Earthlings

A Novel

By: Sayaka Murata

Narrated by: Nancy Wu

Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

• Amazon Editor’s Top Pick
• Bustle Pick
• Vulture.com Pick

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.

©2018 Sakaya Murata (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

please please create a sequel with a happy ending

it was great, except the ending. if your considering this book just end it a chapter early and it's awesome btw. but for people like myself... please create a happy ending. Perhaps the main character gets a job in a convience store

The weirdest book I have listened to

It starts off really strong and extremely intense, giving me a few of the most scaring minutes of my life, and then it twists off in a weird story that I don't think I can fully comprehend. There are definitely elements which make this an amazing book with great views of the society, but even so, if you're not ready to be thrown through mud and washed in cold water, don't listen to this.

Very good book, but narrating voice leaves something to be desired

The book was disturbing and uncomfortable and gripping from beginning to end. Like watching a train wreck in slow motion. So many horrific moments in this books. Child abuse, CSA, pedophilia, neglect, incest, murder, cannibalism, extreme dissociation, misogyny, oppression and conforming to societal pressure. This book is provocative and absurd in a way that left me feeling furious and filled with anguish and dread at times, and then immediately cold and empty at others. And it’s striking because for most of the book (with the exception of the ending) it isn’t really even that unbelievable.

Truly a harrowing read.

The narrator Nancy Wu however has chosen to commit to these awful faux Japanese accents for the grandparent and in-law characters. As someone who interacts with many Japanese speakers on a regular basis, it felt over-caricaturized and was genuinely painful to listen to. Very distracting and ultimately completely unnecessary. Whenever those characters appeared I was more off put by these voices than the content of the actual story, which is saying something.

Favorite book of the year!!!

This has to be my favorite book I’ve read this year… This book is the perfect amount of beautiful and twisted. It was so interesting I could not put it down. Also, the narrator is AMAZING. She really immerses you in the story. Absolutely recommend spending your credit on this book!

Unsettling with need of trigger warnings

This book completely rocked my brain. It covers really dark topics like trauma, misogyny, abuse, assault, and features cannibalism, but it's handled with nuance and insight into contemporary society. I won't stop thinking about it any time soon

definitely a strange read

Much like convenience store woman, also written by Sayaka Murata, this book is seemling flat with lots of internal monologue to get a grasp on the narrators thoughts. Very chaotic and dark in some places but definitely a good read. Nothing is quite predictable so you are on your toes- nothing really jaw dropping though aside from the ending but more from disgust rather than surprise. I recommend this book as a casual read. I didn't take much away from it other than some entertainment. I love the audio reader, they do a fantastic job.

look up trigger warnings!

I feel like the narration didn't bother me when it was meant to be the pov of her child self, but later on in the story, I found the voice annoying. especially the male voices. overall, the story was good.

The weirdest book I’ve ever read

The book started weird and ended even weirder but somehow kept me intrigued the entire time.

An interesting take on abuse, and dehumanization

A very disturbing story, but compelling! It's clear that, while the main characters end up doing something horrendous, it's understandable WHY in the first place. All of them were victims of some form of abuse in their lives, and it led them to believe that only "earthlings" deserved to be treated kindly by others. Definitely recommended, if you're looking for a depressingly and tragically sweet story.

Intriguing but disturbing

May contain triggers! In this book, a charming, wonderful, imaginative child experiences severe emotional and verbal abuse from her mother and sister and neglect from her father. This results in isolation, de-realization, and sets her up to be vulnerable to being sexually abused by a teacher, which sends her into a psychotic episode. She is never able to recover and there are many repercussions. The results of this are described very well, including her persistent isolation. She continues as an engaging character. As the reader continues to sympathize with her and the other wounded people she finds, we are taken further down a well of unreality resulting in a gruesome finale, which the main character can not fully understand as she slips into and out of psychosis. Readers should be aware that anyone who has experienced verbal or emotional abuse, or sexual abuse especially as a child, may be triggered by this story. Unforgettable characters.