Earthlings

I listened to the audio book, and I was taken for A RIDE. GOOD GRIEF. I Knew nothing about this book, just saw that the author of convience store woman had a new book out, and it had a cute hedgehog on the front and an interesting name. It's been on my TBR on libby since its release and yesterday I decided to pick it up.

i'll start out with (minor spoilers) a CW for abuse of all forms. this book is not for the faint hearted. I think this bait and switch is part of its appeal, but I wish i had known before getting into it. It doesn't stop there.

then there's BIG SPOILERS CW for CSA, rape/abuse, parent neglect/abuse to children, sex between children, victim blaming a CHILD, murder, murder again, murder again AND EVEN BIGGER SPOILERS CW - seriously this spoils the ending, read at your peril and cannibalism and LIVE CANNIBALISM. this isn't just a little cannibalism as a treat, this is EXTENSIVE DESCRIPTIONS OF EATING DEAD AND LIVE BODIES/PEOPLE.
I really should have looked up the first genre on this page as HORROR and not read this book. Horror is typically not a genre I like in any media. I don't even watch scary movies with friends. But I didn't know, and once I popped I could not stop.

I was enjoying immensely the little odd chuuni girl talking about her cute hedgehog friend and her magic mirror. and i really vibed with the parts of the books where she described her powers, the fictional planet, and appreciated the allegories around disassociation/protecting oneself from abuse and how that shows up differently in different individuals etc. it was horrifying, and the abuse was harrowing. But I was incredibly drawn into Natsuki's story. I found an odd vindication when she killed "the witch" - being her paedophile teacher. and the imagery around this was really interesting to read. I wish all abuse surviours a very murder your abuser, so it hit home for me. The parts describing the pink walls, blue blob, golden liquid were *chefs kiss* And when she couldn't put two and two together, when later it was revealed that he was murdered with a Scythe 'just like the one i used to kill the witch!'

The abuse descriptions/general theme of this book were heavy, and hard to get through. Sayaka does not pull her punches with being extremely graphic with this. (The period pad scene!!! BRO!!!) It's so unsettling and creepy. It took a real turn at the end and MAJOR ENDING SPOILERS: during the whole eating people section I found it really hard to get through, and I'm not sure if any of that even happened. How were they there chomping on each other's shoulders, index fingers, thighs, eyelids and internal organs and still able to stand/walk around the next day. Time to go and watch some youtube analysis and wash my ears out with bleach.

I really don't know how I felt about this book, It was not enjoyable or pleasant, but parts of it were really gripping and I couldn't put it down. its the classic ‘like watching a car crash'
But the ending really tipped it over for me and I couldn't handle it. Jeez this book is gonna stay with me for a long time

really powerful, haunting ruminations on the effects of child abuse throughout your life. i think labelling this book as "weird girl lit" or anything similarily reductive is doing a huge disservice to the way murata portrays disassociation, trauma, and a society that inherently neglects children & fosters their abusers. heart-wrenching, stomach-turning, nail-biting, but ultimately a very tragic and sorrow tale about abuse.

i didn't know this was a horror book until it was too late to go back

A tough book to rate. It's extremely well written, with a unique voice and a compelling story. But it's deeply unpleasant to read.

Dude! What? Ohhhhhh! This was an amazing novel. I think, hahaha. The ending got me. Never saw it coming. I almost threw up.

Holy hell.

This is one effed up book. I mean, I liked it, I think? but for God's sake if you are triggered by...well, anything, don't touch this with a ten foot pole.

I'm still just sitting here with my mouth hanging open. Sheeeeesh.

This book was nothing I'd expected yet everything about it affected me differently. I admire Murata's ability to tackle deep-rooted societal issues in a unique, idiosyncratic way such that the message is loud and clear yet not directly spelt out. This was a difficult book to read so make sure you read the TWs. I had to take a break midway as there were a lot of horrible moments, moments where I found it hard to go on with the RAGE I felt. The narrative takes you through the mind of someone rather intimately and the writing's quite smooth and fluid.

