i enjoyed this way more than I thought I would!! viscerally disgusting, horrifying, fear-inducing. the way Sayaka Murata approaches taboo subjects is so frank and yet so sensitive. keeps you wondering the whole way through as to whether they really are aliens and this is some kind of sci-fi, or if this is the way they cope with their ill mental health. I'm not going to diagnose them with anything, but I thought some of the scenes were actually quite reflective of what it's like to experience/live with these symptoms (of which I have co-morbidity, if that's how you say it?). really excellent work !! I love you miss Murata! wonderful translation work also!

also, compared to other novels I've read with

cannibalism,

this one really approached it with the attachment to the act and detachment from society that made it all the more psychologically fascinating to read. if I'd read this just a few years ago it'd have been my obsession, I've no doubt.