Opens as a coming-of-age story, evolves into psychological suspense, and settles into dark fantasy and horror.
Grove Press (October 8, 2020)
Review by Tina deBellegarde
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata (transl. Ginny Tapley Takemori) is a unique literary experience, one that is impossible to pigeonhole into any specific genre. It opens as a coming-of-age story, evolves into psychological suspense, and settles into dark fantasy and horror.
As she did in Convenience Store Woman, Murata questions the meaning of normal and undermines our understanding of happiness, but Earthlings takes the subject matter to a much bleaker place. Do not let the cover, or your experience reading Convenience Store Woman, fool you. This book is not for everyone. It is not warm and fuzzy like the plush toy on the cover. It starts out as thought provoking, but ramps up at full throttle as a hard-to-read horror story that exposes dysfunction in the form of toxic families, sexual abuse, pedophilia, and violence.
Natsuki is a nine-year-old misfit whose plush toy bestows upon her the magical powers she uses to cope with her cruel mother as well as the sexual abuse of her teacher. She lapses into dissociative behavior to handle the most traumatic events she encounters.
She is closest to her cousin Yuu, who suffers under his mother’s mental illness and believes himself to be an alien. He is awaiting the return of his spaceship to take him back to his true home. Natsuki hopes to join him. Yuu and Natsuki develop a special bond as a result of their common plight and decide they will “survive, no matter what.” It’s the “no matter what” that drives the rest of the book.
Twenty years later, Natsuki has arranged for a mock marriage to fool friends and family. Tomoya is merely a roommate with a marriage certificate. Natsuki, Tomoya and Yuu will do anything to avoid being caught up in the expectations of society, or the Factory, as they call it. The trio refuses to assimilate. Normal tools of the Factory are expected to enter the traditional workforce in order to earn enough money to afford marriage and babies. All three are repulsed by society’s insistence on breeding. None of them is willing to conform, but more than that, none of them is able to conform. They have been so traumatized by their experiences that they are unable to have what society perceives as normal relationships and desires. They have found ways to be happy outside what is considered the norm, but with no acceptance from family, friends or society at large, they must hide their real lives and pretend to comply.
This is not the first, nor the last story where individuals need to hide their otherness, but in this case their non-conformity spirals out of control. Murata makes sure we understand the consequences of forcing individuals to conform to social constructs. All the characters in this story do whatever they believe they need to do to overcome the obstacles thrown at them, at times with shocking effect.
There is no point in sharing any more of the plot. This story can only be experienced properly once. My advice would be to avoid spoilers elsewhere and read Earthlings if you think you are up to a thought provoking story that is unique, unpredictable and sometimes disturbing. (Also consider that critical praise for Earthlings is consistently high, while general reader feedback is much more mixed.)
Earthlings is difficult to recommend, but impossible not to. There are several remarkable things to note about this book. First, Earthlings is continuously unpredictable. As each layer unravels, and the reader presumes to anticipate its direction, it takes a wild turn. Many books are described as twisty, but this is one of the rare times that the twists were indeed unexpected.
Second, the lack of morality will keep you off balance. The concepts of good and bad are completely thrown out. There is no one to root for here. The conformists are clearly not good, but the non-conformists aren’t either.
Most of all, it will leave a lasting impression. You will not quickly forget this book and that is a rare feat indeed. I can’t say for certain that I enjoyed Earthlings, but it is compulsively readable and unique.