It is rare to have a work so deeply resonate with me and my distinct perception of the world, my autistic sense of alienation from other women and from society. I deal with so much pressure to conform to “the factory”, but it eludes me, will always elude me. I am constructed differently, constructed from the stardust of a remote galaxy. One day, perhaps, something will descend from the sky to take me home.

...What the actual living hell? I don't feel like I can rate this.

Sexual assault and abuse of a child is a major thing in this book btw. Which I'm mentioning because not a single person who I've seen recommend this has said anything about it and it's kind of important to know. 

I really enjoy this author and narrator but I wasn't prepared for what was in this book. Had to take a cry break and was able to come back, but wasn't sure. I did and didn't enjoy this. Idk how to rate it tbh. Also I don't think this counts as magical realism?

3:

I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't that.

Well actually, I kinda do know. I'd read and enjoyed Convenience Store Woman, so I was gunning for weird, but cute and whimsical. Instead, I got smacked in the head by domestic abuse and pedophilia like, right at the beginning of the story. Yeah... the explicitness of the latter made me queasy, and I had half a mind to drop the book, but I kept going because I wanted Natsuki to kick everybody in the balls.

That last part was so bonkers though, I'm not too squeamish while reading, but I was cringing and curling my toes. I liked the tone and the underlying message, but geez that was almost comical; I laughed at the “we're all pregnant” comment.

Not my usual choice at all but I still want to read everything else by Sayaka.

Edit: oh my god and there was incest. I forgot about the incest.

Shockingly messed up and not at all the cute and weird little read I judged it to be by the cover, but it was so well written and interesting that I couldn't put it down. That being said: what the fuck

the last pages were so ??? i literally gasped, like are we dreaming or are we fr doing all that ???

idk how to rate this book, it was so uncomfortable & heartbreaking & weird and i guess that's the point so that's good, right ?

but i really like this take on non-conformity, societal pressures & the strong need for escapism qui en découle. l'essence du livre est assez similaire à convenience store woman actually, which makes sense

they basically feel like they don't belong to society, et ne veulent pas se soumettre aux normes qu'on leur impose. so they decide to reject every “earthling” way of thinking, living and acting, thus totally embracing their “popobipianess” (completely forgot how to spell this thing)

3.5 stars, it was kinda entertaining but nothing out of this world. and i deeply wished mc could get revenge on her abusive family

Brilliantly written, but lord, what a book. Don't read it on your lunch break like me, you'll regret it. I really loved Natsuki's voice and perspective throughout the story, as well as the way her childhood coping mechanisms persisted. Great social commentary. Please read the TWs.

“Society was a system for falling in love. People who couldn't fall in love had to fake it. What came first: the system or love? All I knew was that love was a mechanism designed to make Earthlings breed.”

This book is about how a child survives abuse and the pressures of society. Very strange, disturbing and heartbreaking. Quick read but impactful.

I nominate this one for the most ironic (/misleading?) cover of the decade.

Loved Murata's book Convenience Store Woman. This one explores some similar themes–alienation being the central one, but it's more intense, and comes at alienation from a different vantage point. There are lots of things to have trigger warnings about here, so please read up about it before reading it if you have triggers around child abuse in particular.

That said, it's a great book. The ending comes up quickly, and gets really fucked up at the very end, but it flows into that ending in an effortless way, kind of like riding some rapids and then hitting the falls.

Can't wait to read more from her.

I couldn't make it past page 67. I know a lot of people said it was weird, but not that weird. In [b:Convenience Store Woman 38357895 Convenience Store Woman Sayaka Murata https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1523623053l/38357895.SY75.jpg 51852264], it was weirdly wholesome by how the main character just wanted to stock shelves and live the simple life in a convenience store. But this was a whole other level that I wasn't prepared for in the worst way. If I feel queasy before page 100, I know the book isn't for me.

