Earthlings by Sayaka Murata BOOK REVIEW
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- čas přidán 27. 09. 2020
- A review of Earthlings by Sayaka Murata. Translated from the Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori. This is my favourite novel in translation of 2020. If Convenience Store Woman was a considered and lightly political folk album, Earthlings is a loud and brash punk record, full of venom, piss, and vinegar.
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Fantastic review. Sayaka Murata is my favourite Japanese writer. I have gobbled up everything that has been translated into English and I'm hungry for more. Earthlings is my favourite book of 2020 and weeks since I read it, I'm still reeling from Natsuki's world and find a sharp longing to get back there. This book is totally unforgettable. Can't wait to read more from Murata. Thank you for your wonderful review!
With such cute cover, i didn’t expect it to be disturbing
Marketing is fun like that
Uh huh! Don't judge a book by its cover. That's Piyutt btw!
Such a disturbing, thought-provoking book! Not sure a more pretentious, less readable author would have managed to make me read beyond my comfort zone like that!
I couldn't agree more.
I just finished reading Earthlings last night and I'm still in shock. In my head, I'm trying to figure out what did Earthlings accomplish, that it's milder counterparts like No longer Human by Osamu Dazai and Convenience store woman didn't? Maybe the message was that sometimes the "adults" can't sweep inconvenient truths under the rug or that things won't always sort themselves out.
You moved me to tears with this review! I read the book myself some weeks ago and it still lingers in my memory. One of the strongest novels I have read. The jaw dropping part was spot on and I loved your punchline about Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings!
When you brought up that society turns everyone into monsters, i realized something about the book. Natsuki's sister was also considered a weird child. Her mother though believed she can still become normal because unlike Natsuki, Kise was easier to manipulate. When she got married and had children on her own, people around her accepted her as a part of the society, but she wasn't happy living like that, which is i believe why she wanted Natsuki to get married and have children - because Natsuki reminded her of herself. This is just a theory and i can't prove any of this, but if you have any opinions on this, i would really appreciate if you could share them with me because Sayaka Murata is one of my absolute favorite authors and i want someone to rant to about her books.
I loved that you made it clear that surreal events are not the most important thing about this book! I’ve seen people saying how bizarre it is, but Natsuki, Yuu and Tomoya were taken to edge of their ideas about the Fabric. Thanks for the review!
This book lingers in my memory. One of the strongest novels I have read. Brilliant, haunting and thought provoking.
There couldn't have been a better review of Earthlings. Thank you so much for making this video.
Wow! You’re so welcome!
Absolutely love your reviews. That's why I'm repeating them
Aw thank you so much!
read this and searched for your review. This is unforgettable book and I think if I have read this 5-10 years ago or later, I would have discarded it. I think age or rather life/experience give us some perspective into such abstract ideas.
Just finished and I enjoyed this more than my first attempt at Convenience Store Woman. I am still digesting it (no pun intended) and I think it will leave a stain on my brain much like In the Miso Soup did. The kind of frantic, fever dream ending felt less obscene and disturbing than everything that proceeded it for me because it seemed further from reality.
I'm about to give Convenience Store Woman another go because the first time I tried it I became absolutely infuriated with Keiko and her perfect customer service. Indeed this is because I was the same age as the character and working in a servo, a job I did for 10 years and loathed. The book felt like a very personal affront and I was simply not in a place to enjoy it!
Gosh I finally got myself a copy of the book after watching this. I'm hoping to be blown away in a good way by the end of the book.
Definitely be prepared! There's some unpleasant content, especially at the very end. I literally dropped the book in shock at the last pages. But it's still a masterpiece!
The book took me by surprise after reading Convenience Store. However, once I read some of her other short stories and I was like: "ok, CSW was the other side of the spectrum". I really liked it still.
i just read this book and i love it, i think a lot of people judge this book by how it ends and they left behind all the good thing the story have.
P.S. sorry about my english
I agree! The ending is shocking but it works. I loved this book so much.
Great review!❤
Picked up this book and was looking for motivation to go forward with it. 3 mins into your review and I'm sold. Will come back once I'm done with the book👍
CSW is one of my favorites as well
omg my hair in this video lol
I mean, thanks for watching! I love Murata and her books more each day.
@@WillowTalksBooks couldn't stop reading. It's 2am. Loved it 😵
Your review is spot on
@@nodrarb140 Haha that is wonderful news!
Finished this book a few months ago - 😱 Brilliant, Haunghting and thought provoking 😵💫 😊
Absolutely! And if you could handle the darker parts of this, you'll be fine with Tell Me I'm Worthless :)
Great review!
Thanks!
Great review!
I recently read ‘The White Tiger’ by Aravind Adiga and was thinking about the comparison between the motifs of ‘the Factory’ in ‘Earthlings’ and ‘the rooster coop’ in ‘White Tiger’. It is amazing when you can find these connections across contexts through the power of literature and how these talented writers can find a metaphor that both suggests their own cultural structures (being India and Japan respectively) but also allow you a framework to view your own world (Australia for me)
So thankful to have read these two wonderful pieces of satire so close to each other and to be able to make that connection.
Thanks for the excellent review!
It might be somewhat Factory-biased to describe Popinpobopians as "monsters." They have a radically different morality and cultural values system - almost like the Klingons or octopuses. It's not that they are more violent and awful, it's just that the situations where violence is acceptable are different than human Earthlings. I think this will be more self-evident when the Popinpobobian translation comes out.
My read of it was that Earthlings and Popinpobopians were monsters with respect to each other. Earthlings for the cold and conformity-demanding Factory they created, and Popinpobopians for their rational alien eye which sees through Earthling lies about normality and being a special creature above other animals. Though I personally think Natsuki and co. became the worst aspects of Popinpobopian society towards the end, the same way we saw the worst aspects of Earthling society earlier in the novel.
Okay well damn I gotta read both of these right away
I just picked up this book in Japanese. Wish me luck. 🙃
Very good luck!
So lovely❤
Il first start with the positive points: I liked the feel of the book, and its quirky depiction of a young girl who felt she didn’t fit in to the world around her…
Now on the negative: Whilst I really tried to enter the mind of the author and get a real understanding of the book and the characters I have today that this book (especially the ending) is ridiculous.
I understand trauma and how it can distance people from reality and make them feel separated from society. I thought this book would take the terrible experience of the characters and the their altered interpretation of reality and delve into what it meant for them as individuals going from traumatised children into their adult lives (in what ever shape or form that took). Instead I feel like it just plopped a bunch of taboos in for shock value and had no where to go with it.
The end was TERRIBLE and the most ridiculous of all!!!! Bringing cannibalism in to the mix in such an unrealistic way, void of human emotion or feeling was just crazy to me. It felt like the author wanted to quickly finish the book in an over the top way.
This book had potential to go into many different avenues but sadly lost its way.
Don't judge a book by it's cover.
Thanks Liam, you’re so wise
Disturbing book.