Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

39 reviews

olaolaheia's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense 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

2.0

Didn't really find this book super interesting. Describing the plot of Earthlings is impossible without spoiling it. Bizarre and surreal. If your main reason for reading books is following a story, and you like off the wall, super weird stories then this is for you. If not I'm not sure I would recommend it. I like to think I like surreal media, but this was surreal on a surface level, on a "what happens"-level, not on a "how it happens" -level. Though writing about "otherness" and trauma in a interesting way, the writing style is almost eye-catching in how banal and uninteresting it is. Some of the side-characters mentioned on a few pages is more interesting and alive than the main character the book is about. Maybe this is the translation, I'm not sure.  The metaphor for society used by the main character is also so overused and tiresome and does not bring any interesting discussion on society. This is a miss, but I think I would still be interested in maybe reading "Convinience Store Woman" cause I think Murata still has a knack for interesting stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Abandonment, Incest, Physical abuse, Mental illness, and Murder

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

ollyboston's review against another edition

challenging dark funny tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Eating disorder, Incest, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Violence, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, and Dysphoria

neverlandpages4's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Abandonment, Violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Blood, and Body horror

Minor: Acephobia/Arophobia

emilyandthewhippet's review

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Uncomfortable and something that you're not going to forget for a long time. I'm not sure that's a good thing though. The first half was traumatic and the second... I don't even know? Not a nice read but well written.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Grief, Rape, Sexual assault, Murder, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Violence, Pedophilia, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Bullying, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Confinement, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Sexual content, Stalking, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Pregnancy, and Mental illness

yessjess's review against another edition

dark 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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Disturbing AF ... 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Abandonment, Mental illness, Murder, and Cannibalism

markwillnevercry's review against another edition

0.25

Yeah, no, thanks, I'm good, me and Sayaka Murata are just not chilling together, such is life sometimes. This was just not good, not for me at least. I kinda get what the author was going for, but just because an idea exists, it does not mean that it should be put to life. The amount of trigger warnings that this book needs is way to big, even tho it says basically the same thing as Convenience Store Woman. I will not continue with this author.

Reading notes:

Just a reminder, that we have two sex scenes, where Natsuki is 12.

The second she started talking about copying the way her friends talk it was just like "Ah yes, this is just reskinned convenience store woman".

There is victim blaming. 

This book is published in 2018 and there is talk about how Natsuki does not have permission from her husband :)
Why are we here :)

Ah yes, Natsuki has the responsibility to have sex with her husband :)

-//- 

Ah yes, Natsuki was so lucky that her teacher was in love with her :)

Of course only Natsuki cares about love, it is not a manly thing :)

I am tired :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Incest, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Abandonment, Blood, Body shaming, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Ableism, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Grief, Pedophilia, Confinement, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Violence

mariisun'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Gore, Sexual content, Abandonment, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Mental illness

uparrowhead's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

3.25

Survive, whatever it takes.

To say that this book was eccentric and absurd would be a wild understatement, and I truly don't think that there's any words to describe the story I have just read.

In truth, I'm torn between whether I like it or not, but what I am certain on is that people should make sure they check the content warnings for this book before reading it because it really gets crazy.

I understood the overall message of the novel — a call for individuality and being unique in a world where conformity is praised and weirdness is seen as taboo — but the execution of this in the book left me speechless, for better or for worse.

Natsuki's character constantly hangs over me like a pendulum, swinging from being a relatable character to someone who's just far too strange for me to be able to understand. The book gets rough many times, exploring the difficulties Natsuki faced and getting quite disgusting by the end of the novel.

Coming straight from my reading of Convenience Store Woman, I find this book very difficult to unpack, and tenfold more intense (low-key traumatising, if I'm honest). Overall, Murata still managed to create an interesting and engaging read, but a lot of it was at the cost of my mental health. It's entertaining, but read at your own risk.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Sexual harassment, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Pedophilia, Vomit, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Suicide, Abandonment, and Acephobia/Arophobia

sashaanauo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-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

very glad I read convenience store woman before reading this book, it felt like an extention of a lot of the themes from that novel pushed to their unsettling extremes. some people have said that a lot of the events in earthlings were used for shock value, and i couldn't disagree more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Abandonment, Death, Murder, and Rape