This is probably the most peculiar book I've read in years. Earthlings is a gripping, strange, shocking and still somehow wonderful book that probes and troubles your mind. This was my first experience with Sayaka Murata's writing, and now I want to read all of her work because, at least in this story, she really captures society in a way that few can actually describe. Definitely one of my favorite reads so far this year.

I really liked Convenience Store Woman, it was so funny and weird, so I was excited to read Earthlings. It's a weird but much darker than her previous novel that becomes more shocking as the book goes on, towards the end it's a total shift from what I thought the book was going to be. I loved it. A Murakami like novel about a Natsuki is a young girl in Japan who doesn't fit in with her family and the rest of society. She doesn't want to be in the "baby factory" society where she will just grow up to be a mother. When a vacation to the mountains to her grandparents place, her cousin Yuu tells her he's an alien and he's always searching the stars for a ship to take him home. She wonders if there is more to live than this and goes on a search to find it. A novel about girl's places in the world and Japanese society, it's a great book.

I am going to be honest. I started reading this book, got a bit confused, and turned to some other reviews to see if they could help me out. At that point, quite a few of the other reviewers mentioned that there are graphic child sex scenes in this book and that removed my desire to continue reading this book. My apologies to the author and the publisher.

I honestly didn’t know this book was going to be so dark. I liked this one better than Convenience Store Woman but wish I had known the disturbing topics in this book beforehand. It was relatable how the main character Natsuki felt different from anyone she knew and couldn’t fit into society but overall while I was reading this book it was just shocking and at the end I just wanted to move onto my next book.

Sayaka Murata returns! I loved Convenience Store Woman and Murata's voice and unique characters. This book definitely follows up and develops her voice further. It is a wonderful quirky, tightly wound, amusing yet heartbreaking book about experiencing and healing from trauma, about bonds that connect us, about our role in society or the role outside of society. This book will not be for everyone, given that there are heavy trigger warnings for child sexual abuse and incest. However, overall I found myself relishing the book (it is charming yet unsettling the same way Convenience Store Woman was) and the food for thought it provided. 4 stars.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

An absolute masterpiece on feeling “alienation” in society.

As a companion piece to Convenience Store Woman, Earthlings takes leaps forward in cementing the ideas of the first book, and then no holds are barred as the book becomes a Tarantino-like exaggeration of our characters reasonably realistic lives.

I will write up a full review on my J-“lit blog and add links later.

I wish this were available sooner so I could talk more about it and let get friends to read it.

I received this book as an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review — thank you! I would like to start off by giving a huge content warning on this book for child sexual assault, child sex, physical abuse, and victim shaming. These are the main topics of the book and it is quite confronting to read, which is part of my low rating. I wasn't expecting this content to be so graphic and confronting, and it was beginning to trigger my anxiety. I should note that these aren't my usual triggers, so it was quite severe. There are graphic sexual scenes involving children and they are very uncomfortable to read. I had no problem with the writing of this. I found it very typical of Japanese translated works, which is a style that I actually quite enjoy reading. However, there were many confusing elements that I simply couldn't wrap my head around. Most of my issues with this book came from the confronting nature of it. I just don't think this book was for me, overall, which is a shame.

I have never read anything by Sayaka Murata before, so I approached Earthlings with no particularly expectations as to what it would be like. I was delighted by what I found, however. The story and its characters captured my interest right from the start, and I loved Murata's prose style which flows from the dreamlike to the stark in a gentle, non-jarring way. The themes in this book resonated deeply with me, and I felt a certain kinship with Natsuki that kept me invested in her progress through the story.

Earthlings is a wonderful depiction of the darker side of society and the norms it imposes, particularly the judgment it passes on those who don't conform. Although the story verges on the fantastical, the themes it explores are very much grounded in the reality of contemporary life, and I thought Murata handled that balance perfectly. Based on my experience with this book, I am keen to read more of her works in the future.

To close, I should say that Earthlings is not a book that will appeal to everyone. It contains some dark themes and depictions of events that may put off some readers. However, if you are not affected by such things I highly recommend this quirky and thought-provoking work.

This book was a little different to what i was imagining. I am not saying I didn't like it, I Cared about Natsuki when it seemed like no-one else did in the book and knew I had to finish and I so hoped she had her happy ending. I am giving this book a 5 star review because it was so well crafted the development of the characters, excellent book cover. I just want to have a second book now to see how the story continues.

HOLY MOLY. Just a warning without spoilers, this is definitely a MATURE read, so if you can’t handle any topics around abuse then steer clear.

Also there may be spoilers from this point on, I’m trying to be as broad as possible because this was really well written.

***

So I wasn’t sure what to expect when I requested this ARC, but I was drawn in immediately by the author. She does such a fantastic job of humanizing the children in the story, and really captures the chuunibyo period of childhood really well. It’s an awkward time with experimentation and confusion about what it means to be an adult. You can see this continue through the book as the characters either change and mature or are stunted in this stage due to numerous reasons.

Unfortunately, I also felt she did a good job on catching some of the overtly abusive Asian family dynamics seen in some families. You could feel the outside characters uncomfortable and it makes you feel uncomfortable as well. This background adds to understanding why characters developed the way they did, sadly.

I didn’t expect to find myself liking a general fiction like this, but it was written in such a way that it’s kind of a train wreck that you can’t look away from. You want to keep reading because you, with some little pieces of hope, want things to turn out well for the characters. Well, guess you got to read it if you want to find out.

There's a lot going on with just the first few chapters. There are a lot of characters which get introduced, a lot of good and not-so-good things happening in the life of Natsuki.
I would say it's a coming of age fiction where it depicts sexual abuse/molestation by a male teacher, a mother who appears to be downright disappointed in her daughter and rather abusive on a constant basis, a close male cousin who is supposedly to be the secret boyfriend/husband. So many things are not handled properly at all. I wasn't expecting this one to be so horrifying! The young girl is trying to escape the pain and neglect believing herself to be a magical being. Damn, it hurts. But I seriously could not grasp the real intention of this book. Yes, I did read this one till the end. It's rather like something written in a very dark, twisted kind of story but without a plot or a theme to discuss about. The characters are so damn annoyingly blind and too whimsical. Too many graphic scenes in the story but I just cannot see the significance of it. The second half did not get any better. The ending was a complete mess.
Maybe I was expecting something else from this story. Even if I wasn't, this one was just not for me.
I got triggered but I didn't get anything out of it - at least all it had to do was give me some assurance or some kind of closure. Too much of abuse and physical violence just don't go well if the story doesn't do anything about it.

I was expecting too much from this book I suppose. I totally love the first book by the author. This is a total let down for me.
But I am glad #NetGalley gave me an ARC of it.
Thank you.