This book was magical from the get go. A quick, lovely gem that immediately made me feel immersed in a Studio Ghibli plot - the characters were painted in bright colours! I cannot wait for a physical copy and I cannot wait to have a whole single title display of it in my shop when it comes out!

I loved Convenience Store Woman, it really was a delight to read and I was excited to read Earthlings. I was hoping for a dose of the charm that flowed through that book.

Earthlings was a bit of a shock to the system, The general gist of the story, a young woman who doesn’t want to conform to societies norms came through but how she gets from being a child besotted with her cousin to a woman in a loveless marriage is a bit of a disturbing one.

I know some people will love this book but I am being honest that the use of child abuse, incest, parental abuse and cannibalism made me a little uncomfortable and it shocked me a little as I’m not usually affected that way by books.

However reading between the lines, the story of Natsuki our protagonist as she grows up is heartbreaking, she has to deal with some horrific things but she herself is the cause of some of them.

Her childhood retreat features heavily and that has to be my favourite thing in the book, a beautifully described hilltop house full of history.

Thank you to the publishers for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Just like in her previous novel, Sayaka Murata focuses on the story of a misfit - but she goes much further and deeper than in Convenience Store Woman. This is the disturbing story of Natsuki, whom we meet when she is a child - beaten by her mother, molested by a teacher, lonely and unloved. It is outrageous - you get the whole package: sexual abuse, violence, incest, murder, cannibalism... But in a strange way it was also very touching. You get the feeling that despite the main characters' crazy beliefs and actions, you understand them and forgive them, somehow, because was happened to them is truly horrifying.
It is a beautiful, sad tale of abuse and coping with abuse as an adult. I loved the writing and the character's longing for the mountain village of her ancestors.

content warnings: sexual abuse, incest, parental abuse, murder, cannibalism, suicide attempt

After reading Convenience Store Woman, I was excited to read another Sayaka Murata book. Earthlings is another story about subverting the expectations laid out by society. However, I did feel it lacked some of the charm that, for me, made Convenience Store Woman such a delight.

In Earthlings we follow the character of Natsuki, as she spends Summers with her extended family in the mountains of Nagano where she has a bond with her cousin Yuu. As Natsuki deals with a series of traumatic events, she copes by imagining that she and Yuu are aliens and they can leave Earth once they find their spaceship. As an adult, Natsuki holds on to this belief and marries for convenience so that she appears to conform to societal expectations. Eventually Natsuki, her husband, and Yuu decide to escape the confines of society and live in their own way.

Earthlings is certainly a unique story. It is in some ways an excellent coming of age tale; Natsuki uses the belief that she is not human as a refuge from the trauma she has been through. Through her magic power she is able to protect herself from the world.

Earthlings is a powerful and often engrossing story but it is not an easy read. The graphic depictions of abuse (and particularly the sexual abuse) were very disturbing. Personally, this stopped me from being able to really enjoy the story- though I am sure many readers will love this book.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.