This is not an easy book to read. It is in equal measure heartbreaking, shocking & infuriating. This is an ADULT book with heavy & explicit scenes. Trigger warning for child neglect & abuse, sexual abuse, incest, grooming, insinuation of suicide, self-harm, cannibalism. Let’s review.
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata
- Category – Contemporary Fiction – Japanese
- Length – 247 Pages
- Read Time – 2 Days
- GR Rating – 3.5 Stars
This book starts off with our narrator, Natsuki, just 11 years old. Natsuki isn’t just an ordinary little girl like the other humans she resembles, she’s a magician from an alien planet. Her best friend, Piyyut, is also an alien from planet Popinpobopia, same as her. He’s stuck in the form of a small stuffed hedgehog & can’t speak because of an evil curse but still looks after her. Piyyut is also Natsuki’s comrade in their special mission to save earth. Cute, until we learn that these aren’t just the silly musings of a creative child.
Natsuki’s cousin Yuu, & in her later life her husband, are also aliens from planet Popinpobopia, convinced by her but also with their own histories that left them susceptible to believing. As Natsuki becomes an adult we see how the neglect & abuse of her childhood deeply shaped her world view. She does not “grow out of” this coping method, because she never received any kind of counsel or help. She just fell deeper into her delusion, the only safety blanket she had, becoming a young woman with a profound need to reject society & limit her association with humans as much as possible.
When the pressures of life overwhelm Natsuki leaving her feeling like she cannot continue to pretend to be normal any longer, she decides it’s time to return to the country mountainside of her childhood. From where she believes they’ll be able to get back to planet Popinpobopia.
This was a wild read. Extraordinarily sad, witty, intense…
Thank you for joining me for another review & as always, happy reading.
Hasta la próxima – V
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