Thank you, Granta, for sending me an early copy of Earthlings by Sayaka Murata, tr. Ginny Tapley Takemori. I absolutely loved Convenience Store Woman in 2018, and I’m so excited to review this exciting upcoming translated title!

THE BOOK

Natsuki has always suspected she’s different. She has a wand and a magic mirror, and she receives messages from Planet Popinpobopia via her plushie hedgehog. As a child, she spends her summers in the mountains with her family, forming a particularly strong bond with her cousin Yuu. The two promise each other that they will survive in this world no matter what, after a terrible sequence of events pushes them apart.

Natsuki grows older, still convinced of her non-Earthling status, living an unassuming life with her asexual husband she met online. But the pressures of society continue to mount. Can Natsuki avoid them forever?

MAJOR THEMES

In many ways, Sayaka Murata has taken the themes she addressed in Convenience Store Woman and ran with them. She’s ran to a very dark place, and I am here for it 100%. Murata muses on the pressures of modern-day Japanese society, particularly the pressure to conform. Natsuki reminded me of Keiko, as she too relies on copying other people’s behaviours in an attempt to blend in as much as possible.

From childhood, Natsuki is hyper-aware of the heteronormative constructs that are enforced in her town. When she described it as a ‘Baby Factory’, I got chills. She knows that she has to grow up, get a job, marry and reproduce. Society conditions children from birth to grow up and contribute to the Baby Factory, the state commodifying wombs for its own ends.

Both Natsuki and her husband push back against these norms. They ignore the pleas from their families to provide them with grandchildren. As someone who does not want children, I’ve received my fair share of commentary from people assuring me I will change my mind or regret my decision. This compulsive need to reproduce has been so deeply ingrained in all of us that personal decisions regarding your womb have become a public matter.

Murata also comments on the toxic attitudes which surround sexual assault. She probes into society’s dangerous tendency to blame the victim. The way the conventional attractiveness of the abuser somehow lessens the assault. The paradox of men wanting virginal girls who aren’t *too* virginal, but that a woman with experience is ‘damaged goods’.

There’s so much to unpack in this novel. It delves deeper into societal constructs and conformity, taking it to another level. No one can be prepared for the ending of this novel, and I mean, NO ONE.

TRANSLATION AND STYLE

Ginny Tapley Takemori takes the reigns on this translation, as she did with Convenience Store Woman. Again, the writing style is sparse and straightforward, which only heightens the effect of the novel. Sayaka Murata doesn’t dance around difficult topics, she tackles them head on, in a no-nonsense style.

At first the writing somewhat underwhelmed me, but I think it was a combination of an unassuming first chapter and this stark style. Once I got properly into it, the story ramped up and I came to appreciate the no-frills approach. It seems like Natsuki, like Keiko, maintains a frank, almost childish, outlook on life even as she grows up. I don’t mean childish to be necessarily a bad thing either. She sees things for what they are, the way children do.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This book needs to come with all sorts of trigger warnings, including sexual assault on minors and graphic murder. But if you can handle it then I highly recommend picking up Earthlings! Murata has a fresh, strong voice and a lot to say on the various ills of contemporary society.

Seji over at @theartisangeek informed me that Murata actually has loads of novels published in Japan, yet only two have been translated into English. Embodying Oliver Twist when I say, please, Granta, may we have some more?