Earthlings
Sayaka Murata author Ginny Tapley Takemori translator
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Granta Books
Published:8th Oct '20
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The mindblowing new novel from the author of the international cult bestseller Convenience Store Woman
Mind blowing, dark and wild, the new novel from Sayaka Murata - author of bestseller Convenience Store Woman - asks: how far would you go just to be yourself?Natsuki isn't like the other girls. As youths, she and her cousin Yuu spent the summers in the wild Nagano mountains, hoping for a spaceship to transport her home. When a terrible sequence of events threatens to part the cousins for ever, they make a promise: survive, no matter what. Now, Natsuki is grown. She lives quietly in an asexual marriage, pretending to be normal, and hiding the horrors of her childhood from her family and friends. But dark shadows from Natsuki's past are pursuing her. Fleeing the suburbs for the mountains, Natsuki prepares for a reunion with Yuu. Will he still remember their promise? And will he help her keep it? Dark, sharp and with a deeply unexpected twist, Earthlings is an exhilarating cosmic flight that will leave you reeling.
Gut-shredding... Earthlings is a frequently disturbing but pacy read, with its own off-key humour. I ripped through it * Observer *
Dizzying... Shocking, hilarious and hugely, darkly entertaining. Murata has crafted an unforgettable, original hybrid of absurd fantasy and stark realism * Financial Times *
I loved this book! It easily converted me to being an alien. A radical, hilarious, heartbreaking look at the crap we have all internalized in order to fit in and survive -- Elif Batuman
A firecracker of a book...the story skates along the top of all this darkness, and shimmers with a deadpan wit. I loved it * Five Books *
Provocative and radical ... For that, I applaud it * Stylist *
As a coded portrait of adolescent anxiety, it's savagely pointed... A disconcerting fable * Daily Mail *
Brilliantly translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori... Murata takes the reader on a journey that is profound and scary in equal measure. Brilliant * Big Issue *
Earthlings was my most anticipated Japanese novel of 2020, and it certainly did not disappoint * Books and Bao *
Certainly memorable * Sunday Times *
A brilliantly scathing assessment of social norms ... Curious, challenging and slightly nightmarish, it'll certainly make your brain buzz * Press Association *
If you loved Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata then Earthlings will be right up your alley * Herald *
Murata has risen to even more bizarre heights * Skinny *
[Earthlings] has a similar affectless eeriness to her previous novel, the wildly successful (and brilliant) Convenience Store Woman.. It's not the darkness of the events Murata describes that is most disturbing, but the blank chirpiness of the narrative voice with her narrator relates them -- Books of the Year * Irish Times *
Whatever Earthlings is, whatever planet it comes from, it's a tale of quiet desperation to make your brain fizz * Guardian *
Earthlings will leave you reeling * DN Fourteen *
ISBN: 9781783785674
Dimensions: 216mm x 135mm x 15mm
Weight: 348g
256 pages