This book needs a trigger warning. I went into the book thinking it would just be kinda weird. Weird isn’t the word to describe this book. It’s genuinely disturbing. It contains a detailed account of child abuse, incest, and cannibalism. I don’t think the reviews on the back of the book at all describe what occurs in it. Every time I thought I was at the worst part of the book, it just kept getting worse.
That said, I think the book exposes society for being exactly what it is. If you’re okay with being disturbed deeply to your core, I’d recommend the book. It’s not for the faint of heart.
by flower4556
33 Comments
Yeah….the ending and the vividness of some of those descriptions are WILD. I don’t know what your nationality is, but the Japanese are just a different breed with some of their horror (said with total respect).
I don’t know if I really “liked” the book, but it does raise the exact kind of questions I love to explore. Like, are some people born broken, or as a culture do we cultivate villains? A combination of both?
I felt really bad for everyone……dark. Shivering now that you’ve reminded me of it
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This is in my shopping cart. Thank you for this.
I can’t say I liked it, but it certainly made me think. I don’t regret reading it. However, I’d be happy to never read it again.
It’s so interesting to see how differently people react to this book.
For me the treatment of Natsuki by her family – especially after that night with Yu, the sexual assault she experiences by her teacher and Yu’s mothers enmeshment and abuse of Yu basically making him her husband is far more disgusting that anything else. Maybe because Natsuki is somewhat an unreliable narrator, seeing things from a child’s perspective that has a different internal logic, but I very much understand her actions and reactions to things happening to and around her from a trauma perspective and in the perspective of what little I know of Japanese culture.
It’s a refreshing and deeply emotional book. I wouldn’t read it again but it has definitely left me more sympathetic and sad than horrified.
I also had a strong reaction, and I don’t consider myself a sensitive reader.
I listened to this on audiobook, so my terrible sense of humor and I enjoyed every time the narrator said “me and Yuu.”
I’m happy I read it, but the last part was shocking for sure.
Your review made me really interested in the book. I recently finished Tender is the Flesh and I’m playing Alan Wake 2 so maybe I’m in a mood to be disturbed.
Likewise, that book made me nauseous for days and put me in the worst reading slump ever
I think the worst part of the book for me was the cannibalism. I felt like it just happened out of nowhere and didn’t really feel like the same book anymore. But I still liked the book overall. I felt so bad for the main character.
I definitely felt sick during the child abuse portions. I really enjoyed the happy ending though, I think the main characters finally got what they always wanted, not sure why people found it so disturbing. 😉
Oh and check out Convenience Store Woman from the same author, much less disturbing but similarly questions societal values.
I read this book at exactly the right time in my life.
You can look up trigger warnings online at literally any time.
Never heard of this book so looked it up. Based on what you shared, that’s gotta be the most misaligned cover to match the content.
This is one of the few books I have read in recent years that I gave 5 stars. I really enjoyed the book, due in part to relating to the MC because I’m autistic. I felt a lot of the message about how silly society is and the inane rituals people go through everyday gets overlooked. Like, yeah, they shouldn’t have eaten people. But, for me at least, by the time I had gotten to that point I kinda just thought “well, if you’re someone with extreme trauma, and possibly neurodivergence, of course you’re going to think you’re an alien and eat people.” I loved this book for it’s absurdity. I thought it really expanded on some of the points Convenience Store Woman tried to make.
Im not really concerned about the trigger warnings but is the book genuinely well written? I might buy it if it’s actually good as I usually like books with ‘twisted’ themes lol it sounds interesting
As an autistic person I loved this book. The whole second half felt like an autistic fever dream: “*what happens if we decide to live life in the most practical manner possible with zero consideration for societal rules?*” This is where you end up.
I loved this book and it was the first one to genuinely make me burst into tears in a while, and not even at the particularly traumatic parts. I was so touched by the moment when Tomoya told Natsuki that he was willing to sacrifice himself so that she could escape the factory. It rlly felt like Natsuki had finally found someone that truly understood and loved her, at least since she and Yuu were separated as kids. It was such a powerful and bittersweet moment that took me completely by surprise. I think Murata is an extraordinary writer.
