Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

371 reviews

wisteriaweird's review

challenging dark funny 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

3.5

So disturbing, grotesque, and unhinged that I can't in good conscience recommend it to most readers - but captivating nonetheless. Would recommend checking for content warnings if so inclined, it's a lot. Would probably be rated higher but the ending left me in a cold sweat in a bad way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Bullying, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Suicide attempt

maddierosiec's review

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Gore

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Vomit

glerbnikgazeezok's review against another edition

dark 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

2.5

I did not read the content warnings, so found it pretty shocking and hard to get through some sections. It is from the perspective of someone who has dissociated due to trauma, who finds humans and bodies strange and inexplicable. It reminds me a bit of the 2023 movie Poor Things.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Blood, Suicide attempt, and Murder

maddie_0930's review

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, and Vomit

happycroissant's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-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: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, and Sexual harassment

vaguely_pink's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Blood, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Bullying, Eating disorder, Vomit, Stalking, Death of parent, Acephobia/Arophobia, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

lucykae's review

challenging dark medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Blood, Cannibalism, and Murder

izypup's review

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: Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Stalking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

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: Body horror, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Blood, and Vomit

Minor: Infertility, Infidelity, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

willow1113's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective medium-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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment