I did not expect this to be one of the darkest books I've read in a while. But it was! From the cover and the description, I expected something light and almost childish. I really liked Convenience Store Woman and was thinking this would be similar or even sillier. It definitely works with the same themes, criticizing the pressures of society from an almost-alien view (made more explicit here, with a planet Popinpobopia where the characters believe they're from). But it pins it to abuse, specifically child abuse. That kind of backstory would make sense of the disconnectedness in Convenience Store Woman, though it's not the only way to explain hating normality. The abuse in this book is wrenching and explicit, almost to the point where I thought it needed more of a warning than what's given in the description. Natsuki, the protagonist, is first a girl and then a woman who's experienced people breaking their basic commitment to care for her. Thus she has no respect for them or the system they come from, which she calls "the Factory"-- the norms of compulsory heteronormative babymaking and capitalist productivity. The story follows her on a journey through a number of taboos--child sexuality, abuse, incest, murder, cannibalism. She ultimately finds a husband who thinks like her. Since they both don't trust the ethics of normal society, they adopt a view of thinking about how to live as if they were aliens, purely from reason. What I like about Murata is that she creates these extremely alienated characters but then finds believable companions for them (even if that makes both of them alienated). The story builds to a pretty jaw-dropping (ok you may think that's a bad metaphor when you get there) ending, but at least Natsuki doesn't end up alone.

This is such an insanely strange book. I can honestly say I’ve never read anything like this before in my life. This is very different from Convenience Store Woman but the exquisite writing is still there so there should be no fear about the quality of writing.

This is also a very troubling book, if you are concerned with how you’ll handle a book with a lot of sexual abuse, proceed with caution. Though it has very dark moments there are also really good and funny moments. I’m not going to lie, I really believe this is an important book that asks some interesting questions.

Can I say I truly enjoyed it? Well, no not really. It’s incredibly written, it pulls you in but it was an incredibly difficult read for me. Three stars for me.

This book is one crazy ride...you are never sure what is going to happen next. With incest, abuse and cannibalism as major themes there isn't much Murata leaves out. The fact that it is told in such a vulnerable voice means it stays with you long after you are finished reading.

<b>What an absolute mind fuck.</b>

Just absolutely raucously outrageous.

I can’t even really explain the plot without getting too into spoilers, so I’m just going to suggest that if you are a fan of super weirdness— read this.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic/Grove press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

That was incredibly uncomfortable, and I freaking loved it!

Murata’s take on groupthink/conformity and society is always refreshing, but she really takes it to a whole other planet in Earthlings. Unlike Convenience Store Woman, where these darker themes and parallels are drawn in an almost enchanting and humorous way, the tone of Earthlings is pretty grim and disquieting—maybe even gratuitously so.

Fans of Murata will enjoy this one, just prepare for it to be nothing like you expected.

This is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the weirdest things I've ever read.

I loved Convenience Store Woman, and have been excited for this ever since I heard about it. Murata does not disappoint in the slightest with this witty yet bizarre look at what it feels like to not belong, but from an outsiders perspective. Japan appears, from what I know, a country and a culture that values rules and structure. The characters in Earthlings also value this, but just not all the rules all the time, nor the structure that seems to imprison them within the system. I love the description of everyday life, and of the heteronormative societal expectations, as a factory, with people simply parts in the machinery that keep the factory running, and loved the commentary provided about breaking free of this routine.

If you enjoyed Convenience Store Woman, or are a fan of Murata's simple yet beautiful prose, this is one for you. Just don't expect the gentleness of previous books. This one is very, very weird.

Earthlings is the sole evidence needed to demonstrate that Sayaka Murata is not an author you pigeonhole. Murata’s newest novel, out Oct. 1, explores dark and disturbing matters, weaving a web of themes connecting sexual abuse, rape, grooming, incest, cannibalism, gender-based violence and murder. These topics are rooted in a sexist society based in the topography of Japan, centered around protagonist Natsuki’s response to constantly experiencing a complete lack of bodily autonomy, a consequence of living in a world in which earthlings serve to form a “Baby Factory.”

The first third of Murata’s work is dedicated to the voice of ten-year old Natsuki’s experience of first love (albeit incestuous) which is simultaneously surrounded by repeated childhood abuse. I have not suspended my disbelief and been so utterly convinced by a child narrator’s voice since Emma Donoghue’s Room. I was amazed by how childhood fantasies merged with Natsuki’s disturbing reality in these early pages, and I marvelled at Natsuki’s physical and mental strength in the face of horrific acts no child or adult should ever experience.

