I really disliked this book and would not recommend to a friend. I found the plot nauseating and unsettling - which I understand was the point - but the 'Baby Factory' was predictable. I loved her previous novel, so this was a disappointment.

The gist: I came into this book cold, came out of it with shivers. It’s a strange, dark, quietly sinister book that recounts horrors in such a straightforward, childlike way that you’re frozen somewhere between screams and tears.

And it looks so cuddly and nice, right? Look at that little itty bitty squishy cuddly creature on the front *awwwwww-it’s-so-cute-me-wants-some-fluffy-precious-ahem*. Yet do not be fooled by its huggable exterior. This book positively gambols through many shades of dark—including but not limited to paedophilia and child abuse. Its trigger warning list is potentially long. And it is dark, perhaps more so as it’s often told through the child’s eyes, the child’s defences. It’s graphic, close to the bone, but the telling is straightforward, matter of fact—almost detached. It pulls short of gratuitous, but make no mistake, by the time you finish the book you are absorbed in the trauma.

Which in some ways is the balance of the book. On one hand, it’s a story about heart-breaking trauma, about dealing with personal horror. And on the other hand, it’s a comment on society, its boundaries and expectations. A third hand might even suggest it’s all surreal fantasy. Maybe it’s all of these things.

An unusual book, unnerving and strange, it’s a dark read that burrows under your skin.

Read it prepared for more than what the cover suggests.

Favourite line: “Survive, whatever it takes.”

Read if: You want an unusual read, a tale that takes you through trauma and leads you out of the other end, for better or for worse.

Read with: No plans to eat anything during the final chapter.

This review will be posted to www.thedustlounge.com in the next few weeks

This wins the award for the most demented book that I have read this year, but unfortunately I don't think it hits its mark. I am intrigued by what the author was aiming for however; it certainly isn't a book that I'll stop thinking about any time soon.

The novel focuses on a girl who, as a child, believes that she has magical powers and is talked to by her toy hedgehog, who is an ambassador from another planet. She becomes convinced that she also is an alien from another planet, a notion that she carries into adulthood. In her youth, she is subjected to very alienating conditions such as sexual abuse and parental neglect, which leaves her with a distorted view of what is appropriate and proper.

Murata is aiming for a story which is told from the perspective of characters who believe themselves to be completely other from the society around them. Part of the trouble is that the story is fairly non-existent and their outlook just isn't all that interesting.

They don't act or talk as a human would (dialogue is stilted and with little emotion) and so are difficult to relate to.

Explicit references are made every few lines to how society is trying to brainwash them and shape them into tools for its own use. This is something that the characters are obsessed with, yet little depth is offered in their rejection of societal norms. It is the lens through which they see and understand the world, so everything must be tediously connected to its part in the society machine.

In fleeing from the "factory", they seek to embrace an entirely new lifestyle which is essentially a game of taboo bingo: How many controversial and unacceptable things can they indulge in? Why should society tell them what they can and cannot do? What happens if they just start from scratch and create a whole new set of ethical and moral rules?

The result is disturbing. The characters come across as immature and mentally unstable, particularly in the closing chapter although the final note does to serve to turn some of this on its head in a horrifying and interesting way. There are some good ideas here, with a laudable attempt on Murata's part to do something very unusual, but it somehow ends up both dull and distasteful.

Wtf 🙂🙂🙂🙂
This is beyond odd. Drastically different to Convenience Store Woman.

This is an unconventional coming of age story, about Natsuki who doesn’t naturally conform to societal norms after a series of horrific events in her childhood, pantomiming human behaviour with the help of her best friend, a fluffy hedgehog toy. Partly following Natsuki aged 11 and in her 30s when she is older and married. This covers a lot of disturbing themes, it’s not for the faint hearted.

Thanks netgalley and Granta for my copy!

I read Earthlings by Sayaka Murata literally weeks ago, and I just haven't been able to put my thoughts into words. I still can't. It's the weirdest book I've ever read! I feel like I can't properly review it, but hopefully my bemused ramblings give you an idea of the book instead.

