Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - Earthlings

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

75 reviews

vickie18's review

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dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.25

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laurenvoice's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective 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

3.75

Earthlings was close to being one of the best reads of this year; however, the world ruined it. There are so many reviews stating how grotesque and horrifying Earthlings is; to be honest, I didn't get that feeling. Yes, the themes at the end of this book were disturbing, but that was the last few pages.

Earthlings was a reflective book that delved into the themes of the patriarchal society we live in and the trauma that many young girls face because of that. Sayaka Murata beautifully wrote about a woman's life from childhood to adulthood. She managed to write scenes of child abuse without glorifying them and put you into the mind of a young girl that experienced horrific abuse and trauma; Murata explained dissociation well within Earthlings.

Murata explored asexuality and conformity in a unique way. I haven't come across many books that explore asexuality, so it was nice to read and see. Earthlings explained well how society expects us to conform to getting into relationships and creating life, this is the expected norm, and it is seen as abnormal if you don't do that or want that. And, I liked how Murata described how traumatic this is and described her characters' thoughts and feelings about not having those sorts of attractions. Although the three main characters', Natsuki, Yuu and Tomoya, were described as asexual, they thought they were aliens, this made the story quite compelling, as it showed how rejected they felt by society.

Anyway, I would have given Earthlings a much higher rating if it had been what I expected, a grotesque horror read, but it wasn't, and I was in the mood for a horror book. Nonetheless, I enjoyed Earthlings, and thought Murata delved into rather dark and traumatic themes, sensitively and beautifully!

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surlyjackson's review

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dark sad fast-paced

4.5

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littlekokomo's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

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cassiemclifford's review

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dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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

1.5

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readerette's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

I did not like this story, but I respected it, and I couldn't put it down. While it's about aliens and magic and imagination and belonging, for me it's mostly about trauma, both the violent kind and the everyday kind, where we live in a world where so few people really know and care about the deeper truths of the other people in their lives. It's well written and I was intrigued by the characters. The last chapter or so did feel disconnected from the rest of the story; I haven't figured out how (or if) it's supposed to make me think about the real world differently, not a problem I had with the rest of the book.

Very much pay attention to the trigger warnings on this one.

If the triggers in this one are too much, I'd suggest that Convenience Store Woman has similar themes and tone (the everyday traumas) but with much less violence and abuse.

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