Review by fedelikeslego - Earthlings

fedelikeslego 's review for:

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

4.0

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Unlike Convenience store woman, which I hated and couldn’t keep myself to finish it, I liked this. I read it in one sitting and I’m giving it 4 stars just because I enjoyed reading it.

I’m so confused I feel like I’m high. That’s what it feels like at the end of the “experience ”. I felt so high that their discussions had perfectly made sense.

I think that the book could be divided in two parts:

The first ⅓ of the book. Here incest and rape/pedophilia were extremely explicit and I’m not sure I liked that. Even if the love story between the kids was so cute (they were so innocent it didn’t “bothered me that much”), I don’t think that it was necessary to explicitly write for pages about all the sexual intercourses that the protagonist had. It was too much.

The last ⅔ of the book. This part was a bit more enjoyable, and it’s more centred about what it means to live in this world and in particular in Japan. Murata definitely makes a perfect description of the Japanese society (it would probably make sense only if you lived in Japan or a similar asian country), it’s just so sad and frustrating. In the last chapter, as i said, I felt like I was high. I’m still trying to process what I red. I’m just confused, nothing else.

Movie reccomendation: The Holy mountain (1973), I felt the same way reading the book and watching the movie. Different plot, different settings, same vibes.

Content Warnings