Earthlings had the same vibes as Convenience Store Woman in many ways - a neurodiverse main character, lots of questioning/going against societal norms, a relationship that broke those norms (well, more than one, technically), family who didn't understand/approve of the main character's choices and more. But Earthlings took all that and spun it into a very, very surreal reality - or was it even reality? I still don't know!
While Convenience Store Woman created a realistic version of a life that breaks the norms of traditional Japan, Earthlings creates a reality that will instead break the norms of pretty much everything anyone knows.

The book follows Natsuki, who, to put it lightly, goes through some horrendous experiences as a young child. One of the key elements of the book is an unusual coping mechanism - or is it just a coping mechanism? The book is so bizarre and the main character's conviction to her "reality" is so convincing that you're often left questioning whether the book is magical realism, psychological, or just pure fantasy.

Natsuki visits her grandparents' house in the mountains every summer with family, and this location and her cousin Yuu become a key part of the story. It's really hard to explain this book without giving away the plot or the fantastical, surreal and often mind-bending parts of it. In some ways, it reminded me of Han Kang's work - the bleak dissection of society and the way words are strung together simplistically but in a way that somehow leaves a mark and has you thinking about them for days.

In a nutshell, don't let the cute cover fool you!

What did I just read?! Murata took 'Convenience Store Woman' and dialled it up to one hundred - and threw in some cannibalism for good measure.

On the face of it, this book is over-the-top crazy. The pacing is all over the place, and the story gets more and more surreal until it reaches a level completely it's own. And I think that's the point? In some ways it reminds me of Mother! (2017) - I'm fairly sure there's some super clever metaphor in their somewhere, but at this moment I'm too dumbfounded to see what it might be.

A true "WTF did I just read" book, Earthlings by Sayaka Murata is so original and fantastic, but not for the faint of heart. Earthlings is the like Murata's first novel, Convenience Store Woman, in that it is about what it is to be a person out of place the world, beholden to society and family and their values, only earning love and approval once you conform.

Natsuki is convinced as a young girl she is a magician who might escape to another planet, but as she gets older she wants to be brainwashed so she can live contentedly as an Earthling. However, she feels no matter how hard she tries she just can't fit in, and feels she's one of the only people who sees society as what it is, a factory for reproducing and contributing to labour force. It becomes clear quite quickly that her family negligent and often cruel, she reflects that her parents and her sister seem happiest when she is apart from them and sees herself as a "dumpster", someone that they can take out all their anger on.

After an incredibly distressing scene with an abusive adult in her life, confiding in her mother only makes things worse. Her only escape is when they visit her grandparents house in the mountains with the rest of the extended family. These scenes feel quite literally like a breath of fresh air, when she is away from the "factory" suburbs and troubling school environment, and she is able to roam relatively freely with her cousin, Yuu, who believes he is an alien and is the only person Natsuki feels understands her. After their actions cause outrage in the family, they are separated and punished. Natsuki takes drastic measures when she protects herself once home and resigns her life to trying to be normal to appease her parents, at least until she finds someone like minded.

I would caution some readers that some content, particularly some scenes featuring child abuse, is difficult to read, but ultimately is a bizzare yet oddly charming book

It’s not often one finds a book which simultaneously shocks and intrigues you. Without a doubt Earthlings does exactly that. Don’t be deceived by the adorably cute soft toy on the cover either – it’s merely a sneaky ploy to soften you up before it hits you in the gut when you least expect it.

Earthlings tells the story of Natsuki Sasamoto in two time spaces – one as an eleven year-old girl and the second as a grown woman. As a child Natsuki believes that her soft toy, Piyyut, is from Planet Popinpobopia and was sent on a mission to save Earth. She shares this secret with her best friend, her cousin Yuu, who is also her boyfriend. Yuu, on the other hand, is led to believe by his mother that he is actually an alien and not her own child. He is just biding his time until the spaceship comes back for him.

Full review: https://westwordsreviews.wordpress.com/2020/11/14/earthlings-sayaka-murata/

I finished this book in a day, like Murata's first book in English, Convenience Store Woman this is incredibly short but addictive.

