Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

26 reviews

glassflowrr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

What the fuck

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Child abuse, Sexual content, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Death, Gore, Body horror, Bullying, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Rape

Moderate: Cursing, Infertility, Alcohol, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Body shaming

readingwithlex's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

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

4.0

HAHAHAHAHA what the fuck 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Incest, Murder, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Gore, Blood, Pregnancy, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Body horror, Death, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual content, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Infertility and Infidelity

1mardynga1's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad fast-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Suicide, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Sexual harassment, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Murder, and Incest

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

rarityfemme's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Cannibalism, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Rape, Child abuse, Death, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, and Acephobia/Arophobia

Minor: Infertility, Stalking, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

emjbarnes's review against another edition

dark sad fast-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

3.5

A very sad and vivid book.

The main character's actions are uncomfortable, but the magical realism/psychosis elements make Natsuki's experiences feel really vivid.

This is very readable but was a tough read. Highly recommend checking the content warnings for this one before you begin

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Blood, Cannibalism, Murder, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Acephobia/Arophobia, Gaslighting, and Mental illness

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Incest

Minor: Infertility, Death of parent, Bullying, and Infidelity

shoelace's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Death, Pregnancy, Self harm, Vomit, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Mental illness, Violence, Bullying, Confinement, Gore, Incest, Blood, Cannibalism, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Infertility

shelbilynp's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Incest, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

fairygodfish's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark fast-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

4.75

The only thing stopping me from giving this a full five stars is how uncomfortable the first two chapters made me feel. But I also don’t think this story could have been told without it. And I think I’m glad this story was told. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Child abuse, Mental illness, Cannibalism, Incest, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Body shaming, Vomit, and Gore

Minor: Infidelity, Infertility, and Death of parent

tamara_joy's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

I don't understand why people are calling this "funny" and "hilarious". It's more appalling, really. It is about someone at odds with the world, but unlike Murata's Convenience Store Woman, this book is not peaceful or content.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Death, Acephobia/Arophobia, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Blood, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Infertility and Incest