Continuously awed and aghast, this voice then underpins the remainder of the novel as the reader stays with Natsuki into her thirties and witnesses how she still exists in a somewhat dissociative state following the bodily trauma she experienced at a young age. This book is a distressing read, there is no other way to put it. The blurb associated with this novella does not provide an inch of warning for the reading experience that awaits you.

The rest of the novel is steeped in surprise, shock and horror. There are intense moments of magical realism, bewildering twists that lead the reader to question every aspect of morality. The latter half of the book reminds me greatly of Han Kang’s The Vegetarian, especially as Murata’s protagonist splits away from societal norms and dedicates herself to an alternate reality.

Overall, this book is illustrative of Murata’s creative prowess in literature. I loved the Convenience Store Woman for Murata’s sparse way of storytelling and heartfelt commitment to sharing the lived experience of a woman who did not want to fit in, but tried to anyway. I love Earthlings for its demonstration of a woman who will not fit in as a direct consequence of everything that is wrong with the way women are treated, especially in the context of sex. Please read this incredible novel, but only if you are prepared for what lies ahead!

Thank you to #Netgalley, #GrovePress and #SayakaMurata for this #ARC.

Natsuki is a six-grade Japanese girl who is berated by her parents and sister. She finds comfort in her cousin, Yuu, who she only gets to see in the summers at her grandparents' house. The book started out extremely dark with graphic details of sexual abuse by a teacher. Then Natsuki feels that the best way to reclaim her body is to have sex with her cousin (this scene is also graphic). The book then moves ahead to when Natsuki is grown and in an asexual marriage. Both she and her husband believe that they are aliens stuck on earth with no hope of returning to their home planet. The book continues to get even weirder. I read Murata's Convenience Store Woman and loved that book. You can see similarities with that book with the view on asexual marriage, children and flawed characters. But with Earthlings, it was hard getting through the gratuitous sex scenes involving 12 year olds. Therefore I could not give it more than a 3 star rating. I would like to thank NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 rounded up

“Earthlings baffled me.”

That’s a direct quote from the book and that’s exactly my reaction after reading this book. I mean, what did I just read??? I am a huuuuuge fan of Convenience Store Woman (CSW), but this, this is a whole different ballgame altogether. Earthlings was WEIRD. Like ABSOLUTELY, UTTERLY WEIRD & BIZARRE.

Meet Natsuki, an 11-year-old girl. She had a wand and a transformation mirror. She believed she had magical powers bestowed upon her by her friend, a cute hedgehog plush toy, whom she named Piyyut, sent down from Planet Poppinpobopin to save planet Earth from a crisis.

Natsuki didn’t have a happy childhood. Her wild imaginations were her coping mechanism and her way of escaping her world. Her family verbally and mentally abused her, and in school her teacher sexually abused her. She told her mother about it, but her mother accused her of having a filthy mind, and that “you’re the dirty one, not him.”

She only looked forward to her summer holidays in the mountains, Akashina, where her grandparents lived, a place far enough from home, where she could feel safe. There, she’d be able to spend time with the person she loved most, her cousin Yuu, whose mother called an alien. Soon they both believed they were aliens from Planet Poppinpobopia and were meant to be together. Forever. Until something happened and tore them apart.

They didn’t meet again till two decades later, Natsuki then 34, made a trip there with her husband Tomoya, who also believed he was an alien. They were only husband and wife on paper, but they were nothing like a couple. They slept separately and weren’t physically intimate. They divided household chores equally and ate separately, but they were happy.

When they met Yuu, Natsuki saw that he had changed and was turning himself into an Earthling; functioning as one of society’s tools and was doing what was expected of him to survive. He even advised Natsuki to start acting like others because “...once they think you’re strange, life will get really hard for you.”

Natsuki feared that Yuu would soon forget who he actually was - an alien like her, alienated from the society. Her husband shared the same sentiments too and decided all of them shouldn’t fall into the trappings of the Factory (the society) and becoming one of their tools. He urged them all to escape and live by themselves in Akashina.

Reading about Natsuki reminded me a little about Keiko in CSW, who shared the same dilemmas as her. They both struggled living in a society that forced them to conform; they were being pushed beliefs and cultures that they didn’t believe in. They both tried to fit in but failed miserably and weren’t happy, more so for Natsuki who had been abused by people who were supposed to love her. Her body was hers but never felt like hers - she was forced to do things against her will, she was physically hurt and was to believe that she deserved it, and now that she was married she was expected to have a baby.

