Paperback, 336 pages
ja-Jpan-JP language
Published Feb. 1, 2021 by 新潮社.
恋愛や生殖を強制する世間になじめず、ネットで見つけた夫と性行為なしの婚姻生活を送る３４歳の奈月。夫とともに田舎の親戚の家を訪れた彼女は、いとこの由宇に再会する。小学生の頃、自らを魔法少女と宇宙人だと信じていた二人は秘密の恋人同士だった。だが大人になった由宇は「地球星人」の常識に洗脳されかけていて…。芥川賞受賞作『コンビニ人間』を超える驚愕をもたらす衝撃的傑作。
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
"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, …
