A review by mvvelde
Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The longer I mull this read over, the more fondly I think of it. Earthlings is such an unusual read--or at least for me it was. It was the first time I read anything from the horror genre. Overall I prefer Earthlings to Convenience Store Woman.

One of my favorite parts of this book was the alien aspect to our main character and what it meant: wanting to fit in, but not; feeling different; not being efficient or productive by societal ideals; uniqueness; etc... Like in Convenience Store Woman, I enjoyed the commentary on capitalism & individuals being a cog in the wheel of productivity in society. Earthlings depicted some brutal scenes to be sure, but I really appreciate the way that Sayaka Murata wrote about trauma and how it reflects in the self.

If you're looking to pick up a novel that's <i>way out of this world</i> I would highly recommend Earthlings! That being said, I'm not sure it's a book for everyone, so I'd also encourage checking out the content warnings beforehand as some passages are a bit gruesome.
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