Everything in Earthlings was what I’d expected from Muraka, until towards the end when the weird got weirder. And the scenes got even more graphic to the point of extreme. I cringed a lot, gasped a lot, and said WTH a lot, and my eyebrows were perpetually raised until they got tired.

At the ending, I didn’t know to just laugh it off or ponder on the absurdity of it! I get the message but the delivery of it shocked me. Even if Muraka was going for the shock factor, I thought this was a little too much. I’m beginning to wonder what goes on in her mind.

And, this book is loaded with trigger warnings too. Definitely not for the faint-hearted!

That said, I did ‘enjoy’ the first three quarter of the book, as it evoked a lot of emotions - there were heartbreaking moments and also tender and hopeful ones especially between Natsuki and Yuu. Tomoya was quite a character too! Loved his devil-may-care attitude!

And it did make me ponder on how cruel and monstrous the society can be, how we can turn our world into a living hell, and how alienating we can be towards those who aren’t like us.

If you’re intrigued, go ahead, read it. But don’t say you haven’t been warned! I don’t know, it might make a good Halloween read! Yes, the more I think about it, the more I believe it. A good Halloween read it is! Is that good or bad? You decide. But I’m recommending it to some of my friends as I’m curious to know their thoughts on it!

Thank you NetGalley and Grove Press for the opportunity to read and review the eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine.

Earthlings was a wild ride! I don’t think the blurb really did the novel justice – it was much darker and more complex than I anticipated. The plot features child abuse and sexual assault. I think that these issues are handled tactfully and purposefully, but it is something to keep in mind as you are planning your reading. This book is not for the faint of heart!

*Light spoilers* Natsuki is a lonely little girl from a cold family, but she bonds with her male cousin, Yuu, whom she sees for a family get together every summer in a remote part of Japan. After Natsuki is raped by her schoolteacher, she is unable to connect to others in a “normal” sexual or romantic way. She meets and marries a man online – a purely transactional relationship – and together they retreat into a childish fantasy world, seemingly genuinely convinced that they are aliens at odds with their “baby factory” society. Later in life, Yuu is also crumbling under societal pressures, and the three of them live together a bizarre compound at Natsuki and Yuu’s family home.

Earthlings has a lot in common with Sayaka Murata’s previous novel Convenience Store Woman. Both protagonists are quirky women who are unwilling/unable to meet society’s expectation of them as wives and mothers. Natsuki of Earthlings has a much more tragic and flushed out backstory. This book is often difficult to read, but I think it has a lot of important things to say about morality and the impact of childhood abuse on the adult psyche. The book alternates between tragic and darkly comic but is always compulsively readable.

This book is insane! I love the humor of in the writing. Murata is amazing and this latest release of hers should be in everyone's reading list right now!

I very much enjoyed "Convenience Store Woman". I got the message, of course, but most especially enjoyed some of the wordplay and the stray and random, but pointed and arresting, musings by the heroine. In this followup of sorts Murata amps everything up to 11 and goes darker and more dangerous. Is that better? That's your call, I preferred the more restrained and modulated tone of the first book.

"My body is not my own."

I'm speechless and my stomach is in knots. The social commentary in this book, about the expectations and pressures society puts on people, and how people put those pressures on each other, is delivered so matter-of-factly and dealt with so aggressively that it heightens disturbing events to a level of disturbing I didn't think was possible. And THAT ENDING, what the hell?! Murata does not hold back.

This novel is so incredibly weird, devastatingly sad, and deeply distressing, and then the ending got gruesome and even WEIRDER. This would make a good pick for the bravest of book clubs, because you would have endless things to talk about, and you're either going to want to talk about those things or run the hell away and hide.

TW: childhood emotional and physical abuse, parentification, molestation, incest, rape, derealization and depersonalization, suicidal ideation, attempted suicide, murder, cannibalism, graphic violence

NOTE: Despite book descriptions that say Natsuki's husband is asexual, there is no ace rep here. Choosing celibacy is not the same thing, and in the book, Natsuki specifically states her husband is heterosexual. It seems like some non-ace folks in marketing used their own inaccurate stereotypes and misunderstandings when they wrote up the book's description.

