Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

6 reviews

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

edamamebean's review against another edition

dark funny reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Disturbingly funny and definitely more messed up than I bargained for, but I guess there’s a happy ending depending on your perspective? I read it all in one sitting, which I rarely do. If you have a strong stomach, then I highly recommend it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Body horror, Pedophilia, Gore, Blood, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Sexual assault, and Death

justmys's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

3.75

So...uhhh...right. This book. Sure does umm book doesnt it? I feel like I need a hug haha!

Sayaka Murata has a hell of a skill in making you deeply, deeply uncomfortable very quickly. This book begins following an autistic girl who doesn't fit in with the world but has found her coping mechanisms through fantasy and a friend in her cousin who thinks similarly. And then...we just yeet ourselves off the cliff entirely. 

We go from child using fantasy to find understanding in a world that's always just to the left of their understanding, to SA to finally

a cannibalistic mini cult who fully believe they are aliens

. 

I mean, hats off to Murata for the book. Just as disturbing and powerful as Convenience Store Woman. She writes neurodiversity and the way the world is viewed with such terrifying accuracy and isn't afraid or ashamed to tackle hard topics through their lenses. 

But, yeah, fair warning going in this gets wild and dark fast. The ending felt like I'd stepped off the edge of a hill and was rolling fast to the rocks below. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Gore, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Cannibalism, Death, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Confinement, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Fatphobia, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Bullying, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Body shaming

Please read Trigger Warnings before going into this one if it's something you require. The most notable right off the bat are: Child SA Grooming Child Abuse SA Cannibalism

ertbert's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

i found the idea of feeling like an alien childish, but understandable. the best part of the book imo is the 10 last pages. i really enjoyed the end. 
in short: i liked this book. but i would check out the trigger warnings as the book contains quite a few difficult topics. i am excited to digest this read and understand more about why it was written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Gore

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Cannibalism, and Incest

Minor: Sexism, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Death, Self harm, Drug abuse, and Violence

if you can watch true crime videos and listen to podcasts with that sort of theme, i think you'll be able to stomach this

nabila99's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

what to say about this book?

i never, ever finish books in one sitting, but i literally could not put this down. what an absolutely unique, gripping, heartbreaking, uncomfortable, visceral, fascinating story. mental illness, alienation, trauma, abuse, and survival in capitalist patriarchy are handled so well. despite the insanity of the plot, i found myself deeply relating to natsuki's distress with "the factory", and the feeling of literally being an alien. the ending was bizarre and cathartic and perfect.

i don't think a book has ever made me cycle through so many emotions in the span of a few hours. natsuki, yuu, and tomoya will stay with me for a long, long time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Violence, Body horror, Bullying, Incest, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Sexual assault, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, and Eating disorder

Minor: Vomit

danirc_'s review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Incest, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Infertility, Grief, Alcohol, Stalking, Self harm, Physical abuse, Infidelity, and Drug abuse