While it tackles a lot of the same issues as the first book, commentaries on Society and how they treat people who don't fit in, this book is a much darker and stranger direction.

Through a child's eyes, we experience sexual abuse, family harassment and finally cannibalism in a way I've never seen in literature.

The metaphors used to describe such sensitive topics are innovative, but my problem was it was hard to follow the storylines as there was too much emphasis on the other planet that the characters are supposedly from.

It broke my heart to see that whenever Natsuki tried to share her sexual abuse experiences she was told she was wrong, lying or making it up for attention.

Yuu was also an underdeveloped character and I was trying to figure out if he too had experienced trauma as it is heavily implied he may have had a relationship with his mother but it's never explicitly said.

Finally, Natsuki's husband was very much an echo of Shiraha from CSW so it almost felt like the darker echo of that book.

I found the writing impeccable as always but some things may have been lost in translation.

Thank you to NetGalley and Granta Publications for the ARC copy for review.

Natsuki, an 11-year old girl, takes shelter in in the mountains of Nagano and the fantasy that she is a wizard, finding solace in her cousin Yuu, who also has his own share of family traumas. They make a promise to one another very early on that they will survive come what may, and soon are separated.

Abuse, mistreatment, and violence packed in the nice package of social pressure force Natsuki, now in her 30s, to marry a man equally traumatised and asexual like herself. Cornered by ‘The Baby Factory’ and their families closing in on them, Natsuki and her husband flee to Nagano, surprisingly reuniting with Yuu. Murata’s mastery of capturing the untouched but by-no-means naive reality of childhood takes a more volatile turn here as Natsuki and co deconstruct what being an Earthling means and then construct their own reality, unpacking and undoing what has happened to them.

Earthlings is a terrifying account of alienation, and survival *no matter what*. It doubles what Murata tried to accomplish with Convenience Store Woman that depicts an unrestrained way of living through dismissing what a conformist life should look like. This time it is unrestrained morality and laws with uncensored, gruesome details.

Firstly, huge thank you to Granta and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Before I jump into the review, I just wanted to highlight that this novel explores a lot of hard hitting, taboo, topics in the space of a few pages. CW: underage incest, child abuse, child sexual abuse, cannibalism, violence, murder.

Even if you aren’t an avid reader of Japanese literature like I am, you most likely still heard of Murata’s first English-translated novel Convenience Store Woman which earned much acclaim. Although I am an avid reader of Japanese literature, I actually haven’t read it myself yet but when I got the opportunity to read her next novel Earthlings I jumped at the chance.

Earthlings focuses on the life of Natsuki, a girl who isn’t like the others in her town. Convinced that her and her beloved cousin, Yuu, are not of this world they spend their summers in Nagano searching for the spaceship to take them home. However, soon those summer searches are a thing of the past and the only thing to connect her to Yuu is their motto “survive, no matter what”. This becomes increasingly harder to do as Natsuki grows and tries to live a normal life, despite the horrors of her past and what she truly wants…

I really liked Natsuki and really felt for her, especially with the way she was treated by her own family. Her voice was very interesting, as she had a very childlike way of describing very adult concepts (eg. capitalism and sexism) which made her so unique and a great protagonist. I found the way that she would cope with horrific things that would happen to her. I thought her husband was also fascinating although, a lot more unnerving in his view on the world. He was much more extreme in his beliefs and it was unsettling seeing how far some people have the potential to be driven to reject conventional society.

Murata does an excellent job of making the reader feel uncomfortable, but you can’t help but continue to read on. I felt myself physically recoil or grimace at some of Murata’s descriptions, but I was so invested in the story of Natsuki that I pressed on. Despite the shocking scenes that are presented to the reader, the novel actually portrays very interesting critical commentary on society and life in Japan which I found really interesting.

Overall, I know that this book won’t be for everyone due to some of the subject matter but, if you’re happy with the content warnings, I recommend that you give this novel a go! It is refreshing, brutal, read which I loved. I both wanted it to go on for longer and was happy for it to be short and punchy. I will definitely be picking up Murata’s other novel, Convenience Store Woman as soon as I can!

