Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

121 reviews

fishreads's review

challenging dark medium-paced

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

2.0

I really enjoyed reading 'Convenience Store Woman' by this author and I was foolish enough to assume I would probably enjoy Earthlings too. I went into this without reading the summary, when the plot took much more darker turn than expected I continued on with trepidation but still not giving up on my conviction that it will be worth it in the end. I told myself that I just have to be strong enough and get through the horrible

child abuse and detailed descriptions of sexual abuse of a child in chapter two

. I comforted myself by actually taking the time and reading all the rave reviews printed on the cover that I skipped before I started reading.

I was through the worst of it and I could even see some parallels with 'Convenience Store Woman' with the characters struggling with the pressures of society to conform to its rules. I was still telling myself that reaching the end will be worth it for sure.

Except, with so little of the story left, the plot took a turn towards grotesque. The ending was completely batshit crazy. I was wrong, this was not worth it at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Murder, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Incest, Pedophilia, Gore, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Suicide

redrabbitali's review

dark fast-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, and Incest

xyvo's review

dark 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Cannibalism, and Incest

Moderate: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Minor: Misogyny, Death, and Bullying

pryingblackbird's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

4.75

Unhinged and dark, cynical and surreal, and yet much too real. Some people said it's "hilarous" or "funny", to me it read more like a horror novel about the terrors of being a child, of being forced into society, of being a woman, of being different. It never made me laugh, it just filled me with unease. I enjoyed it immensely, but I am hesitant about recommending it. This one comes with a lot of content warnings and will leave you unsettled.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexism, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Rape, Cannibalism, Acephobia/Arophobia, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Child abuse

Moderate: Body shaming, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Gaslighting

Minor: Incest

strange_abalone's review

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Initial reaction:
I have no idea what to rate this…. I have no idea what I just read… a brilliant depiction of society and trauma…. But also, what did I just read?????

Reaction after sitting with it for a day:
I think the initial reaction is to be stunned, and that makes a lot of sense, it’s a very diabolical read. But a lot of the reviews here seem to be shocked by the nature of the book without exploring more into what ideas are being presented. It’s deranged to make a point, and in that way it is exceptional. The “factory” and popinpobopians are concepts that will sit with me forever. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Child abuse, Death, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Body horror, Gaslighting, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Bullying, and Suicidal thoughts

spooky_coochie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Pedophilia, Incest, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Violence, Misogyny, Sexism, and Acephobia/Arophobia

Minor: Vomit, Suicide, and Eating disorder

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

rissasreading's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

This book was wiiiiiilllllld. It's really one that I'm going to have a hard time talking about without spoiling everything that happens. 
I've never read a book that made me want to cry within the first 100 pages as much as this one did. Our main character is treated so horribly by everyone around her and the most awful things happened to her in her childhood.... I enjoyed how much everything that happened in the beginning really fed into the remainder of the book. 
Absolutely wild what occurs after the first 130 pages though lmao .. WHAT

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, and Grief

himinotebook's review

challenging dark funny reflective fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

Finished this book in one afternoon, was an absolute rollercoaster of a read but one that has not left my head since. I read Convenience Store Woman earlier this year and was very taken by Sayaka Murata's irreverent writing style and incisive social commentary so was very eager to check out more of her work, and Earthlings gave me everything I wanted and more. Dare I say I liked it a little more than Convenience Store Woman, which is a really good book, don't get me wrong, but Earthlings fucking *goes there*. Understandably this might be turnoff for some readers but it was definitely a plus for me.

Sayaka Murata has (at least within the scope of my worldview and experiences) one of the most palpably empathetic understandings of what it means to navigate this world as a woman foremost, but also just a person, who is marginalised by society in some way. She treats societal expectations as almost a sort of body horror-like violence inflicted upon her protagonists, often finding themselves being dragged kicking and screaming to the expectations of marriage, gender roles and especially procreation like escapees of a cult. There is this oppressive feeling echoed by the characters that they know they can run but they can't hide.

In Earthlings, our protagonist Natsuki and her husband conceptualise themselves as sort of rogue agents, aliens on a planet with an almost authoritarian drive towards upholding the nuclear family. Natsuki suffers trauma after trauma as a child, inflicted upon her by the adults around her. She understands the very real cognitive dissonance of how unpersoned and abused living children are in a world that also insists children are the most important thing. She considers this understanding some sort of defect in herself, as very few people around her also seem to see it.

Reading Earthlings, the adage of art disturbing the comfortable and comforting the disturbed rattled around in my head a lot. By the end of the book, when things start taking a sudden turn for the horrific, the meaning I took from this crystallised starkly. Natsuki is able to find self actualisation through deep transgression. In a world that treats her as a tool, a motif that is repeated throughout, not belonging to herself, she does the unthinkable to herself and to other willing (maybe a couple not so willing) participants, and feels autonomous for the first time in her life. Nothing that's ever been done to her was done with her consent, so the only way she can conceptualise freedom is through this, exacting horrors upon herself of her own will. The normalised banal invasiveness and dehumanisation of social pressure is contrasted with literal, visceral violence as if to say "See? This is what it feels like"

With all that said, the writing keeps Murata's whimsical and matter-of-factly dark comedic tone throughout, even through some very affronting scenes and imagery so if you think that might make this one hard to stomach then I don't blame you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Body horror, Incest, Cannibalism, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia

Minor: Physical abuse

melodelfe's review

dark fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Cannibalism, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, Child death, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Violence

The most disturbing book I ever read. Do not read.