts to grapple with this from the perspective of Hiruko, a Japanese woman, but unfortunately for me, it fell short.

I restarted the book 3 or 4 times as I felt like I was missing something. I struggle most with the lack of coherent world building. The idea that Japan fell into the sea and within part of Hiruko’s life-time has become a rather obscure and unknown place, culture and language is fairly unbelievable but I was open to a world where this was possible but there is little to no explanation or exploration of this arguably central plot issue.

So, we follow Hiruko on a quest to find someone else who speaks her mother tongue. On the way she meets an eclectic mix of new “friends” who are immediately so dedicated to her cause, they drop everything in their own lives and proceed to follow her all over Europe on her search. Despite this rather strong central idea, the book lacked overall plot, direction and, I’m sorry to say, purpose.

At times I did enjoy the individual character perspectives offered in each chapter and how situations are viewed differently (often wildly) by different characters. However, I felt the connections, interactions and relationships that develop between Hiruko’s new and eclectic group of friends are scattered and even unbelievable at times throughout eg Akash as a jealous and obsessive lover, Hiruko and Knut’s relationship, Tenzo and Nora’s awkward relationship, Tenzo’s sponsor, Knut’s relationship with his mother.

It’s been mentioned in other reviews but bears repeating: I was really bothered and disappointed by the treatment of Akash by the author and the characters. While introduced as a trans woman, they are repeatedly referred to as a “man in woman’s clothing” by her so-called “friends”. That she is seemingly unbothered by this and other explicit transphobic comments such as “what are you?” is lazy and disappointing. There is no attempt to push back against this narrative or discuss these issues within the book.

Overall, I finished this book feeling frustrated. I normally enjoy the slow and contemplative pace of Japanese books. However, in this one there was a lot going on but moved at a snail’s pace with no real substance. I’m not sure I am inspired to continue with the rest of the series.

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lauraloujeu's review against another edition

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1.0

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camiegil's review

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reflective slow-paced

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

2.5

I wanted to like it, but it just didn’t grab me like I had hoped. I found it relatively boring for most of it. Even though it’s a short book, the chapters are too long and it took me longer than expected to get through it. I like some characters well enough, but they all feel somewhat similar. The dialogue and writing was weird in a few places and felt both too stream of consciousness and too convoluted at the same time. It was fine for a one off read, but I won’t be picking up the next book.

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