Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

38 reviews

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

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

grrrlbrarian's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Violence, Murder, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Incest, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Body horror, Vomit, Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Alcohol

glassflowrr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.0

What the fuck

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Sexual content, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Death, Gore, Body horror, Bullying, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Cursing, Infertility, Alcohol, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Body shaming

angorarabbit's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

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

4.0

TLDR: Very good book, major trigger warnings.

Context: I thought I’d read a short novel after finally finishing Dahlgren. The cover is cute. The blurb is interesting, a nice coming of age story of a Japanese woman. Nice and light.

I was not ready for chapter 2 (the book is short, 6 chapters). Chapter 6 though was downright mind crushing. 

Ms Murata is a very good writer. I have read books where children are abused before. Never have I read a book where the author describes the disassociation and alienation that can be caused by that abuse so truly. She takes you to the edge, then a little more. You really can’t leave until she is done with you.

I will be thinking about chapter 6 for a long time. End of life hallucination or reality?

I will read more of Ms Murata’s fiction, just not right after finishing something akin to Dahlgren, if I can help it, and with more attention to trigger warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Gore, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Cannibalism, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Blood, and Bullying

Minor: Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, and Alcohol

jcsie's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

chapter 2 had me almost crying on the subway, so thanks for that

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Eating disorder, Cannibalism, Murder, Incest, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Drug use

thesapphiccelticbookworm's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Incest, Suicide attempt, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Violence, Vomit, and Alcohol

quillyreads's review against another edition

challenging fast-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

This book is out of pocket. Challenging and provocative but not for the faint of heart. Don’t let the easy to understand, conversational tone fool you. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexism, Incest, and Death

Minor: Pregnancy, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Stalking, Suicide, and Alcohol

gooeyteeth's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual assault

Moderate: Alcohol