Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

I was recommended this book by a good friend and with a hedgehog on the front I was looking forward to reading it. Earthlings is not the type of book I would pick for myself but it was a great book to broaden my reading.

Earthlings follows the story of a young girl in Japan. She doesn’t feel like she fits in with the world and believes she has magical powers. The story that follows is a twisting, stark look at the world from the girls perspective as she grows up.

I didn’t know what to expect when I started reading but what was delivered was something beyond belief. Sayaka Murata writes in such a way that is to the point but somehow filled with the beauty of the world. The narrative she builds in Earthlings is intriguing and in parts hard to read but when brought together, make for a fascinating view of the world from the innocence of a child and through to her mid- thirties.

I’m not going to lie, there were parts of the story that I found hard to read but the story would not have been the same of they were left out. Each part of the journey needed to be fleshed out in order to get the full feel of what Sayaka wanted to convey. The gruesome bits supported the parts of the story where Sayaka wanted to show the beauty of the Japan.

All in all, Earthlings is an interesting story that tries to show the world from a different view but doesn’t shy away from the gritty bits of life.