Reviews with content warning for Pregnancy - Earthlings

This book was insane. Particularly the ending. The first 99% of the book seemed weird but nothing outrageous. It was the last 1% that really made it intriguing and quite outrageous. It was one of those books that didn’t really have reasoning and I think partially that’s because the main character, whose perspective the story is being told, is very skewed mentally, so things don’t really need to make sense to her. This is definitely one of those books that makes you question whether the character is crazy or the world is.

The book jumps around in time quite a bit. It’s a bit jarring at first. But for me, I think the most confusing part was Yuu’s character.

The biggest question I was left with was why did Yuu join Natsuki and Tomoya in the first place? I suppose it could be implying that he was always crazy? Unsure.

Overall, I thought the story managed to keep my attention throughout the entire duration. It was short but it also had me questioning everything the entire time I was reading it. I did enjoy the read, I just wish it got a little more morbid earlier on. I figure that the last few pages were really there for shock value but I want more of it! Also the book’s style is much more telling than showing, same with The Convenience Store Woman. Not sure whether this is due to the translation or whether it’s Murata’s preferred method of storytelling. Just a note if you’re not the hugest fan of straightforward action.

Content Warnings

esme_may's review against another edition

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dark reflective medium-paced

4.0

This worked for me much more than Convenience Store Woman did! It’s very intense though, the first two chapters were really difficult to get through

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haleyerin623's review against another edition

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dark

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

4.75

Good god this was gruesome

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orndal's review against another edition

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dark sad fast-paced

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

4.0

Det er helt sykt dyktig å få inn så mye i en så liten bok. Sjelden har noe så kortfattet truffet så hardt.

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ballister's review against another edition

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dark reflective 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

5.0

Uh holy shit what did I just read

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lkmreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad 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

This book was a wild ride.

I went into this book knowing little more than what the blurb offered. Boy, did it get dark <i>quickly</i> and I did not expect it at all.

Just as a warning to those wishing to read it:
There is rape, fairly graphic depiction of a teacher abusing a minor.
Also abuse, physical and psychological, of minors (and adults, I guess).
Incest between cousins, mentions of trying other types of incest.
Cannibalism.
And lots of insanity in between.

It was hard to put it down once I started it, it really drew me in, and I could really understand what most the characters were going through for the first part of the book. I could really understand that they needed the escapism of thinking they were aliens to survive the dark things they went through, and I could sympathize with the convenience marriage, which I thought was a great solution to their problems.
In all, I was really taken by the story and ready to give it 5 stars, up until the three characters decided to escape together to "live as aliens". What made me rate it down then? It wasn't so much that they embraced the insanity, not even the cannibalism, thought it was pretty gross to read, but that the rationalizations they drew from "being aliens" made zero sense. And I know, I guess you can't expect people who've gone insane to make sense, but the turn it took seemed still just so out of the blue, it completely took me out of it.

In all, I highly recommend the first part of the book if you like weird, dark stuff . I thought the use of the alien thing as a coping mechanism was really well done; but the latter part after the 3 decide to just live as aliens... yeah, I'd stop there.

Content Warnings

painausten314's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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