Earthlings

A Novel

by 村田沙耶香

audio cd, 1 pages

Published Oct. 6, 2020 by Blackstone Publishing.

View on OpenLibrary

(37 reviews)

6 editions

Eli reviewed Earthlings by 村田沙耶香

None

3 stars

This book was completely nuts. Three people who believe they are from a different planet but try to keep a low profile and blend in to the society they call factory, as all it really is is a factory to reproduce.
It got super dark for me when this young primary school girl was taken advantage of by a teacher to perform oral sex, and no-one believed her, and later even thought she was so lucky to have such a great looking guy to show interest in her, and didn't she really lead him on anyway?
It felt vindictive when she ended up bashing him to death on another of the special study lessons and found him asleep.
There were so many super crazy scenarios and character developments in this book and mostly made me think about mental disease not diagnosed, and not great environment for upbringing regarding nurture.
I …

henrik reviewed Maan asukit by 村田沙耶香

Takakannen mukainen absurdi kokemus

3 stars

En oikein osaa sanoa oliko tämä liian absurdi, vai samaan aikaan ei ihan tarpeeksi absurdi. Ei tarpeeksi absurdi siinä mielessä, että kirja ikäänkuin liian myöhään nosti lukijan pois kaiken normaaliuden tuomasta tulkinnasta. Ihan tykkäsinkin, mutta toisaalta aika varovaisesti lähtisin suosittelemaan kenellekään.

pdotb@wyrms.de reviewed Earthlings by 村田沙耶香

What... did I just read?!

No rating

Content warning cw: child abuse (incl. sexual), incest, murder, cannibalism

OK. Weirdest thing I've read in a long time. Not really sure how/why I finished it, especially as the first third-or-so, in which Natsuki is eleven, is a distinctly uncomfortable read. The CWs I've listed aren't even all the topics I'd probably mention, but I've forgotten some and others... I'm not even sure how I'd describe them. When you strip out all of the dialled-up-to-eleven weirdness, what you're left with is a novel that might have interesting things to say about how people (particularly Japanese women) deal with societal norms, expectations, and pressure, and about how the construction of a fantasy world can make sense as a way of dealing with childhood trauma. For me, though, it all felt a bit too heavy-handed -- the constant invocation of 'the Factory' felt a bit much after a while. Note: I haven't given a star rating because I just don't know how to rate it.

blackbrokkoli reviewed Earthlings by 村田沙耶香

Review of 'Earthlings' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

excellent, raw, uncensored portrait of things and characters. a bit too out there towards the end, to the point where it lost a bit of its seriousness.

Sergio reviewed Earthlings by 村田沙耶香

Review of 'Earthlings' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Having just finished this it feels like the rawest fucking book I've read in a long time or maybe ever. Murata is a genius and her writing is as engrossing as it is shocking and disturbing and beautiful all at once. This is the work of someone who has something to say and doesn't give a single fuck about subtlety. And is also extremely gifted at telling stories.

Heed the CWs on this one, please I consider myself pretty desensitized to fictional violence and very shitty situations in general and I was having pretty visceral reactions while reading some of the sections in this one.

Jack 💜 reviewed Earthlings by 村田沙耶香

Review of 'Earthlings' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

If you’re interested in Murata’s work, I highly recommend not starting with this one. It’s a difficult book to suggest, honestly, partly because of content that the majority of people would find revolting to look into. Tread lightly.

Monika reviewed Earthlings by 村田沙耶香

Review of 'Earthlings' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

"My body is not my own."

I'm speechless and my stomach is in knots. The social commentary in this book, about the expectations and pressures society puts on people, and how people put those pressures on each other, is delivered so matter-of-factly and dealt with so aggressively that it heightens disturbing events to a level of disturbing I didn't think was possible. And THAT ENDING, what the hell?! Murata does not hold back.

This novel is so incredibly weird, devastatingly sad, and deeply distressing, and then the ending got gruesome and even WEIRDER. This would make a good pick for the bravest of book clubs, because you would have endless things to talk about, and you're either going to want to talk about those things or run the hell away and hide.

TW: childhood emotional and physical abuse, parentification, molestation, incest, rape, derealization and depersonalization, suicidal ideation, attempted suicide, murder, …