11/2024 Earthlings Group Read Discussion

[Selena]

Natsuki isn't like the other girls. She has a wand and a transformation mirror. She might be a witch, or an alien from another planet. Together with her cousin Yuu, Natsuki spends her summers in the wild mountains of Nagano, dreaming of other worlds. When a terrible sequence of events threatens to part the two children forever, they make a promise: survive, no matter what.

Now Natsuki is grown. She lives a quiet life with her asexual husband, surviving as best she can by pretending to be normal. But the demands of Natsuki's family are increasing, her friends wonder why she's still not pregnant, and dark shadows from Natsuki's childhood are pursuing her. Fleeing the suburbs for the mountains of her childhood, Natsuki prepares herself with a reunion with Yuu. Will he still remember their promise? And will he help her keep it?

Discuss Earthlings here!

[Emma]

So, I just finished this book yesterday. And my oh my.... I just love Sayaka Murata's writing so much. After reading convience store woman I wanted to check out more of her so I voted in the poll.

Every time I thought the story couldn't get any crazier it did! There's no big twist or anything, but I loved the way the story gradually got more and more warped and twisted as it progressed. It makes me want to read all of her translated works. I loved it!

[Jack]

I liked this very weird and disturbing story. It was a major change from Convenience Store Woman, but CSW may be an outlier in Murata’s writings. The short stories inLife Ceremony were alt real also. A Clean Marriage, another short story, continues to explore making children where there are intense pressures to conform but individuals are really aroace. Faith questions if our insistence on reality is just a wrong way to get along in life. Murata’s newest work in translation, Vanishing World, will be out in April 2025. I am looking forward to her continued exploration of themes from the works after CSW.