Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

78 reviews

snerp_reads's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.75

The concept for this book was very interesting, and worth exploring, but I feel this book fell flat. 
I did enjoy the small tidbits of world-building around Natsuki's belief in Popinpobopia, and

how she used said beliefs to mask her coping mechanisms and responses to abuse as magical powers in her young mind.

 
I thought we would've gotten a longer narrative through her childhood,

but 40% into the book there was a pretty long time skip, which I felt threw off the pacing.

This would have been fine by itself, but the story seems to unravel too quickly and without satisfactory explanation

in the last quarter of the book.

Alongside those pacing issues, a lot of the heavier topics depicted seemed slightly ham-fisted in and included mainly for shock value, instead of for relevance or genuine exploration. There does seem to be an issue with the characters, especially Natsuki. The voice of her childhood self and her adult self are identical, in a way that both makes her sound too old as a child and too young and naive as an adult. This weird contradiction is prevalent from the start, and never goes away. The ending did not make sense or feel very thought out to me, and the few twists at the end didn't have much foreshadowing. 

However, I did find Natsuki and her husband's relationship interesting, and a refreshing change of pace from most written marriages.

The mechanic of framing Natsuki's vision of herself as an alien was also one of the main things I liked about this book.
I enjoyed the concept Murata created, and was drawn in to read more when she used it to explore Natsuki's feelings and reactions to the mistreatment of her by the adults around her, but I feel the book ultimately veered too hard into shock-value territory, and caused any potential messages or analysis to be flung out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Cannibalism, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Domestic abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Drug abuse, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Vomit, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Infidelity, Eating disorder, Death, Stalking, and Infertility

pennywise30's review against another edition

The only book I wish I DNF, because of these labels that should have been listed. Be in a good headspace if you choose to read this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Incest, Death, Sexual content, Grief, Cannibalism, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, and Mental illness

maria_luciani's review against another edition

dark sad

• 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

4.25

Gross and truly bizarre. You'll either be very into it or despise it. I feel very weird but the writing was very much top notch. Read it expecting an unconventional horror book and I think that's the best way I can set your expectations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Incest, Child abuse, Murder, Cannibalism, Rape, Pedophilia, and Gore

Moderate: Toxic friendship, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Eating disorder

seapotatohowisitalrtaken's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Bullying, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Blood, Physical abuse, Murder, Vomit, Stalking, and Eating disorder

Minor: Infidelity

alexandrabelze's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

oh wow. where to even start? a unique, extremely dark, and satirical take on the constraints and pressures of society’s expectations: a portrayal of extreme anomie. murata did not hold back on the scrutiny. she captured the whimsical and overactive imagination of children so perfectly, especially when it came to processing trauma. this was an amazing portrayal of childhood trauma and how that affects people differently in adulthood. the last two chapters or so were a whirlwind of “wtf” but i was still captivated. extremely excited to read convenience store woman.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Gaslighting, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Blood, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Violence, and Eating disorder

Minor: Bullying, Grief, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Death of parent, and Vomit

ollyboston's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Eating disorder, Incest, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Violence, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, and Dysphoria

perfectcupoftea's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Blood, Cannibalism, Incest, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Rape, Pedophilia, Murder, Gore, Eating disorder, and Child abuse

sveaannika's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Pedophilia, Murder, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Violence, and Sexual assault

morebedsidebooks's review against another edition

3.0

Translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori English editions of Earthlings by Murata Sayaka came out in 2020. Like other work by Murata examining gender roles and bringing up questions surrounding asexuality. Which if I’m being honest, on the latter I’m not comfortable with the English copy in that regard. There’s nuance that’s lost.
 

See my blog for an in-depth review. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Murder, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, and Incest

Moderate: Sexual content, Eating disorder, Vomit, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Suicide

This book also looks at the many ways victim blaming occurs.

emilyandthewhippet's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Uncomfortable and something that you're not going to forget for a long time. I'm not sure that's a good thing though. The first half was traumatic and the second... I don't even know? Not a nice read but well written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Grief, Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Violence, Pedophilia, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Bullying, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Sexual content, Stalking, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Pregnancy, and Mental illness