“Children’s lives never belong to them. The grown-ups own us…That’s why we have to try hard to survive until we’ve grown up ourselves,” (Murata 71).
Natsuki is different from other girls. In fact, she might not be from this planet at all, or at least that’s what her stuffed hedgehog Piyyut tells her. Armed with a wand and a magical transformation mirror, Natsuki knows how to control her breaths to make herself become invisible and plans to head back to her home planet of Popinpobopia one day so that her parents and sister can live a happy life. But Natsuki knows it’s only a matter of time before she is called to take her place in her Factory town and become a mother. Until then, Natsuki enjoys her summers visiting her beloved cousin Yuu in the mountains of Nagano, but after a series of incidents the cousins are separated with a only a promise binding them: survive, no matter what. Now an adult, Natsuki lives in an asexual marriage trying to avoid the Factory’s demands of her when she is called to the mountains to reunite with Yuu. But will Yuu remember their promise to each other?
Earthlings has been on my list for awhile but after a friend talked it up to me recently I quickly put it on hold and was lucky to get the book pretty quickly. And oof, OOF there’s a whole lot of hurt in this book!
I knew it was weird, and I love me a good weird book, and I also knew based on some reviewers and my friends recommendation that it was better to go in blind. And I agree with this, I think weird books do need to be read without any prior knowledge. You have to be prepared for and accept the weirdness from the get go, and I think reading a synopsis can kind of spoil that experience. But let me tell you, I’ve read a lot of weird books and I couldn’t predict anything that happened in this one.
Natsuki was a fantastic character to follow, my heart ached for her during the novel from childhood to adulthood. I think Murata did an excellent job with Natsuki’s voice, especially at the start of the book as a child. Since she’s a kid explaining the things happening in her family, school, and personal life there is a bias, a confusion, and a lot of misunderstanding that peaks through and it’s heartbreaking. Natsuki is a neglected child who deals with a lot of adversity and it hurt to read her go through this and her not understanding what is happening. A warning that there is a pretty detailed sexual assault scene early on that made me have to pause my reading for a few days because it upset me so much.
Of course this empathy for her character continues as an adult and readers see how the trauma she has faced has affected Natsuki and how she still holds on to this belief that she is not from this world. I think Murata did a great job of showing the ways in which society pressures people (though mainly woman) into marriage, parenthood, and the belief that there isn’t much of a point to life unless conforming to these nuclear standards.
And then of course there’s the weirdness, which I won’t get into because you probably wouldn’t believe it anyways if I told you but continues to ramp up into unexpected ways all the way to the end of the book.
Earthlings was well worth the hype of the weird book genre and filled with so much more heart than I was expecting. Murata is a talented writer and I understand why she has such a following. I’ll definitely be checking out more of her books!
Publication: August 31 2018
Publisher: Granta Books
Pages: 247 pages (Hardcover)
Source: Library
Genre: Fiction, Horror, Fantasy
My Rating: ⛤⛤⛤⛤
Summary:
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. Will he still remember their promise? And will he help her keep it?
Sarah O'Connor 