3.5 Rounded up. I received an ARC courtesy of NetGalley.

Murata's Convenience Store Woman was one of my favorite reads from last year, so I was very excited to pick up Earthlings. It touches on many of the same themes around societal expectations, marriage, childbearing, and social alienation (in this case, literally). What was so poignantly done in CSW, though, was quite heavy-handed in Earthlings. The critiques of gender roles and society are nothing new or particularly nuanced, and the story veered off in an increasingly strange direction, apparently for shock value. It totally lost me with the last chapter. That said, there is a lot to like in Earthlings. I love Murata's simple, introspective prose, and was enchanted by the mountainous setting of Natsuki's childhood.

A little bit of a disappointment coming off of CSW, but definitely worth the read. I was with only until the very end.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3387320652

Indeed the cover is misleading.. a cute hedgehog plush toy from outer space causes mayhem!
Natsuki is an outcast from an abusive family. She doesn't fit in and does all she can to escape from the Factory, the baby making society that does not condone outcasts and forces them to conform.
The novel quickly escalates towards the end, sensitive readers beware!
All in all a very very weird but gripping read.

Short review: woweeee going to be thinking about this for a while.

There is little I can say without telling you about something you need to read for yourself. An amazing second book, by the author of Convenience Store Woman. You will probably be uncomfortable, and you need to be okay with that going in. This is not a cute story, as others have pointed out. There is beauty to everything in this book, but darkness is always there to snap you back. I love reading a book that I can so vividly see in my mind, but also cannot see this ever being adapted to screen. Maybe it could be animated? Maybe it doesn't need to be adapted, ever. But I'm happy with the words on the pages and what I saw while reading. A little bit disturbed, too.

I love the writing of Sayaka Murata, and can't wait to read the next story/book. Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was so easily fooled by the cute fluffy cover and I thought I’ll read an easy relaxing book … Oh boy, Earthlings is nothing like that! Despite the fact that the story starts with children playing peacefully at the countryside, this beginning couldn’t be more different than the ending.

It is a story about toxic relationships and not fitting in the society – an extreme rebellion against human culture and spirit. Beware, there are some very disturbing elements towards the final part of the book.

Quite recently I also read The Vegetarian by Han Kang, and I must say that Earthlings reminded me a lot of this book. The stories are very different, however I see some common aspects:
- both books have as overarching theme the pressured to conform to societal norms
- toxic relationships and trauma are present in both stories, though in different contexts
- the overall atmosphere is spooky and weird … at least that’s how I experienced both stories

I cannot make up my mind whether I liked the book or not. I did read the 200 pages in only 2 evenings. I felt very uncomfortable while reading some sections, however I couldn’t put it down. It definitely shocked me when the first disturbing sections appeared … I was waiting for an easy relaxing story, as the cover suggested, not a full-blown hit. But again I couldn’t put it down. I’m still wondering how I managed to read the ending.

Maybe I don’t need to make up my mind. It is certainly a mindblowing story.

I was given an advanced reader’s in exchange for an honest review

This book was able to present a unique experimental concept and still be a well written narrative with fleshed out characters. A good surprise

This book is wild. It's at once horrifying and tender. The protagonist suffers mental, physical, and emotional abuse and reacts by disassociating and considering herself an alien -- she is not like the Earthlings who must continue to work and populate for the good of and continuation of society. I so appreciated the insight here; the mental capacity is striking. But I was also disturbed in several instances. Moving & well done; just be ready for a wild ride. Look up trigger warnings if you're into that because there are a lot.

Well, this was an amazingly weird book. I keep thinking about this. Do not be fooled by the cute cover, this is not a cute story. Its gruesome and hard to read, but is very well written and you want to keep reading. It makes you think, even weeks after you have finished it.

Crikey. Strange book gets even stranger until it spins off into space, taking the reader ‘s gorge with it. What a peculiar and c9mpelling writer she is, keeping us hooked somewhere between satire and nightmare. Weird but exhilarating.