  ‘'Magical powers. I have to summon my magical powers. The power of darkness, the power of wind - any magical power will do, but I need something. I have to use my magical powers on my whole body before my heart feels anything.''
It was all your fault. You should have said ‘'No'' loud and clear. You imagine things. You want attention. Your mind is filthy. ‘'He didn't go all the way, don't fuss.'' ‘Why are you acting so traumatized?'' ‘'These things happen, we just have to put up with it.''. ‘'It was years ago, move on.''
NO!
Natsuki, Yuu, Tomoya. Three people who struggle to escape a world that wants to swallow them whole. We resort to magic, illusions and make-believe because our reality is too terrible to confront. All your paper lanterns, and mountains, and traditions, all your ancestors' presence can't make up for the abuse, the beatings, the humiliation, the rape, the betrayal, the violence. For a mother who needs the perfect punching bag and finds it in the face of Natsuki. For a society that needs ‘'work tools'' and ‘'reproductive tools'', a mentality that demands of you to be the proper, perfect ‘'tool for society''.
‘'1. Yuu won't tell anyone that I am a magician.2. I won't tell anyone that Yuu's an alien from outer space.3. We won't fall in love with anyone else, even after summer's over. We'll definitely meet up here again next summer.''
You don't want intimacy, then? You are an alien. You don't want children. You are a useless parasite, without a purpose and rights and what will you ever offer to the society that nurtures you, you are full of ingratitude. You've got some nerve, you need to be taught a lesson.
When your mother tells you that ‘'you are the horrible one, not him.'' When a daughter can't trust the one who brought her to life, the world itself has fallen. When you feel that your life and body don't belong to you, when you are willing to get married in order to escape constant surveillance and scrutinization and blatant humiliation. We are looking into a society that murders its own children. Technology will do very little, it is the human soul and heart and spirit that should matter but they don't. Certain societies of our world (and some of them are closer than we would like to think...) haven't grasped this basic concept yet. I doubt they ever will. Let us all work for the Factory, then. For societies that demand everything and give back nothing.
There are certain really horrible scenes that are sure to make any reader uncomfortable, that require a strong stomach, but we need to persevere because this is Life. We don't hide from it, we mustn't.
This book isn't ‘'bonkers'' - what a word to be used by people who call themselves ‘'readers''- or ‘'absurd'', or ‘'mad''. It is an allegory, a tragic, poignant fable of issues we face on a daily basis but refuse to acknowledge by playing the ostrich game. If we are unable to see it, I doubt there is any hope left for our future...
‘'Survive, whatever it takes.''
My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/
 

As I am not easily disturbed, the dark parts of this book did not upset me (unsettle, perhaps, but not upset - though look at the tws on other posts, for if you are, there are some heavy things going on). My issue with the book was was writing itself...there was no clear voice, which made the book verge on less weird and more incomplete. Yes, I finished it, and yes, there were parts that shocked me (I am not an easy person to shock and I love the dark and morbid - again CHECK. TWs. because these went beyond just dark and morbid), but the inconsistent tone, voice, and writing made it just okay rather than good or great.

This story was unlike anything I have ever read. It is provocative, strange and disturbing. I had a slight idea what to expect when I picked up this book and it definitely made true on it's promise. The writing style is something to get used to but it is so brilliantly used because the perspective is from a naive, unworldly young girl. You get to see the world as we know it through her eyes. Sometimes we all feel a bit like we don't belong but this takes the cake.

Some parts of the story were very repetitive but, my curiosity for what would happen next was too big to stop reading. I would recommend it if you aren't too squeamish and love disturbing, weird stories! :)

It was going so well - But the ending was so far out there! 3 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm not a moralist when it comes to art but something about this book's view of the world is so repugnant that I couldn't stand it.

A great case for not including trigger warnings on a cover. There are 3rd parties that can give you that information keeping the novel unadulterated.
Suffers a bit with repetition (imo), but, maybe that's in there to keep with the fairytale-esque style of the book. A wildly engaging read.

Has themes that are important societally and has good humor, but includes scenes that are too brutal for me.

This book is best enjoyed in one sitting and on an empty stomach - 5 stars ⭐️.