Earthlings A Novel

Das Buch ist sicherlich nicht jedermanns Sache, allerdings konnte ich es nicht aus der Hand legen. So absurd und unangenehm die Geschichte auch ist, so hat sie mich von Anfang an mitgerissen!

Natsuki has never really fit in, her mother favours her sister and tells her constantly that she is a nuisance and good for nothing. When her teacher first touches her inappropriately, her mother does not only not believe her but accuses her of falsely allege misconduct. Thus, she keeps quiet, even when she is assaulted. Her way of coping with the situation is getting mentally detached, she has the impression of leaving her body which helps her to cope. Only her cousin Yuu can understand her, just like she herself, he lives in a complicated family and is convinced not to be an earthling since all the people around him behave strangely and don’t understand him. An incident forces this relationship to break up and to isolate Natsuki and Yuu, only after more than two decades will they meet again and their childhood experiences clearly left their marks on them. “It’s handy having a dumpster in the house. In this house, that’s my role. When Dad and Mom and Kise get so fed up they can’t bear it any longer, they dump everything onto me.” Reading Sayaka Murata's novel really brought me to my emotional limits. Even before the actual abuse by her teacher, seeing the dysfunctional family and the mother's inhuman behaviour towards her daughter is hard to endure. Also her sister who not only does not show any empathy but quite the contrary, actively contributes to Natsuki’s poor state. She is the typical vulnerable child highly at risk of falling prey to molesters. Being beaten by her parents, not experiencing any love or physical attachment, the fact that she is not believed and does not get any help when in need, sadly fits perfectly into the picture. “Before I knew it, I had turned thirty-four, (...) Even after all the time, I still wasn’t living my life so much as simply surviving.” It might seem strange that Natsuki as well as Yuu come to believe that they must be aliens and that they increasingly estrange from the humans around them. However, this is just a psychological trick played by their brain to help them to cope and quite understandable. From a psychological point of view, this is extremely authentically narrated. “It was the out-of-body power. Before I knew what was happening, I had left my body the way I had the day of the summer festival and was watching myself.” There is no relief when they grow up. The society they live in does not allow individuals to live according to their own conception but expects them to function for the majority's benefit and not to step out of line. Finding a matching partner first bring Natsuki the possibility of fleeing her family, yet, it was to be expected that their small bubble was not meant to last. An extremely sad read which definitely is not suitable for everyone. Nevertheless, I'd highly recommend it due to the authentic portray of the effect such experiences can have and to show that quite often victims do not find any help but are even blamed for what happens to them.

Natsuki has never really fit in, her mother favours her sister and tells her constantly that she is a nuisance and good for nothing. When her teacher first touches her inappropriately, her mother does not only not believe her but accuses her of falsely allege misconduct. Thus, she keeps quiet, even when she is assaulted. Her way of coping with the situation is getting mentally detached, she has the impression of leaving her body which helps her to cope. Only her cousin Yuu can understand her, just like she herself, he lives in a complicated family and is convinced not to be an earthling since all the people around him behave strangely and don’t understand him. An incident forces this relationship to break up and to isolate Natsuki and Yuu, only after more than two decades will they meet again and their childhood experiences clearly left their marks on them. “It’s handy having a dumpster in the house. In this house, that’s my role. When Dad and Mom and Kise get so fed up they can’t bear it any longer, they dump everything onto me.” Reading Sayaka Murata's novel really brought me to my emotional limits. Even before the actual abuse by her teacher, seeing the dysfunctional family and the mother's inhuman behaviour towards her daughter is hard to endure. Also her sister who not only does not show any empathy but quite the contrary, actively contributes to Natsuki’s poor state. She is the typical vulnerable child highly at risk of falling prey to molesters. Being beaten by her parents, not experiencing any love or physical attachment, the fact that she is not believed and does not get any help when in need, sadly fits perfectly into the picture. “Before I knew it, I had turned thirty-four, (...) Even after all the time, I still wasn’t living my life so much as simply surviving.” It might seem strange that Natsuki as well as Yuu come to believe that they must be aliens and that they increasingly estrange from the humans around them. However, this is just a psychological trick played by their brain to help them to cope and quite understandable. From a psychological point of view, this is extremely authentically narrated. “It was the out-of-body power. Before I knew what was happening, I had left my body the way I had the day of the summer festival and was watching myself.” There is no relief when they grow up. The society they live in does not allow individuals to live according to their own conception but expects them to function for the majority's benefit and not to step out of line. Finding a matching partner first bring Natsuki the possibility of fleeing her family, yet, it was to be expected that their small bubble was not meant to last. An extremely sad read which definitely is not suitable for everyone. Nevertheless, I'd highly recommend it due to the authentic portray of the effect such experiences can have and to show that quite often victims do not find any help but are even blamed for what happens to them.

the people who gave low stars for this book being "disturbing" obviously missed the whole point of the book. the main character is autistic like in most of sayakas nivels and all of sayakas books are a commentary on "fitting in" while being different. it's a great commentary on social expectations and what it means to be an outsider. how sayaka deals with sexual assault and the trauma that occurs after is really admirable and quite realistic, as well as how the adults react to learning about the assault, and how people still view the assaulter as a good guy because he was liked by people, but the victim is too "weird" to be liked so she's told she should be greatful someone like the assaulter abused her.

Auch nach Monaten hallt diese Geschichte noch in mir nach. "Earthlings" handelt von einem Mädchen, das sich für ein Alien hält, und mit messerscharfem Verstand auf unsere Welt blickt. Antisexualität, japanische Arbeitskultur, der auf Frauen lastende gesellschaftliche Druck, Kannibalismus und Inzest sind nur ein paar der behandelten Themen. Auf eine Art fühlt man sich der Protagonistin extrem verbunden und gleichzeitig könnte man sich nicht weiter von ihr entfernt vorkommen. Aber welche Adjektive ich hier auch immer aufzählen könnte, sie würden der Absurdität dieses Romans nicht ansatzweise gerecht.