Earthlings by Sayaka Murata - a quirky, disturbingly awesome book

 Earthlings 
By Sayaka Murata

Synopsis:

Natsuki isn't like the other girls. She has a wand and a transformation mirror. She might be a witch, or an alien from another planet. Together with her cousin Yuu, Natsuki spends her summers in the wild mountains of Nagano, dreaming of other worlds. When a terrible sequence of events threatens to part the two children forever, they make a promise: survive, no matter what.

Now Natsuki is grown. She lives a quiet life with her asexual husband, surviving as best she can by pretending to be normal. But the demands of Natsuki's family are increasing, her friends wonder why she's still not pregnant, and dark shadows from Natsuki's childhood are pursuing her. Fleeing the suburbs for the mountains of her childhood, Natsuki prepares herself with a reunion with Yuu.

My thoughts on the book:

This was the first book that I read by Sayaka Murata and I didn't expect this at all, whatever the story brought me. This is a horror book for the most part, with really disturbing things happening which the characters do to prove to themselves that they don't belong to the "factory" or the society that builds us.

From early on, we see Natsuki's young self believing that she is an alien with powers and someone who can summon her powers to be invisible, which we later get to know, stems from the neglect of her family, or simply how she thought herself to be the outsider in her own family and started to believe she must go back to the planet she believes she belongs to, so her parents can stay happily with her sister. She also see how Yuu, her cousin along with the other guy who becomes her husband as she grows up, all believe that they don't belong to this place and must live on their own, and we see how these characters goes through things so horrible as we perceive and spirals further and further.

It was gore and haunting. It made me uncomfortable, many times but in the end, I loved the story and its meaning. How we perceive society and the ones who go against it. It might not suit everyone's palette so if anyone picks it up, get ready to experience the horror of this one. Lastly, I found the "factory" notion quite interesting and it was a fast-paced reading so i finished it a day. I enjoyed Sayaka Murata's writing style too since I read Earthlings before Convenience Store Women, I didn't know what I getting into but honestly mindblown.

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My Favorite Lines:

"What I'm really scared of is believing the words society makes me speak are my own."

"How long do we have to just survive? When will we be able to live rather than just focus on surviving?"

"It’s hard to put into words that things are just a little bit not OK.” 

 

Ratings:

4.5 stars out of 5 

One word Review:

Disturbingly awesome book