Earthlings - Sayaka Murata

 

Earthlings tells the story of Natsuki and her cousin Yuu who meet each summer in the Nagano mountains and are convinced that one day a spaceship will arrive for them to take them to their home planet. When an event occurs that changes their lives forever they promise each other to survive no matter what. Now grown Natsuki is in an asexual marriage she finds that her past is creeping up on her and is threatening to take away the life she carefully built for herself. She and her husband flee back to the mountains and Natsuki must prepare herself for a reunion with Yuu after not seeing him for 23 years.

Following on from Convenience Store Woman, Earthlings is a very different tale and is very out there in terms of themes. The theme of society as brainwashing people into work and reproduction is evident in both of Murata’s books, but Earthlings elevates the level that the characters are determined not to conform. After a series of horrendously traumatising events, Natsuki believes that she is able to perform magic, which is actually her disassociating in order to cope with the things that have happened to her. Earthlings incorporates so many different taboos such as cannibalism, murder, and incest it feels as though the story got lost along the way. It became convoluted with these taboo events that it was difficult to process much else. Natsuki’s traumatic childhood is so pivotal to this story and her coping mechanisms are what forms such a bizarre narrative, but it just felt like too much. With the number of taboo topics that are woven in the story felt as though it was built around the element of shock factor and lost the potential I thought it had. The first half was wrapped in such a feeling of realism that as the second half ventured further into the bounds of unconventional horrors it felt too disconnected and left me feeling bewildered and disappointed.