Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

130 reviews

lorenag5's review

adventurous challenging mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Acephobia/Arophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Blood, Body horror, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual assault

rorunyon96's review against another edition

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

4.5

It takes so much for me to be thinking about a book for hours after I read it. This really got to me it messed me up...in exactly the way I want.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Sexual violence, Violence, Physical abuse, Incest, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Child abuse

Moderate: Kidnapping, Body horror, Gore, Bullying, Pregnancy, and Blood

roskoff'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
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Extremely well written but also extremely difficult to read, painful, deeply disturbing, horrifying, near traumatic. I couldn’t put it down, but I felt sick the entire time and afterwards. I’m glad I read it now that I have some distance from it but if you’d have asked me immediately after I finished the book, I’d say I regretted it. But it accomplishes what it sets out to do as a book, which I think is to convey alongside its meanings a feeling of utter distress and discomfort, to force readers into a position like the protagonist’s. It’s a horrible and sickening life and you feel it yourself. So, not an enjoyable reading experience, but a powerful one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Sexual violence, Incest, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

reading_112's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Murder, Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, Stalking, Sexual violence, Gore, Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Rape, Cannibalism, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

⚠️strong topics of pedophelia, cannibalism, incest, and intercourse between minors.⚠️

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

teacrew's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.5

Listened to this as an audio book and had my mouth open multiple times. The back story building up initially making sense as a trauma response and then transforming to something larger was a wild ride.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

fomko's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

Wtf

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Pedophilia, Suicide, Incest, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Death, Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Mental illness, Cannibalism, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Acephobia/Arophobia, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

rarityfemme's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Rape, Child abuse, Death, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, and Acephobia/Arophobia

Minor: Infertility, Stalking, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

blep's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

5.0

What in the actual fuck.
This should be considered a modern classic. I'm not joking. This should be taught in literature classes
My problem with this book arises with the third act. It doesn't feel fully fleshed out

haha pun

and it doesn't really give a earned ending
EDIT: I keep thinking about this book so I am moving it from a 4.25 to a 4.75
EDIT 2: 5 stars it is

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Child abuse, Murder, and Rape

slaywithsteph's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Death and Toxic friendship