In her latest novel Earthlings, Sayaka Murata explores a similar theme to that in her previous highly acclaimed novel Convenience Store Woman, taking a slightly different approach. The novel follows Natsuki as a young girl who feels like an outcast in her own family and finds refuge in a fantasy world. Things soon take a turn for the worse and despite the red flags that she raises and her attempts to fit in, Natsuki is never seen by her mother, her sister and her friends as a victim, but always as a perpetrator and the source of her own and everyone else's unhappiness, and is being punished for it. All grown up, Natsuki forms around her a band of misfits and together they end up rejecting all society's productivity norms (i.e. child bearing and joining the workforce), to the horror of their very conventional families. The story in itself is a critique of the patriarchal and traditionalist society in Japan (and beyond) that sees people as "tools" belonging to the "factory" instead of as individuals. Overall, a wild ride of a novel that you can't put down!

Thank you Netgalley and Grove Press for providing me a free copy of this book to review!

This book belongs in a genre of its own. A bizarre read which had me captivated from the opening pages, and by the end I was questioning everything. The simplistic writing, alongside a seemingly typical ‘kid that doesn’t belong’ story which somehow evolves into a nightmarish horror story involving cannibalism, made this a five-star read for me.

I love shocking reads. I love it more when they take you by surprise like this one did. Disguised as a YA novel (it’s incredibly NOT YA), through the eyes of eleven-year-old Natsuki we see just how crazy this world can be. The young girl is abused at home by her mother and sister (she accepts that she is their “punching bag”), sexually abused by her teacher, and her best friend is a toy hedgehog who she believes is from another planet.

The theme of body ownership takes over this story, and we can really see how “the factory” owns us all in reality as well. Her abuse is so intensely graphic, it broke my heart to read about her experiences. She creates a reality of her own to cover up the turmoil of it all. Her own parents’ abuse, both physical and emotional and their favouritism towards her sister Kise and of course the graphic sexual abuse from her teacher Mr. Igasaki. Phrases like “my mouth was still broken” used to convey her reaction to the traumatic event was incredibly powerful. When she tries to speak out these events and no one believes her, my anger and need to protect this child really took over. These scenes were heartbreaking, but it could have never prepared me for what was coming.

The three major characters, Natsuki, Tomoya and Yuu are all very strange individuals who have been seriously scarred by their upbringing. Their inability to belong in the world develops throughout the story to the point where they are convinced that they are aliens living amongst humans. Yuu and Tomoya seem to be opposite personalities – Tomoya accepts he is different and actively tries to embrace this ‘alien eye’ (either by moving to the mountains, considering incest with his family, etc), Yuu however tries to fit in with humans (he attempts to find a job, attempts to live a more ‘human’ life). The strange trio are incredibly interesting to read and each bring a bizarre element to the story. The secondary characters do a great job of showing what brainwashed humans look like in comparison to the traumatised ‘aliens’, forced to be a part of the factory where you lack control of your own body.

So many scenes were both extremely powerful, yet also incredibly stomach turning. The insanity that encompassed the final quarter of the book stands out the most, as it took me completely by surprise. The graphic imagery, the metaphor that was the end – these three characters finally becoming the ‘aliens’ they imagined they were, left me speechless. I loved reading every page.

This book tackles some hard topics. How do people overcome traumatic childhoods? How do their coping mechanisms fit into our reality? I think it did a great job in showing what happens when trauma is not resolved or faced. I must read more of this authors books.

Thank you for allowing me to read this arc!

Saying you like this book is like saying you like the bloody, gory aftermath of a train wreck. But one thing for sure: It sure is hard to look away.

The theme of the book is not particularly original, although the direction the Murata takes it certainly is! It's not the first or last time we've heard modern society being referred to as a factory, with all of us earthlings acting as cogs. And it's certainly not the first book to suggest that those who don't play the game pay the price of marginalization, isolation, and sometimes even mental illness. But it's the first I've ever read where those disaffected lost souls go to such extremes.

