Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

356 reviews

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

fishreads's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Murder, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Incest, Pedophilia, Gore, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Suicide

pryingblackbird's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.75

Unhinged and dark, cynical and surreal, and yet much too real. Some people said it's "hilarous" or "funny", to me it read more like a horror novel about the terrors of being a child, of being forced into society, of being a woman, of being different. It never made me laugh, it just filled me with unease. I enjoyed it immensely, but I am hesitant about recommending it. This one comes with a lot of content warnings and will leave you unsettled.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexism, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Rape, Cannibalism, Acephobia/Arophobia, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Child abuse

Moderate: Body shaming, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Gaslighting

Minor: Incest

oatmilky's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense fast-paced

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

3.5

Only after adding the content warnings did I realize how freakish this book is. Great read - gets gory and gooey, treads the line btwn dark humor and just dark.

For those that liked The Vegetarian by Han Kang minus the mundane with more taboo.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Incest, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Gore, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Blood, Mental illness, and Adult/minor relationship

ccate's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Incest, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Acephobia/Arophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, and Suicide

kaitlynmccully's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-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? No

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Murder, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Incest, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment, Pedophilia, and Bullying

wrenjuniper's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I read this all in one day, its very graphic and extremely hard to get through

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Bullying, Mental illness, Cannibalism, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Vomit

maggierish's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

Read the content warnings! The cover and quote on the front make this out to be lighthearted, but it gets dark fast. By the end you’ll be sitting in silence thinking about what you’ve just read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Body horror, Cannibalism, Murder, Gore, Sexual assault, and Incest

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Minor: Vomit and Suicide

ratwitch's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Toxic relationship

Minor: Suicide and Suicide attempt

bxnnny's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

i actually don't even know what to say about this book, for real. it made me so sad and disturbed. please check content warnings before reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, Murder, and Violence

chapters one and two contain instances of child abuse. chapter two contains very graphic instances of pedophelia and fairly graphic instances of incest between two minors as well as suicidal ideation, a suicide attempt, and talks of suicide. chapter four contains a fairly graphic murder. chapter six contains very graphic violence, murder, gore, and cannibalism. very heavy themes of mental illness and psychosis throughout.