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A review by chrisljm
Scattered All Over the Earth by Yōko Tawada
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Girl what the hell. First of all there was so much yapping I kept falling asleep. The amount of inner monologues where the narrators would just drone on and on was honestly slowly killing me because there wasn't really any sort of plot to push it forward, and so I really didn't give a fuck. And as much as I disliked the book, I was still kinda baffled at the ending because it goes so off the rails.
I truly did not care about any of the characters and honestly I think Yoko Tawada was trying to do too much in too little pages. There was so much backstory and thought while also trying to interweave various themes, which leads to all the rambling done by all the characters. I also strongly disliked the way each character was handled and found myself getting irritated reading about them. Not only individually, but also reading the way these characters interacted and how they connected to each other was bewildering. The first thing I'll mention is how all the female characters for some reason immediately fall in love/are obsessed with the male characters. It's to the extent where Nora basically becomes Tenzo's mother and even fills out job applications and does his job for him. Like what?? This relates to the second point I want to mention which is Akash, a trans character, who is also depicted as being obsessed with Knut and showing possession over him right from the moment they meet. This is mentioned in plenty of other reviews but Akash is such a poorly handled trans character, and is consistently getting misgendered with no discussion or correction whatsoever, and so it seems like Tawada just brought on a trans character in order to have someone "eccentric" within this makeshift group of friends. This also brings me to my last criticism, one I don't see as often in other reviews, which has to do with Nanook, who is Inuk, and the insistent usage of the slur es*imo within the book. It's definitely one thing for other characters to use this slur due to ignorance and to depict someone as racist, but it's another when Tawada herself mentions in the book how that term is viewed as a racist slur that many people don't use anymore, and then proceeding to use it as regular vocabulary. It's also crazy to me for her to have Nanook himself constantly referring to himself and other native things using that slur when many Inuit find it offensive, especially since it is a term forced on them due to colonization.
I'm not sure if the author was trying to do something when touching on race and gender, but it came off frustrating and offensive instead.
I truly did not care about any of the characters and honestly I think Yoko Tawada was trying to do too much in too little pages. There was so much backstory and thought while also trying to interweave various themes, which leads to all the rambling done by all the characters. I also strongly disliked the way each character was handled and found myself getting irritated reading about them. Not only individually, but also reading the way these characters interacted and how they connected to each other was bewildering. The first thing I'll mention is how all the female characters for some reason immediately fall in love/are obsessed with the male characters. It's to the extent where Nora basically becomes Tenzo's mother and even fills out job applications and does his job for him. Like what?? This relates to the second point I want to mention which is Akash, a trans character, who is also depicted as being obsessed with Knut and showing possession over him right from the moment they meet. This is mentioned in plenty of other reviews but Akash is such a poorly handled trans character, and is consistently getting misgendered with no discussion or correction whatsoever, and so it seems like Tawada just brought on a trans character in order to have someone "eccentric" within this makeshift group of friends. This also brings me to my last criticism, one I don't see as often in other reviews, which has to do with Nanook, who is Inuk, and the insistent usage of the slur es*imo within the book. It's definitely one thing for other characters to use this slur due to ignorance and to depict someone as racist, but it's another when Tawada herself mentions in the book how that term is viewed as a racist slur that many people don't use anymore, and then proceeding to use it as regular vocabulary. It's also crazy to me for her to have Nanook himself constantly referring to himself and other native things using that slur when many Inuit find it offensive, especially since it is a term forced on them due to colonization.
I'm not sure if the author was trying to do something when touching on race and gender, but it came off frustrating and offensive instead.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Transphobia
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Drug use, Infidelity, and Sexual content
Minor: Child abuse, Hate crime, Pregnancy, and Alcohol