The writing itself is very simple, direct, and unemotional, which adds to the creepiness of the book but doesn't turn it into a work of literature. It's definitely popular fiction...perhaps even science fiction...or horror...well, it's difficult to categorize. At the same time that I could not put this book down as it drew to a close, I was cringing as I turned each page. If it were a movie, I would have been covering my eyes.

Don't let the cute cover fool you!

Convenience Store Woman had its weird moments but was basically a contemporary story. This book takes the weirdness quota and ramps it up to ten...and I loved it! It tells the story of Natsuki, a young girl who has a transformation mirror and talks to an alien while navigating her place in the factory of being an Earthling. Firstly, this is not a comfortable read. Horrific things are discussed in a very matter of fact way, which is quite jarring and serves to highlight just how terrible the events really are. Secondly, this is a very darkly funny book. The way in which Natsuki views the world and her relationships with her cousin, Yuu have a touching and innocent quality to them, despite the darkness that permeates the narrative. Make no mistake, this short book pulls absolutely no punches and goes in a direction I really wasn't expecting, but it is a wonderful read and has cemented Murata as an auto-buy author for me.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I loved this book, but it isn't a book for everyone. There is a lot of dark, potentially triggering, content but also a lot of important discussions held in such a short novel. It's weird, wacky and out there, but also a lot of fun. I honestly am at a loss how to review this one coherently, other people have already got there and done it better than I could!

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for giving me the opportunity to read, and try to, review this!

Brilliant, thought provoking but also extremely unsettling. The book start rather innocuously from the point of view of Natsuki, who is in middle school. She escapes her stifling family life by believing her cousin Yu is an alien and that she has magical powers like a mahō shōjo character. She has a stuffed animal, a white hedgehog she named Piyyut which seems to speak to her. However, her fantasy life soon becomes a coping mechanism to deal with some pretty grim realities. We Next meet Natsuki as a thirty something woman who tries to avoid the demands of society that she join the procreation factory. She marries a like minded man, Tomoyo, so that together they can stave off their parents and the rest of society.

Her husband is fascinated by her grandparents estate in the Akishina Mountains where she and her cousin Yu used to meet on holidays. He thinks of it as an ideal place to escape "The Factory" which is what he calls human society. The estate was once a breeding ground for silkworms and those silkworms are a metaphor for the metamorphosis the characters undergo.

There are many shocks and broken taboos along the way, which I don't want to give un advance therefore I will not mention any trigger warnings, but be warned this book is not for the faint hearted. Yet setting aside some of the shock value there is a very harsh social commentary on the pressures on individuals to confirm to society mores, the role women are supposed to play, the helplessness of children and some unflattering harsh truths about how people who seem to glorify parenthood actually practice the most acute child neglect and abuse.

Thank you to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

I don't have words to explain how weird this book is... Child abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse and cannibalism, I was not expecting this and I didn't like it.

I will admit the writing is somewhat good however and I appreciated the views about Japanese society, but this book went too far for me to enjoy it or recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Press for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is a bit of a roller coaster and if you’re like me and wanted to read it because you liked Convenience Store Woman and you fancy contemporary Japanese lit written by women, well, you’re in for a treat! (pun unintended but oh, so appropriate.)
Trigger warning: mostly everything. Keep your mind open and your stomach empty.
Thanks to the publisher for an ARC via NetGalley.

Natsuki has never really fit in, her mother favours her sister and tells her constantly that she is a nuisance and good for nothing. When her teacher first touches her inappropriately, her mother does not only not believe her but accuses her of falsely allege misconduct. Thus, she keeps quiet, even when she is assaulted. Her way of coping with the situation is getting mentally detached, she has the impression of leaving her body which helps her to cope. Only her cousin Yuu can understand her, just like she herself, he lives in a complicated family and is convinced not to be an earthling since all the people around him behave strangely and don’t understand him. An incident forces this relationship to break up and to isolate Natsuki and Yuu, only after more than two decades will they meet again and their childhood experiences clearly left their marks on them.

“It’s handy having a dumpster in the house. In this house, that’s my role. When Dad and Mom and Kise get so fed up they can’t bear it any longer, they dump everything onto me.”

