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

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.

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.

Brain blend

This book took all of my thoughts and emotions and put it into a blender. Interesting story with unexpected twists and turns. Strong adult themes, so beware.

UHHHH

Overall I liked this a lot. Definitely one of the stranger stories I've come across in a very long time without a doubt. Very dark look inside broken minds that find each other and try to make sense of the world while landing on very, VERY disturbing conclusions. I found myself repulsed in a lot of moments but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't compelled the whole time.

Two flaws: I'm gonna give a HUGE content warning because this contains some pretty graphic and harrowing depictions of CSA that kind of come out of nowhere. Luckily I have no related trauma so it "merely" unnerved me but if that's a subject you're uncomfortable with I'd either give this a pass or just be prepared that it's in here. The other flaw is probably a personal thing, but the narrator, while doing an excellent job conveying the childlike mindsets of the main characters, unfortunate chose a voice for the Yu character that sounds *exactly* like Milhouse from The Simpsons. It's honestly pretty hilarious but it did make the tone really bizarre and uncomfortable before I adjusted.

NOPE. NOPE. NOPE.

I want to start by saying I loved the story Convenience Store Woman. I liked how unusual the main character was and how the story was a "slice of life" story. I thought this story would be similar by glancing through the listing and reviews. I don't like to give too much away to myself by reading too much of them, but I think I will definitely make sure to read more reviews next time. Honestly, the writing itself was very good and I did like the main character as she was unusual again. I was not prepared for the rape or murder, but it did add depth to the character at least. My "NOPE" warning is for the cannibalism. Please, for your own sake, just stop listening to it before the last 30 minutes. Maybe even the last chapter. Anything you can imagine will not be as bad as listening to that. I nearly threw up. I've read a lot of things in my life that I would recommend not to, but this is the worst thing. The detail it's described in was way, way, WAY unnecessary and is what made it almost unbearable. It made me do a 180 on this book. I'm even going to hide it from my library so I don't have to think about it again. Once again, Nancy Wu did a splendid job. I don't hate the book, just the ending.

Experimental Writing

The speculative nature of this novel makes it hard to recommend. However, I found myself experiencing primal but childlike emotions along with the MC; anger mostly. The theme became a bit repetitive by the end. Now I have to find a nice book to cleanse my pallet.

This is crazy, disturbing, weird, and extreme!

When I finished listening to Convenience Store Woman, I immediately looked for other books by Sayaka Murata. I found this and got intrigued right away. Oh boy! This book is crazy in a good way. Even though it was disturbing, I understood what Natsuki went through and why she did all of those crazy things. I got sexually assaulted many years ago. It made me disconnect from a lot of things, especially from myself. I felt so lost and struggled how to cope with what happened to me. While I was listening, it was comforting that Natsuki found connections who understood her. Thanks Sayaka for writing this book.