Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

189 reviews

mariya_g8's review against another edition

challenging dark fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Incest, Murder, and Domestic abuse

auteaandtales's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

I don’t think ‘enjoyed’ is really the right word for this. I have a weak stomach so, a lot of the time, I was disgusted and it was a difficult and challenging read. 

Saying that, I did enjoy the social commentary about the ‘Factory’ and how our bodies don’t belong to us. I also enjoyed the storytelling via Piyyut and Planet Popinpobopia. Much like I did with Convenience Store Woman, I really related to the main character and I, too, spent my childhood wondering when my ‘real’ family, the aliens, would come and take me back home (although this was told in a much darker way). 

I’m sure this will be on my mind for a long time, much in the way Convenience Store Woman was. I would definitely read up on the trigger warnings before diving in, though, even if you don’t usually need them. It’s quite disturbing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Acephobia/Arophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Mental illness, and Body horror

sinja_a's review against another edition

dark 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

2.0

Trauma galore. Painfully so. Unhinged for the sake of being unhinged. I understand why there are people enjoying this. I am not one of them. 
Please check trigger warnings. There is rarely something that fades to black. To go into this blind is not a good idea. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cannibalism, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Murder, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Incest, Toxic relationship, Rape, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Vomit, Blood, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Violence, Stalking, Bullying, Death of parent, Body horror, and Body shaming

unicornpng's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I can’t recommend this book to anyone LOL. 

I don’t know who’s calling this a ‘dark comedy’, I can’t think of a single funny thing that happened in this book. It was just tragic from start to finish, though I understand and appreciate the social commentary.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Child abuse, Sexual assault, Rape, Domestic abuse, and Murder

This is just straight-up not a good time! And it just gets worse!!!

bookishtraveler's review against another edition

I loved "Convenience Store Woman" for its life perspective and Sayaka Murata's quirky, tender writing.  And "Earthlings" was very similar in writing style and theme.  HOWEVER, the triggers in this book were much darker and more than I could take in a New England winter.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Pedophilia, and Sexual harassment

mog261's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

3.5

this was the most demented book i've read for ages. i feel like i lowkey need therapy after reading it. it needs many, many trigger warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Cannibalism, Misogyny, Death, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Rape, Bullying, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Incest, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Blood, Eating disorder, and Suicidal thoughts

ootoom's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

2.5

My immediate and brief response: It was an incredibly unpleasant read.

My more nuanced take is that I think it achieved what it was trying to do very well. I felt the isolation and social confusion throughout the whole thing. I think it was well written and well executed.

That all said: it is really gross. I mean that so seriously. It's a rough hang, and I probably wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless I really knew their taste.

Definitely check the trigger warnings, it gets pretty dark pretty fast.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Incest, Sexual content, Rape, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Murder, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, and Mental illness

teetasse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Cannibalism, Adult/minor relationship, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Murder, Incest, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts

ephe16's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, and Sexual violence

snerp_reads's review

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