An otherworldly coming-of-age tale of a woman who believes she is an alien, from the author of the international sensation Convenience Store Woman. Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman was one of the most unusual and refreshing bestsellers of recent years, depicting the life of a thirty-six-year-old clerk in a Tokyo convenience store. Now, in Earthlings, Sayaka Murata pushes at the boundaries of our ideas of social conformity in this brilliantly imaginative, intense, and absolutely unforgettable novel. As a child, Natsuki doesn’t fit in with her family. Her parents favor her sister, and her best friend is a plush toy hedgehog named Piyyut, who talks to her. He tells her that he has come from the planet Popinpobopia on a special quest to help her save the Earth. One summer, on vacation with her family and her cousin Yuu in her grandparents’ ramshackle wooden house in the mountains of Nagano, Natsuki decides that she must be an alien, which would explain why she can’t seem to fit in like everyone else. Later, as a grown woman, living a quiet life with her asexual husband, Natsuki is still pursued by dark shadows from her childhood, and decides to flee the “baby factory” of society for good, searching for answers about the vast and frightening mysteries of the universe—answers only Natsuki has the power to uncover. Dreamlike, sometimes shocking, and always strange and wonderful, Earthlings asks what it means to be happy in a stifling world, and cements Sayaka Murata’s status as a master chronicler of the outsider experience and our own uncanny universe. Praise for Earthlings A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Named a Best Book of the Year by the New York Times, TIME and Literary Hub Named a Most Anticipated Book by the New York Times, TIME, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, the Guardian, Vulture, Wired, Literary Hub, Bustle, PopSugar, and Refinery29 “Intimate, deadpan, and unflinchingly unhinged. . . . Exceptionally fun. . . . Amid all the hedgehog and alien talk is a novel that asks how happiness and freedom can be possible inside a stiflingly anxious world, and its answers, while grotesque, are worth reading.” —Wired “If you’re in the mood for weird, Sayaka Murata is always a reliable place to turn. . . . [Earthlings] centers on Natsuki, a character whose story begins in childhood with her cousin in the mountains and spirals ever more darkly (and bizarrely) into adulthood and its many strange reckonings. This is a story that’s best not to spoil, but it will get into your head.” —Seattle Times “It’s the book’s visceral, grim savagery, and those final shocking pages, that makes this such a vital, powerful novel. . . . Earthlings is the sort of challenging, confronting fiction that wakes you up with a jolt and leaves a lasting impression.” —Locus
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Informations
About the author
Sayaka Murata
Author
Sayaka Murata is a Japanese writer. She has won the Gunzo Prize for New Writers, the Mishima Yukio Prize, the Noma Literary New Face Prize, and the Akutagawa Prize.
Earthlings
by Sayaka Murata
Books Like Earthlings
If you're looking for books similar to Earthlings, here are some recommendations based on themes, tone, and narrative style.
Convenience Store Woman
Sayaka Murata
Another novel by Murata exploring social alienation and nonconformity. Follows Keiko, a woman who doesn't fit societal expectations, working in a convenience store. She finds comfort in the structured environment of her job, rejecting traditional life paths. The book critiques Japanese social norms and the pressure to conform. A darkly humorous exploration of individual identity versus societal expectations.
Tender Is the Flesh
Agustina Bazterrica
A dystopian novel that explores societal breakdown and dehumanization. Set in a world where human cannibalism has become legal and systematized, the book examines how social structures can normalize extreme behaviors. The protagonist works in the human meat processing industry, experiencing increasing psychological disintegration. Like Earthlings, it uses shocking narrative techniques to critique social systems. A deeply unsettling exploration of human nature and societal constraints.
The Memory Police
Yoko Ogawa
A dystopian novel about memory, loss, and social control set on an unnamed island. Objects and memories systematically disappear, controlled by mysterious authorities. The protagonist fights to preserve memory and individual identity. Ogawa's narrative explores themes of alienation and resistance similar to Earthlings. A meditative, surreal exploration of human resilience.
The Vegetarian
Han Kang
A surreal and disturbing novel about a woman who rejects societal norms by becoming a vegetarian. The story explores themes of bodily autonomy, mental health, and social pressure. Told through multiple perspectives, it examines how individual choices can create profound disruption. The narrative is intense, psychological, and challenges conventional understanding of human behavior. A provocative work that blends psychological drama with elements of magical realism.
Fever Dream
Samanta Schweblin
A surreal, psychological novel that explores maternal anxiety and environmental threat. Told through a fragmented, dreamlike narrative, the story examines the boundaries between reality and imagination. The book creates a sense of mounting dread and psychological disorientation. Like Murata's work, it challenges conventional narrative expectations. A haunting exploration of perception and psychological boundaries.
My Year of Rest and Relaxation
Ottessa Moshfegh
A darkly comic novel about a young woman who attempts to escape societal expectations through extreme isolation. The protagonist decides to hibernate for a year, using prescription medications to disconnect from the world. The book explores themes of alienation, mental health, and rejection of conventional life paths. Moshfegh's writing is sardonic and uncompromising, similar to Murata's style. A provocative examination of contemporary female experience.
Severance
Ling Ma
A post-apocalyptic novel blending social critique with zombie narrative. The protagonist navigates a world devastated by a mysterious plague, exploring themes of work, capitalism, and individual survival. The book uses dark humor and surreal elements to examine societal structures. Like Earthlings, it challenges conventional narrative expectations. A sharp, inventive exploration of contemporary alienation.
A Girl is a Half-formed Thing
Eimear McBride
An experimental novel that explores psychological alienation through fragmented, stream-of-consciousness narration. The story follows a young woman's complex relationship with her disabled brother and her own traumatic experiences. McBride's innovative writing style creates an intense, immersive psychological landscape. The book challenges traditional narrative structures and explores themes of marginalization. A raw, uncompromising examination of individual experience.
The Hearing Trumpet
Leonora Carrington
A surreal novel about an elderly woman's fantastical journey through an unconventional retirement home. The narrative blends magical realism, feminist critique, and psychological exploration. Carrington creates a bizarre, transformative world that challenges social expectations. The book celebrates individual imagination and resistance to normative structures. A playful, subversive exploration of aging and identity.
Bunny
Mona Awad
A surreal, dark comedy about academic isolation and psychological transformation. The protagonist, a graduate student, becomes entangled with a group of privileged classmates in increasingly bizarre scenarios. The novel blends horror, comedy, and magical realism to explore themes of belonging and identity. Like Earthlings, it uses unexpected narrative techniques to examine social dynamics. A provocative exploration of group psychology and individual alienation.
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