Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

190 reviews

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

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

digifae's review

dark funny inspiring reflective medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Rape, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Suicide attempt, Incest, Murder, Suicide, Sexual assault, Violence, and Emotional abuse

krispym's review against another edition

just a bit too dark for me

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Bullying, and Child abuse

ribbenkast's review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

By having wildly alianated main characters, Sakaya Murata puts correct observations about the state of society in a whole new perspective. This was an excellent read. It's not everyone's cup of tea but it's definitely good and it is definitely my cup of tea.

This book has some very triggering content so please protect yourself and check the content warnings. However it was not as weird, gross and gory as some of the other reviews would've let me to believe. Especially if you're a horror fan, the horror is pretty mild.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Cannibalism, Death, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

maddy506's review

challenging dark emotional sad 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

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Self harm, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Murder, Pedophilia, Violence, Cannibalism, Death, and Suicide attempt

seapotatohowisitalrtaken's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Bullying, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Pedophilia, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Blood, Physical abuse, Murder, Vomit, Stalking, and Eating disorder

Minor: Infidelity

z444z's review

dark emotional tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Incest, Gore, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Murder

alex2137's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.75

I was left so confused. The ending does make sense if the story is analysed thoroughly as a whole, even though it was insanely odd.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Cannibalism, Sexual assault, and Rape

Minor: Domestic abuse and Child abuse

ceedy's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Blood, Body horror, Sexual assault, Incest, and Gore

Moderate: Domestic abuse