A review by rooothy69
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was insane. Particularly the ending. The first 99% of the book seemed weird but nothing outrageous. It was the last 1% that really made it intriguing and quite outrageous. It was one of those books that didn’t really have reasoning and I think partially that’s because the main character, whose perspective the story is being told, is very skewed mentally, so things don’t really need to make sense to her. This is definitely one of those books that makes you question whether the character is crazy or the world is. 

The book jumps around in time quite a bit. It’s a bit jarring at first. But for me, I think the most confusing part was Yuu’s character.
The biggest question I was left with was why did Yuu join Natsuki and Tomoya in the first place? I suppose it could be implying that he was always crazy? Unsure.


Overall, I thought the story managed to keep my attention throughout the entire duration. It was short but it also had me questioning everything the entire time I was reading it. I did enjoy the read, I just wish it got a little more morbid earlier on. I figure that the last few pages were really there for shock value but I want more of it! Also the book’s style is much more telling than showing, same with The Convenience Store Woman. Not sure whether this is due to the translation or whether it’s Murata’s preferred method of storytelling. Just a note if you’re not the hugest fan of straightforward action. 
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