Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Das Seidenraupenzimmer

Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Das Seidenraupenzimmer by Sayaka Murata

188 reviews

bella613's review against another edition

challenging emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

This is unhinged chaos. I think I liked it. I'm still a little shocked. We start off with some trauma, continue into unhealthy adjustment and then just go off the deep end completely. The more I read, the less I understood it. About 6 hours in it loses all sense, and I think my mouth was just hanging open in a confused state of revulsion for the last half hour or so.

The book starts off with some extremely upsetting content so make sure to check the TW and if it's something that you have experienced, maybe don't read it. Our FL is treated horribly by all of the adults in her life and there is not one redeemable adult in the entire book.
The middle of it has very similar themes as Convenience Store Woman but still somehow gives an entirely opposite vibe.
I liked the experience of the book, but I can definitely say I don't like anything that happens in it. The absurdity is unmatched and written so well. These characters are so convincing, which given the context is very impressive. I would recommend this but just prepare yourself for a trip.

Content Warnings

lailybibliography's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

"...it's a wife's duty to be intimate, you know. Tomoya finds it hard to hold down a job, doesn't he? You have to support him in that regard, Natsuki. You're his wife!"
My body was not my own. I had always been secretly shirking the role I had been assigned as a tool of society. The time had come for me to be taken to task for this, I thought.

There is no plot to explain, really. If one truly tried to explain in detail what happens, you will sound insane and thoroughly gross-out anybody in hearing proximity. It is equal parts outrageous, bizarre, uncomfortable and truly, truly disturbing beyond words. The grotesquerie though, serves an important purpose - it's a cutting commentary on bodily autonomy, capitalism, Japanese societal expectation and the longterm traumas of childhood physical, emotional and sexual abuse. It is all described in graphic, nauseatingly straightforward prose, the simplistic language only helped to draw attention to the horror of banality; a never-ending cycle of school, work, reproduction over and over again. It is as if protagonist Natsuki is forever stuck in a state of perpetual childhood trauma, unable to maturely comprehend the horrors perpetrated on her body by those meant to protect her. It seems only natural then why she so doggedly rejects humanity and the physicality of her body (her partial deafness and ageusia due to childhood sexual assault by a tutor). For her, it is merely a vessel of meat and bones keeping her trapped on Earth, continually victimized by adults and wider society. The frankness in laying out the objectives of 'The Factory' (Natsuki and her husband Tomoya's term for society) and unflinching affirmation of the discriminatory systems of oppression underpinning modern late-capitalist Japan (i.e. misogyny, neuro-/ableism, homophobia, ace/arophobia) gets very uncomfortable to read.

My mother-in-law sighed. "Look, Tomoya. Do it a lot and make a family, then once the relationship has cooled, you play around outside the marriage. That's the way it is for lots of couples, isn't it? Playing around is a man's reward. Your father has had his fair share , haven't you dear?..."

Gee no wonder your son is a sexually traumatized freak on the verge of a complete psychotic break, lady.

Is it truly all that horrifying for Natsuki, Tomoya and Yuu to relinquish societal norms and abandon themselves to their basest desires? How were the actions of those around them anymore inhumane than the gradual descent into psychosis, isolation and cannibalism? It's a challenging perspective and Sayaka Murata's prose definitely made me consider why certain things we are societally 'required' to do (go to school, stay employed, marry and have children, etc.) are so enforced when there is so much violence and coercion inherent to it? Why we are so adamant on dismissing platonic companionship in favour of sexual intimacy, which often brings along abuse, conformity and dangerous power dynamics? How one is meant to survive in the Factory when it purports to value personal individuality, yet prosecutes any disturbance of the status quo?

It was ludicrous. Grown-ups used children to satisfy their sexual desires, yet the very idea of children having sex of their own volition sent them into a total fit. It was laughable.

Truthfully, I cannot in good conscious ever recommend this deeply unsettling bildungsroman. This is one, I think, should be found and read by oneself. It's fast-paced, but reflective. There is a lot to contemplate with this one. What is indisputable though is the impressive literary talent of author Sayaka Murata. Her reputation precedes her and rightfully so. Earthlings, without a doubt, stands out as some of the grimmest, outlandish and subversive novels I have read, probably ever.

Content Warnings

_wyatts's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad 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

3.75

Content Warnings

sticky_soul_sticky_soles's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional 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? It's complicated

4.0

Content Warnings

livyburnett17's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

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

2.0

Content Warnings

chireadsandchill's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.25

Content Warnings

thebakafied's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious fast-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? No

3.5

Content Warnings

camilamunoz's review against another edition

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3.0

wtf…
this book definitely carries similar themes as convenience store woman, what with the earthlings being obsessed with “the factory” aka societal norms, specifically in having babies and working in order to contribute to society.
i have the same thoughts as when i read convince store woman: why is everyone so obsessed with the MC’s body and its ability to have a baby??? like mind your business people.
with that said, this book was super weird. i can kinda forgive natsuki for what she did as a child,

considering her crappy home life, experience with her teacher, and general child innocence, bc she was just trying to take ownership of her body when no one would take her cries for help seriously. a child should never feel that any part of their body is “destroyed” or “killed” at the hands of an adult.

.
i am less forgiving of her actions when she herself is a grown adult. cousin yuu doesn’t seem to have a mind of his own and the husband is just off the rails. the last chapter or so of the book is just a perfect example of mass hysteria between the 3 of them.
i’m shocked to say the least, and given the circumstances, i can’t even be happy for natsuki and the fact that she finally

had full ownership of her body again.

def read the content warnings before reading.

Content Warnings