Reviews

Maan asukit by Sayaka Murata

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honnari_hannya's review against another edition

3.0

2.5 Stars

TW: Child Abuse, Child Sexual Assault, Pedophilia, Incest, Underage Sex, Cannibalism, Murder

Sayaka Murata pushes the boundaries even further in this follow up to Convenience Store Woman, exploring some of the same themes of alienation, isolation, and what it means to be part of society. This book takes a slightly darker twist in that her main character, Natsuki, is someone who feels a literal sense of alienation — she believes that she is an alien stranded on Earth and that she must learn how to assimilate into "the Factory" or else she will be cast out by the Earthlings and die. This means putting up with horrendous abuse from the people around her so that she can survive no matter what. Her only comfort comes in the form of her cousin, Yu, another "alien" from Natsuki's home planet.

My problems with this book, and why I enjoyed it much less than CSW, are really two-fold. First: I think Murata went really over the top with Natsuki's abuse at the hands of her family and society in general, to the point where it was no longer upsetting or disturbing and became puzzling. Not to say that these situations never arise in real life, but no one in Natsuki's life responding to her distress even when she repeatedly reaches out is excessively and deliberately bleak on Murata's part.

This is Murata's point, of course: that the components of the Factory lack sympathy and only want to keep on mechanically moving day by day. This is the point where I would want to call this book a satire but there is no moment to breathe between the absurdity of any of Murata's characters, because Natsuki is so far removed from any sort of sense herself that the reader cannot orient themselves to any point.

Second: I wish that Murata had leaned into the strangeness just a bit more because of the way she told this story, especially toward the end. I was hoping for a more ambiguous ending, perhaps that there really were aliens or that we were left with a "fade to black" of unresolved tension rather than a "perfectly cut scream." Because we know where this will end for the trio in the Akishina house once we read that ending, even if they themselves don't know it yet, and that is utterly disappointing. It takes away some of the fogginess that the reader feels, inhabiting Natsuki's brain during these months of isolation in Akishina.

Some more nitpicky things I also didn't like as a matter of personal taste: Not sure what I was supposed to take from Natsuki's relationship with her mother and sister. The overly descriptive passages about them being heavy, hairy, ugly, and mean in contrast to Natsuki being pretty and thin enough to inspire lust and jealousy were deeply uninteresting to me. Obviously Natsuki didn't deserve the abuse she received because of the way she looked, beautiful or otherwise, but the converse message also doesn't appeal to me that "unattractive/undesirable" people are cruel and jealous.

bookonarooftop's review against another edition

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3.5

My feelings as a read:

This is interesting.

Oh things are getting better.

Loving it.

Oh wait, what?

WTF

- I seriously only read that this was a wild one before I picked it up. I really enjoyed Convenience Store Woman and wanted to check out something else by the author, so ended up with this one.

I find Murata's writing style quite compelling and easy to read. The translation I believe did a good job when it comes to delivering the essence of the novel.

The topic of individual vs society [its norms] was strong in this one and it was quite a journey to follow the protagonists who never fitted within existing norms and tried to modify themselves to be "accepted" [or rebel against the society]

The topics one will come across in book are: parental child abuse, incestuous child sexuality, adolescent sexual abuse, severe dissociation, suicidal ideation, mental illness, murder, starvation, and cannibalism.

I was quite shocked with the ending of the story and I found Murata's descriptions quite repulsive. However, I still enjoyed the story and it was "crazy" but in a good way.