"As a child, Natsuki doesn't fit into her family. Her parents favor her sister, and her best friend is a plush toy hedgehog named Piyyut who has explained to her that he has come from the planet Popinpobopia on a special quest to help her save the Earth. Each summer, Natsuki counts down the days until her family drives into the mountains of Nagano to visit her grandparents in their wooden house in the forest, a place that couldn't be more different from her grey commuter town. One summer, her cousin Yuu confides to Natsuki that he is an extraterrestrial and that every night he searches the sky for the spaceship that might take him back to his home planet. Natsuki wonders if she might be an alien too. Back in her city home, Natsuki is scolded or ignored and even preyed upon by a young teacher at her cram school. As she grows up in a hostile, violent world, she consoles herself with memories of her time with Yuu and discovers a surprisingly potent inner power. Natsuki seems forced to fit into a society she deems a "baby factory" but even as a married woman she wonders if there is more to this world than the mundane reality everyone else seems to accept. The answers are out there, and Natsuki has the power to find them.

Dreamlike, sometimes shocking, and always strange and wonderful, Earthlings asks what it means to be happy in a stifling world, and cements Sayaka Murata's status as a master chronicler of the outsider experience and our own uncanny universe."

All the good I could say about this book just comes down to me saying "BUY THIS THERE'S A HEDGEHOG ON THE COVER!!!"

I don’t actually know how to review this book. I believe the whole thing is beyond anyone’s expectations. I’ve read Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman before, but this one is out of hand. Trigger warning: sexual abuse, violence, blood. Proceed with caution!⁣
⁣
The main theme of the book is about the main characters battling whether they should conform to the Factory—society’s—values, or just abandon everything completely—not wanting to be brainwashed. Full of taboos, the plot is told through Natsuki’s point of view where she experienced verbal and sexual abuses that she formed a split personality to cope with them. She grew up and got married out of convenience but still didn’t want to have a baby—which means she defied the Factory. Natsuki, her husband Tomoya, and her cousin Yuu are social outcasts. They believed they’re from a planet called Popinpobopia, and are not Earthlings. So in the end they decided to just own it, and this is where it gets even darker.⁣
⁣
I think what ached my heart the most was when Natsuki tried to tell the adults and her supposed friends a few years later about the sexual abuse her teacher had done to her, they didn’t believe her because—you guessed it—the young teacher seemed like a nice guy and it was rude of her to accuse him of being a pervert. Oh and her sister is such an airhead. ⁣
⁣
Anyway, it seems like Murata didn’t hold anything back with this one. I honestly loved it. Again, if you plan to read this—I think you should, please proceed with caution and drop any expectations you have. 😅⁣

The most depraved book I ever read and yet I was completely enthralled. Truly strange and not for the faint of heart!

"Deep in the mountains of Akishina where Granny and Grandpa live, fragments of night linger even at midday.
- Earthlings, Sayaka Murata"

Earthlings starts with Natsuki, aged 11, visiting her grandparents in the fictional Japanese mountains of Akishina with her family. Everything is nice, she wants to see her cousin Yuu and she has to tell him that she found out, that she has magical powers. Great.

No. It slowly starts to become clear, that Natsuki is protecting herself from her emotionally abusive family with her imaginary world. And it escalates drastically from there. We jump into Natsuki’s life in her 30s and learn some more horrible things about her past. She has tried to ingrate into society, but failed. But she found a husband, who is as unable to live in the society as she is, and they decide to visit her grandparents house in the mountains again. Her cousin Yuu is living there currently, and the three of them built a … interesting trio of misfits. Things turn out impressively bad in the short span of 250 pages.

When I saw this book for review on Netgalley, I was excited. I haven’t come around to reading her last book (Convenience Store Woman) yet, but what I heard about it was great – an unconventional woman fighting against societies expectations of her? Great. Everyone seemed to like it. So my interest was piqued with this new book. (I wanted to be one of the cool kids this time around, okay? Read the book before the new hype starts. I can be shallow, I know.)

Unfortunately, I don’t think this one will get that much hype. I was totally surprised by the dark and cruel content of this book. Don’t let the sweet little hedgehog on the cover fool you, this book need trigger warnings.

And as far as I can see on Goodreads so far, other people felt like me. A big, fat “What did I just read?!”

The writing was beautiful, which made the content so much more harrowing.

The Writing

The writing was beautiful, which made the content so much more harrowing.

The descriptions especially of the grandparents’ house and the mountains was incredible immersive. But Murata also found a way to describe the abusive scenes in a way, that felt (appropriately) detached. She is a great writer, who can tune the tone of her writing to fit the character and content.