If you've ever read any Haruki Murakami books then you'll understand how "weird" Japanese books can sometimes get and how you just have to go with it. In Earthlings we follow Natsuki through her childhood where she is sexually abused by a trusted young teacher to adulthood when she enters a celibate "marriage of convenience" with a man who is also disillusioned with "earthlings." and also becomes reacquainted with Yuu, a cousin whom she had a close bond with in childhood before they were forbidden to see one another but with whom she vowed to "do whatever it takes to survive". In order to survive Natsuki believes that her favourite toy has come with her as an "advisor" from her home planet of Popinpophobia and in moments of crisis may speak to her. Her husband believes that "normal people" are all part of the "Factory" a repressive system that seeks to sublimate Earthlings and make them into breeders. The narrative had a lot of resonance about how the world compels us to conform to stereotypes and mores, how going outside that norm is punished in various ways, how are parents are often the enforcement tools of the "Factory" and how emotional, physical and sexual abuse can wreak havoc on young minds and lead to great dissassociation and extreme behaviour.

I became really engrossed in reading Earthling, it surprised me as it didn't always go where I thought the narrative would take me. Well worth reading. I'm adding Convenience Store Woman to my Christmas gift list.

Wow - what an ambitous and interesting novel! Such beautiful writing and a story that I didn't expect. It ended up dragging a little bit for me, but the out of this world feeling was something I wasn't expecting. I'm going to look up her other book because I hear it's good too.

Be wary as there are some serious topics and themes, rape, incest, abuse, familial issues, mental illness...just to name a few. But yes, such an interesting book.

I really enjoyed this book about survival & what we do to fit in.

On the face of it this is a book about how a girl withdraws into a fantasy to deal with the abuse she suffers as a young girl. However it is much more than that - a comment on how society treats those who don't follow the traditional path & how this can be damaging to everyone.

As I've found with other books by Japanese authors the characters seemed very straightforward on the surface but with lots of hidden emotions going on in private. The writing is very concise, and not overly descriptive but at the same time works on many levels.

I really felt for the main characters in the story despite the horrific ending!

This brings me to my only criticism of the book - the cover suggests a somewhat cute fluffy story, which this is most definitely not. I would advise anyone to tread carefully if you are triggered by sexual abuse, incest etc.

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata ⁠is a dark book in the darkest sense of the word; it's disturbing, shocking and ultimately exhilarating, because it breaks free of any rules. ⁠
⁠
It comes with all the content warnings you can think of, and yet I couldn't put the book down and devoured it in two days. ⁠
⁠
Natsuki is a young girl who doesn't fit and struggles to find her ground both at home and outside it. She gets very close to her cousin Yuu during the summers they spend together at their grandparent's house in the mountains. Both of them are convinced they're aliens and they make a pact to survive on Earth until they grow up and can be free no matter what it takes. This is the crucial bit "no matter what", because Natsuki holds on to that while going through very difficult experiences. ⁠
⁠
Earthlings is a critique of society that makes us conform and decides what's normal and what's not. Murata takes the concept of "alienation" as a metaphor and a storytelling device and turns it on its head. The pressure by society to reproduce is dealt with the most or in Murata's world, society is just a "factory for making babies". Nobody is allowed to veer outside those expectations. ⁠
⁠
I plunged into the book without reading anything about it and I'm glad. It was a shockingly exciting ride. Can't remember feeling like this after reading a book in ages. I think the last time I felt shaken to the bone was after reading Perfume by Patrick Süskind. ⁠
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Earthlings isn't a book for everyone. It's dark (can't be emphasised enough, believe me) and graphic, so if that's not your thing, be warned. But if you do decide to pick it up, I recommend you going into it unprepared, because whatever your expectations might be, you'll be surprised. ⁠
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Thanks to Granta Books and NetGalley for my gifted copy. ⁠

#Earthlings #NetGalley #GrantaBooks #SayakaMurata

Fabulously weird. Loved it. More please.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGhanUTHuix/?igshid=ces768q3rmyh

I'm ok with weird but this book seems weird and just rather....cruel and nasty.

Incest, child physical and sexual abuse, murder and cannibalism all make an appearance. I'm not sure if there was a point trying to be made but if there was I missed it.

