Reviews with content warning for Vomit - Earthlings

Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

190 reviews

naa_'s review against another edition

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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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hannahmg's review against another edition

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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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izypup's review against another edition

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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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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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strange_abalone's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Initial reaction:
I have no idea what to rate this…. I have no idea what I just read… a brilliant depiction of society and trauma…. But also, what did I just read?????

Reaction after sitting with it for a day:
I think the initial reaction is to be stunned, and that makes a lot of sense, it’s a very diabolical read. But a lot of the reviews here seem to be shocked by the nature of the book without exploring more into what ideas are being presented. It’s deranged to make a point, and in that way it is exceptional. The “factory” and popinpobopians are concepts that will sit with me forever.

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