Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

1500 reviews

elokuvia's review against another edition

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challenging dark inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

4.75

it’s truly fascinating to look at people’s reactions to this, classifying this generally as “weird” when it’s very clear and extrospective from a very basic perspective. murata’s books, despite the heavy subject matters covered in earthlings especially, are very accessible and easy to delve into; though perhaps it’s just not for everyone. they definitely are for me, though, i get it.

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emk2008's review against another edition

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3.75

W....T....F.......did I just read?! Chaotic, horrific, creative? Most importantly, trigger warnings, trigger warnings, trigger warnings! Not really my cup of tea content/story wise, but I think the writing style and over all storying telling was captivating and creative.

TW: child abuse, child sexual assault/abuse, violent murder, cannibalism (?!)

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jovanh's review against another edition

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DNF for the child sexual exploitation, gaslighting, and abuse.

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chianna's review against another edition

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rocketrae151's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.5


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shirumoon's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

3.25

In the first one or two chapters, I was so enthralled with what I'm reading, both stylistically and the setup of the story but unfortunately it didn't unfold in a way that I would have wanted to. Some things that I disliked: 
The main character is kind of running in circles, no matter how much time passes. Sure, might have been a deliberate choice and trauma does stifle your development but the main character's struggling just felt redundant at some point. Also what I generally fail to relate to is that endless enduring of
family absue and coercion
but I guess that's an integral part to the book's social commentary on Asian culture and family dynamics. It was frustrating to read though and made it predictable that at some point... they would lose it. And then the gore increased to unneccessary levels.

To be honest, I'm not quite sure whether I struggled more with the idea of the book itself or with the execution? It just didn't feel new and revelatory to me, just not really a deeper message there beneath that one layer of critizising society. Nicely written nevertheless and it had good pacing.

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fishreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I really enjoyed reading 'Convenience Store Woman' by this author and I was foolish enough to assume I would probably enjoy Earthlings too. I went into this without reading the summary, when the plot took much more darker turn than expected I continued on with trepidation but still not giving up on my conviction that it will be worth it in the end. I told myself that I just have to be strong enough and get through the horrible
child abuse and detailed descriptions of sexual abuse of a child in chapter two
. I comforted myself by actually taking the time and reading all the rave reviews printed on the cover that I skipped before I started reading.

I was through the worst of it and I could even see some parallels with 'Convenience Store Woman' with the characters struggling with the pressures of society to conform to its rules. I was still telling myself that reaching the end will be worth it for sure.

Except, with so little of the story left, the plot took a turn towards grotesque. The ending was completely batshit crazy. I was wrong, this was not worth it at all.

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pumpkinpuke's review against another edition

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dark funny sad
  • 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

3.5


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roesalow's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

4.25


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freyatinu's review against another edition

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

3.75


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