The Plot

So what is actually happening in this book you might ask. Do you really want to know? Then go ahead, spoiler warning! (And trigger warning for that matter)

The book starts with Natsuki who has an awful family and who’s only friends are her toy hedgehog (who is apparently talking to her and giving her imaginative magical powers) and her cousin Yuu, who she sees once a year at her grandparents house.Turns out, Yuu’s family life isn’t great either and they both form a bond through their traumatic childhood. They both escape into imaginary worlds and its all tragic, but sweet.

Then it gets slightly stranger, when they decide to become girlfriend and boyfriend. Natsuki’s family leaves after a couple of days and we see Natsuki’s horrible life at home and school. Natsuki is sexually harassed by a teacher and no one helps her when she says anything about this. Instead, everyone is accusing her or laughing at her.

Next year in the summer, Natsuki is back at her grandparents house and meets Yuu again. They have a childish marriage ceremony in the middle of the night. That would have been okay, I guess, if they didn’t also have sex afterwards… they’re 13 and well… cousins. They get found in the middle of it and everyone is upset. Natsuki is imprisoned and for the next years she is not allowed to leave the house unsupervised.

We skip ahead to Natsuki, now in her 30s, who has a husband now. They are a marriage out of convenience, because both needed to get out of their parents houses and they both don’t want any physical contact. They have divided their apartment and they are basically flatmates. Natsuki has told him about her grandparents house in the mountains and they decide to visit.

Turns out, Yuu isn’t doing too well in his live and stays at the house for free as long as he has no job. The three of them form a horrible trio and decide to turn their back on society… because they are not humans, but aliens. And then more gory things happen and we learn some more things about Natsuki’s past and it all comes down in a cannibalistic climax. (Yes you read that right…)

I left out some specifics, but I hope you got the gest. Everything escalated quickly.

"Survive, whatever it takes. - Earthlings, Sayaka Murata"

Conclusion

It wasn’t all a total frenzy though. The first third actually had me gripped. I didn’t expect to read about an abused girl, but hey, it was well written and tragic. And in between the gore and the alien delusions, there were some seriously poignant comments about society and feminist critique. But still… that couldn’t weigh out the cannibalism and surreal characters.

And it made me sad, because there was no character growth in Natsuki or a serious contemplation of her abuse. The book treated those topics poorly, in my opinion, because it just happened to her and the end result is, that Natsuki ends up in a manic gory freak show? What was the point in that? No one gets punished. No one called out for their abusive behavior.

In the end, the abused become the monsters.

And what kind of ending is that?

If you want to read a positive review, please check out Kim’s review on her blog.

Admirers of Murata's earlier Convenience Store Woman will appreciate this story of growing up and how the past and present interact. An encompassing and at times disturbing novel.

There's hardly any other way to describe this book besides absolutely batshit crazy. The plot is almost unbelievable in the lengths that it goes to surprise the reader, but Murata still manages to pull off a great book. She keeps us guessing all throughout the novel on how crazy it will get, how far it will go, and then still manages to surpass that. At the same time, there are so many thought-provoking and moving passages and insights from the characters that, despite the madness they surround themselves with, really resonated with me. The only reason this isn't a 5-star for me is that I felt it dragged in places and got repetitive. Murata really shines when she writes about insane situations that are hard to wrap your head around, but I felt that she struggled with the more mundane aspects of this book. Overall I absolutely loved this as a wild, refreshing read, but I'm not sure I would recommend it to absolutely everyone unless they were prepared to digest some of the more gruesome subject matters in the book.

Well, that was a wild ride.

I go into books without reading the synopsis if I can at all avoid it, I went into this as blind as possible, with a trust in Sayaka and an adorable cover, I was convinced I was in for a cute little adventure with sweet Piyyut. Wow am I glad I had no idea where I was being taken. Avoid reading the summary with this one - it covers too much of the story. Earthlings grabbed my heart, tore it to pieces, and then patched it up and fed it to me in a lovely soup.

I am a massive fan of weird fiction and this hits so many of the points which I adore. A story of social rejection, abuse, and isolation, this is literary fiction though an uncanny lens. Despite the heavy themes Earthlings is an easy read as it is well written and flows beautifully. With equal measures of adoration and repulsion I have thoroughly enjoyed this venture into Sayaka Murata’s mind.

[This eARC was generously provided to me by Grove Atlantic via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.]