Reading Sayaka Murata's novel really brought me to my emotional limits. Even before the actual abuse by her teacher, seeing the dysfunctional family and the mother's inhuman behaviour towards her daughter is hard to endure. Also her sister who not only does not show any empathy but quite the contrary, actively contributes to Natsuki’s poor state. She is the typical vulnerable child highly at risk of falling prey to molesters. Being beaten by her parents, not experiencing any love or physical attachment, the fact that she is not believed and does not get any help when in need, sadly fits perfectly into the picture.

“Before I knew it, I had turned thirty-four, (...) Even after all the time, I still wasn’t living my life so much as simply surviving.”

It might seem strange that Natsuki as well as Yuu come to believe that they must be aliens and that they increasingly estrange from the humans around them. However, this is just a psychological trick played by their brain to help them to cope and quite understandable. From a psychological point of view, this is extremely authentically narrated.

“It was the out-of-body power. Before I knew what was happening, I had left my body the way I had the day of the summer festival and was watching myself.”

There is no relief when they grow up. The society they live in does not allow individuals to live according to their own conception but expects them to function for the majority's benefit and not to step out of line. Finding a matching partner first bring Natsuki the possibility of fleeing her family, yet, it was to be expected that their small bubble was not meant to last.

An extremely sad read which definitely is not suitable for everyone. Nevertheless, I'd highly recommend it due to the authentic portray of the effect such experiences can have and to show that quite often victims do not find any help but are even blamed for what happens to them.

This novel is a very surreal ride, and actually becomes more serious than I initially expected. It delves into the darker half of childhood, exploring what a child may do to preserve their sanity after a traumatic event. An incredibly unique experience, this book is perfect for those who like to read unusual and challenging stories.

Earthlings is a novel in two parts, both follow Natsuki. In the first she is in middle school and the self-proclaimed "dumpster" of the family, silently bearing the brunt of her family's daily frustrations, her self-perception completely warped by the abuse heaped on her. All year she looks forward to the week she spends at her grandparents' country home because there she gets to see her boyfriend (and cousin) Yuu. Natsuki and Yuu share a bond over being outsiders in their nuclear families and to explain their painful circumstances believe that they are aliens left on Earth awaiting a spaceship to return them to their true home. The second half follows Natsuki as a thirty-something and slowly it is revealed to you how she has and hasn't dealt with the trauma of her childhood. What she had expected to be the ultimate liberation—adulthood—she finds to just be an exchange of one sort of powerless for another. The lack of autonomy of childhood for the the societal expectations and wage slavery of adulthood.

Like the author's previous work Convenience Store Woman, Earthlings explores similar themes of otherness and the desire to find a place in society. In her dissociation Natsuki views her town as a "baby factory" and individuals as mindless "factory components." In a life of flying on the radar and survival by going unnoticed, Natsuki wants nothing more than to be brainwashed into being a proper Earthling, one who doesn't see the faults in the system. Do be warned that this books does go over the edge into full-fledged disturbing so if you aren't keen on that then this one might not be for you.

Contemporary Japanese fiction, especially that written by women, is really killing it with the societal commentary and critique, and bizarre ways of exploring it. Though Earthlings isn't my favorite of this sub-genre, it's definitely no exception. Where Breasts and Eggs focuses on sex and motherhood and The Hole on career and productivity, Earthlings explores submission and assimilation on its most fundamental level. This one will definitely get under your skin and stay there.

Oof. This book. I'll start by saying I don't think I've binged a book this quickly in a long time. It begins with Natsuki and her cousin Yuu, and you quickly learn that both children endure so much abuse, while relatives and neighbors stand by and do nothing. I'd like to not give too much away because I feel that not knowing a thing about this book, besides the cover and the description, made it more fascinating. Murata speaks a lot of truths about society and coping with norms and abuse and writes in a way that instantly captivates her audience. The twists will give you whiplash and keep you hanging on. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read Earthlings, NetGalley and Grove Atlantic!