TW: This review mentions sexual abuse, incest and cannibalism

'Earthlings' is both one of the best - and most unique - books I've read in 2020. Like many others, I greatly enjoyed 'Convenience Store Woman,' which featured a unique character trying to fit into the mould society wanted to place her in and ultimately rebelling when she realised she wanted to live her life her way on her terms. While there are similar themes in 'Earthlings,' here Sayaka Murata takes us into an entirely new place by making her characters break every single taboo imaginable. There's sex with cousins in a graveyard, sexual abuse , cannibalism - and that's just for starters. But Murata's intent here isn't to shock for the sake of it. She makes important points about the lengths people go to to try and fit other's expectations of them and how freeing it can be when you decide to live your own life on your own terms. When you feel like an alien, why should you live your life adhering to 'human' values? And who gets to decide what's moral and what isn't?

This is a short read, but it's probably best to take this one in stages because it packs a lot in very quickly. It's one of the most singular pieces of fiction I've ever read and I can see it being remarkably divisive. You will either love 'Earthlings,' or hate it. Either way, you won't stop thinking about it after you've read it.

*smacks the kindle* this bad boy can fit so much weird shit in it.

This book is bonkers. And, if I’m being totally honest, I have no idea where to even begin so I’ll start with the important bits:
Content warnings for pretty much everything you could think of – child abuse, sexual abuse, incest, cannabilism and probably a whole chunk more after my mind went a little numb.

I’ve read Convenience Store Woman and, whilst you could easily say I wasn’t a fan, I figured this book could be the one that won me over. But no one prepped me for the utterly chaotic ride I was about to jump on. WHY DIDN’T ANYONE SAY ANYTHING?!

This is the story of Natsuki. A Japanese girl who’s an alien with magical powers that will do anything to avoid ‘The Factory‘ and breaks every norm that the country holds.

Now is she actually an alien? Probably not, but she absolutely doesn’t fit into society’s shitty expectations of how she should behave. So she breaks that mould. She shatters it into so many pieces that it would blend into the sand.

Natsuki upbringing was cruel to say the least. Not one ounce of kindness was shown to her from her parents or her sister to the point where she’s not only beaten by them, but she’s sexually abused by her teacher. The heartbreaking part? No one believes her and she clearly asked for it. Fuck them. Fuck them all.

The person who had given birth to me said I was a dead loss, so I decided that it must be true.

Natsuki – Earthlings
And with that, she curled up into her imagination hoping to return home to Popinbopoia and we fade to black until she’s 34.

This woman is frozen in her childhood. Whilst she’s giving in to some ‘Factory‘ ways, she found a guy who is on her wavelength. They’re married to keep families off theirs backs, but they’re living up the solo lifestyle just under the one roof. Needless to say, their ‘lifestyle’ choices were soon dragged out.

The entire book is a wild ride – one that I only really got once I was off. Yes it’s unsettling and it feels like I’m getting sucker-punched repeatedly in the noggin, but it raises a lot of horrifically valid points.

Oh, and I’ll 100% guarantee that you will not predict the ending.

If travel restricting open up, get me a one-way ticket to Popinbopia.

This is an incredibly difficult book to review! I loved Convenience Store Woman so I couldn’t wait to request a copy of Earthlings. I have seen so many photos of the physical proof on social media during the past few months and the general consensus is that the cover design is ‘adorable’. However, I hadn’t even read the blurb before requesting my copy so to say that I was surprised was an understatement!

The narrative voice is, at times, reminiscent of Convenience Store Woman, and the protagonists share an unwillingness to conform to society’s expectation that women should marry and have children. However, that’s as far as the similarities go! Murder, incest, child physical and sexual abuse, cannibalism... oh and that’s not even considering the ‘earthling’ plotline itself!

Overall, I love Murata’s writing style and I love that she didn’t just write CSW again in a different guise. I will definitely read her next book to be translated into English, I’ll just adjust my expectations next time! Never before has a cover design been so hilariously misleading. As a bookseller, I will have to hide my smirk the next time someone comments on the cute cover...