Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

650 reviews

naa_'s review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pedophilia, Child abuse, Death, and Rape

Moderate: Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

hannahmg's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I wonder if I hadn't found the first half as triggering would I of liked it more? The first few  chapters about her childhood was to much and was it all necessary. The description and the cover is misleading. 
The themes were interesting, the lack of censorship had the effect I believe was intended. 
The whole earthlings and isolation was well done. The writing was good. The structure was good. 
This is horror and personally it was too much for me.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Suicide, Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Rape, Child abuse, Gore, Incest, Sexual assault, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, and Cannibalism

Minor: Vomit

izypup's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.75

The ending is mostly what threw me off and felt lacking. I did also feel that throughout the time skips somethings felt underdeveloped. Although, these are things that I assume didn’t involve Natsuki and she didn’t necessarily care about. 
I don’t think any of the characters behaved in ways that felt like the author jumped the shark because I believed that these characters had the capabilities of acting irrationally. 
Natsuki’s childhood in particular felt well-written and really hooked me and I specifically enjoyed the way disassociation was framed and how child minds rationalize things in ways that aren’t actually rational. 

While some of the themes were disturbing, it’s never very explicit in its descriptions even though you know exactly what’s happening. It doesn’t read as shock horror and while parts were gross, it didn’t put me off from the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Death, Confinement, Child abuse, Blood, Cannibalism, Misogyny, and Incest

Moderate: Grief, Violence, Pregnancy, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Fatphobia, Vomit, Animal death, Bullying, Stalking, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

martiwndr's review against another edition

Too much 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, and Sexual harassment

nathalienadamas's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Cannibalism, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, and Murder

maziemouse's review against another edition

3.75

I WENT INTO THIS BLIND AND NOW I WISH I WAS BLIND. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Death, and Physical abuse

rocketrae151's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Death, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Bullying, and Emotional abuse

shirumoon's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Murder, Body horror, Cannibalism, Incest, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Mental illness, Blood, Physical abuse, and Vomit

Minor: Alcohol, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Infertility

willow1113's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Blood, Sexual content, Bullying, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault

sohva's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This book is not afraid of making you uncomfortable. (Seriously, check the content warnings if you need them.) It however created a fascinating exploration of humanity, belonging, and taboos. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, Cannibalism, Violence, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Incest, Emotional abuse, and Child abuse

Minor: Pregnancy and Death of parent