In regards to the trigger warning…if a review wants to give a trigger warning, that’s fine, but I don’t think the book should. I don’t think any book should. I think the point of *Earthlings* is to push the reader deeper and deeper into the darkness and to challenge their notions of comfort. It’s like a frog boil or cranking up the pain just a little bit. The reader is welcome to stop reading the book at any time. No one is forcing them to continue. I actually almost stopped reading it myself, but decided I wanted to keep going and I’m glad I did.
I just think we should trust people to know their limits.
I always recommend this book but tell people to do their due diligence first. Only because its a unique story.
This is one (of many) reasons that I really love using Storygraph. Content warnings are built into the listing for the book, along with loads of other information from people’s reviews. Definitely a good tool if you want to be aware of this type of thing before going in.
It’s a great book but it sure does have that effect on people.
Agree 100000%, I read a few reviews & a description before reading and was still unprepared for what occurred. If there had been a warning it would’ve been an easier read.
This was a hard read. I’m glad I’ve read it, but I’d be glad to never read it again.
Directly on my wishlist, best review ever thanks OP. I just wish it had everything except child abuse, that’s something I really don’t want to read about.
omg I love Earthlings so much. I love all of Muratas works that have been translated to English so far. It’s exactly my cup of tea haha
I’ve never had to physically put a book down before mid-read. During the scene with the teacher, I had to stop for a time.
I finished Earthlings over the weekend. I picked it up based on a synopsis of how childhood trauma can cause people to lose touch with reality as a coping mechanism. And I gotta say, it does that *extremely* well.
The last 10 pages had my jaw on the floor for sure.
My Dad picked it up for me without reading the book because the cover reminded him of me. It sat on my shelf for a while because I had other books on my TBR. When I finally picked it up I couldn’t put it down because I felt that if I set it down I could never get into it again. It was definitely an experience to read– I think Murata captured the dream-state of being a child so well, then was so articulate with regard to psychosis in the aftermath of that trauma. Everything felt horribly tangible, what a ride.
It was already on my To Read list, with about 500 other books. Your recommendation just skyrocketed it to the top of the list lol. Thanks!
This is one of my FAVORITE books, it really helped me realize how fucked up my own childhood was, reading this book was honestly so refreshing I wasn’t disturbed by it all but rather seen and empowered and understood. This book is honestly a comfort in a way? I totally get why it’s disturbing tho lol xd
I absolutely loved this book but I’ve always felt bad for people who loved Convenience Store Woman and expected more of the same with Earthlings. It’s like Convenience Store Woman’s dark and demented twin. Murata is very much trafficking in many of the same themes but they are much more intense and upsetting than in Convenience Store Woman. It’s such a dramatic jump in tone and concepts that I can’t blame someone for feeling like they sucker punched by reading it. Like I said, I loved Earthlings but I’d say it’s quite transgressive and it crosses some lines most readers won’t be able to stomach.
Interestingly enough, I’m currently reading Murata’s book of short stories, Life Ceremony, and think it would act as a great bridge between the other two works. I’m a manager at a bookstore and I’ve championed Convenience Store Woman for several years. However, I’ve only recommended Earthlings on several occasions and always warn the customer that it is quite intense (I’ll get into details if they ask). Life Ceremony has both the quirky charm of Convenience Store Woman and the transgressive qualities of Earthlings. The former prevents it from, in my opinion, ever becoming upsetting like Earthlings. I’m going to recommend Life Ceremony to customers who enjoyed Convenience Store Woman and, if they dig it, recommend Earthlings.
Btw, as a humorous side note, I jumped into Earthlings blond after having read Tender is The Flesh. I thought the quirkiness of Murata would be a nice palette cleanser and boy was I wrong lol.
I feel like booktok/bookgram/social media seriously misconstrued this book. They made it seem like a quirky alien story which it most definitely is not. I want to warn all the people in the library hold queue behind me waiting to read it.