Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

84 reviews

nabila99's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

what to say about this book?

i never, ever finish books in one sitting, but i literally could not put this down. what an absolutely unique, gripping, heartbreaking, uncomfortable, visceral, fascinating story. mental illness, alienation, trauma, abuse, and survival in capitalist patriarchy are handled so well. despite the insanity of the plot, i found myself deeply relating to natsuki's distress with "the factory", and the feeling of literally being an alien. the ending was bizarre and cathartic and perfect.

i don't think a book has ever made me cycle through so many emotions in the span of a few hours. natsuki, yuu, and tomoya will stay with me for a long, long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, and Abandonment

Minor: Vomit

leakaroo's review against another edition

challenging dark funny fast-paced

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

5.0

Completely absurd and unhinged: I think I need a few weeks to even process what I just read. 
This was the perfect lead up after reading Convenience Store Woman: it gave me the wacky off-the-wall hijinks that I was craving. 
Natsuki narrates in a completely straightforward tone and doesn't hide from what's happening to her, which fits extremely well with how everything unfolds, and adds to the absurdity of it. I really enjoy Murata's storytelling!!!

My ONLY gripe is I wish the English translation was a bit better since I found some grammatical errors and a lot of repetition of some words (Like the word "muttered" comes up a lot throughout the novel. Why on Earth was everyone apparently just muttering the whole time?!). But that's the fault of translation, not any critique of the story itself.
Anyways, fantastic fantastic fantastic with a thought-provoking view on society!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement and Sexism

lea_peron's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, Murder, and Sexual harassment

amieco's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Eating disorder and Pedophilia

Minor: Sexual content

cyntismiles's review against another edition

dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I think I picked out this book for the magical realism tag on StoryGraph but should have looked into it more. For some reason, I thought it was a book of short stories? It really should have been obvious it wasn't by "a novel" in the title. This is all just to say I really went into this one blind. Anyway on with the review!

I thought this book explored some dark responses to trauma and how our early experiences trying to figure out how the world works either help or hinder us. It is an interesting thought piece on the expectations of society and how they are often duplicitous. It is very gut-wrenching seeing how the main character(s) react to their various traumas. This is told from a perspective that is questionable in a way where we can both witness their perspective and as a reader see beyond their perspective. It is a horrifying and sad tale often crossing lines that leave the reader asking "wait, really?". There were many moments where I thought to myself "this has really gone off the rails!" and then it got even wilder.

I found the twists and turns of the story very disturbing. The author did a wonderful job of leading the reader in certain directions where it felt like things might get better and then twisting the narrative this way and that. I wish I could read the original text to compare because I felt like there were some areas in which the translation may have been lacking. Alas, I do not know Japanese so I don't know if this was the original writing or translation. It wasn't that big of a deal, just some word choices that I felt were odd.

I don't know that I can "recommend" the book per se as it is so graphic and disturbing. I believe the author executed the premise well and it's a quick read which I think is to its benefit considering the content. It is to the point and gets its point across well. If you are interested in this book, I highly recommend reading the content warnings as I did not. I use StoryGraph which has a good program for content warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Minor: Suicide

sabrinaleaf's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Graphic TW: cannibalism, incest, injury detail, misogyny, murder, sa of a minor, sexual abuse of a minor, 

The last 30 pages of this were so graphic and disturbing, I’m still mulling over that ending.
If you enjoyed reading the thoughts of the main character in Piranesi by Susanna Clarke, I feel like you would love Earthlings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Eating disorder, and Death of parent

velokei's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

1.5

What the fuck was that

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

jordyhuk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

3.0

I saw this book billed as creepy yet funny. It is definitely an emphasis on creepy, but no comedy aspects. It was a narrative into the effects of childhood traumas as one ages and a look at an extreme descent into chaos and mental illness.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Incest, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Eating disorder, Physical abuse, and Toxic friendship

needlebrook's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.25

Absolutely do not read this book if you have any triggers. It is a exploration of nearly everything society deems to be repulsive and degenerate. (Cannibalism, incest, sexual assault, rape,etc.) this book also features a possibly asexual protagonist (asexuality is deemed to be wrong by much of society unfortunately.)


"Murata believes that the more she writes about the questioning of these taboos, the closer she will come to the "real truth of things "


Overall, this was a very intriguing book, but not one I'd recommend anyone to read in real life, lest they think I'm psychopathic.    

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Murder

Minor: Eating disorder and Gore

jen_prouvaire's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Acephobia/Arophobia