Book Review: "Earthlings" by Sayako Murata

I have read some pretty disturbing books in my time. From Chuck Palahniuk’s “Haunted” to Bret Easton Ellis’s “American Psycho”, from “The Girl Next Door” by Jack Ketchum all the way back to “120 Days of Sodom” by the Marquis de Sade. These books are some of the more extreme ones I have read. When we come more and more into our own times we see names such as Stephen King, we see names such as Lionel Shriver - author of the traumatising novel “We Need to Talk About Kevin” and we also see the more recent works of Cormac McCarthy. From the Sci-Fi terror of Harlan Ellison to the disturbing love stories of Vladimir Nabokov, Iain Banks, Joyce Carol Oates, V.C Andrews and many more - the world of the psychological thriller is filled with intense stories of absolute horror. But, I have to say that one of the most disturbing things I have read in the last five years has got to be “Earthlings” by Sayako Murata - the author of the famed “Convenience Store Woman”. It is not only a psychological thriller, it is a post-apocalyptic dystopian nightmare, it is a political system which regards itself as an overlord of the planet, it is a fight for survival when one defers from the path given to them. From murder to incest, from cannibalism to rape - this book is quite possibly one of the most disturbing things you will read to date. Her is a tip for doing so: make sure you are not eating anything at the time.

Natsuki is the narrator of the novel and the book shows her from her school age of about 11 or 12 all the way through to her 30s. She does not want the life set out for her as she believes she is from another planet. She also believes that her cousin Yuu is from another planet - but when the two meet at her grandmother’s house - we can see things become more and more serious than just a childhood game. When Natsuki’s grandfather passes away, things get hyper-realistic and thoroughly disturbing the next time she meets her cousin and her mother ends up locking her in a room. From then on, she doubts she will ever see Yuu again, but when they do meet once more - things have changed, everything has changed and so has the entire pattern of Natsuki’s life. From believing she was from another planet to believing a man was trying to kill her for a reason she cannot say, her life has become one massive game of survival and she has made that pledge to survive at whatever cost.

The writing is blunt and often has this almost normalisation to it that makes it all the more disturbing. It is not overtly descriptive so it does not feel like there is a romanticisation - but instead the novel seeks to make itself realistic. The way in which that is done is hugely successful and honestly, you do have a hard time not believing what you’re reading because of the fact it is done out of the most animal of human wants: to live and thrive.

I am going to say that the book thoroughly disgusted me though. After reading this book, I think I need to take my mind off things and I don’t think I have much of an appetite anymore. Natsuki, you will find, is a character close to ourselves - not wanting to be pinned down or be a tool to societies moral and ethical standards used to hold people back. But then again, she is hiding a dark and monstrous thing inside of her.