Earthlings

A Novel

By: Sayaka Murata

Narrated by: Nancy Wu

• Amazon Editor’s Top Pick
• Bustle Pick
• Vulture.com Pick

As a child, Natsuki doesn’t fit into her family. Her parents favor her sister, and her best friend is a plush toy hedgehog named Piyyut who has explained to her that he has come from the planet Popinpobopia on a special quest to help her save the Earth. Each summer, Natsuki counts down the days until her family drives into the mountains of Nagano to visit her grandparents in their wooden house in the forest, a place that couldn’t be more different from her grey commuter town. One summer, her cousin Yuu confides to Natsuki that he is an extraterrestrial and that every night he searches the sky for the spaceship that might take him back to his home planet. Natsuki wonders if she might be an alien too.

Back in her city home, Natsuki is scolded or ignored and even preyed upon by a young teacher at her cram school. As she grows up in a hostile, violent world, she consoles herself with memories of her time with Yuu and discovers a surprisingly potent inner power. Natsuki seems forced to fit into a society she deems a “baby factory,” but even as a married woman she wonders if there is more to this world than the mundane reality everyone else seems to accept. The answers are out there, and Natsuki has the power to find them.

Dreamlike, sometimes shocking, and always strange and wonderful, Earthlings asks what it means to be happy in a stifling world and cements Sayaka Murata’s status as a master chronicler of the outsider experience and our own uncanny universe.

©2018 Sakaya Murata (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

The weirdest book I’ve ever read

The book started weird and ended even weirder but somehow kept me intrigued the entire time.

look up trigger warnings!

I feel like the narration didn't bother me when it was meant to be the pov of her child self, but later on in the story, I found the voice annoying. especially the male voices. overall, the story was good.

An interesting take on abuse, and dehumanization

A very disturbing story, but compelling! It's clear that, while the main characters end up doing something horrendous, it's understandable WHY in the first place. All of them were victims of some form of abuse in their lives, and it led them to believe that only "earthlings" deserved to be treated kindly by others. Definitely recommended, if you're looking for a depressingly and tragically sweet story.

So messed up

If you like ultraviolence, screwed up humor, and devastating childhood tales, this is for you. Otherwise, it's nauseating and it just gets worse and worse. I would classify it as bizarro lit more than anything else. If you like bizarro, go for it.

Excellent and gripping

Another masterpiece by Sakaya, beautifully read and written by Lucy Yu. Very dark and intense, loved every minute. Highly recommended. Run and grab the book, you won’t be sorry.

Things got weird Quick

This story had a few very powerful messages that would have benefited the story line. I understand what the author was trying to do towards the end, but it took away from the overall story.

if they would have applied those powerful messages to the main characters to where they were able to learn and heal from the trauma would have been a better story line (that could have also incorporated murder)

just an amazingly weird tale

awkward at alot of times. but there is plenty of justification depth to characters. really interesting, but very challenging.

A great (but upsetting) listen!

Quite upsetting at times, but still a great listen! The ”hard to listen to” parts of the story serves a purpose, it’s not there for chock value or something like that.

It was definitely a listen that I won't forget

I had been in a book slump, so I asked a coworker for the craziest, freakiest book that they had ever read. That's how I got here lol

I couldn't stop listening to Earthlings, it was so well written, and mostly pretty well performed too! The writing kept me hanging on to every word, and the performer did a great job with the kid's voices.

Definitely look into the trigger warnings before listening though if certain things make you uncomfortable, just because there's a lot that's described in detail. I'm usually pretty fine listening to/reading uncomfortable scenes, but I was squirming and uneasy at certain parts throughout this book.

please please create a sequel with a happy ending

it was great, except the ending. if your considering this book just end it a chapter early and it's awesome btw. but for people like myself... please create a happy ending. Perhaps the main character gets a job in a convience store