Pardon the gray matter, but my brain just exploded. This book is like nothing I’ve ever read before — and I read a lot of books and genres.
Picture SayPardon the gray matter, but my brain just exploded. This book is like nothing I’ve ever read before — and I read a lot of books and genres.
Picture Sayaka Murata’s earlier book, “Convenience Store Woman,” as a string of firecrackers that cleverly illuminates how soul-sucking capitalism can be. “Earthlings” is akin to the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, when 80,000 people vanished in the blink of an eye and 200,000 mostly civilians perished.
Equal parts sci-fi, reality, magical realism, comedy, horror, satire, and gore, she says this is her other-worldly response to a Japanese health minister’s announcement. In 2007, he said, “The number of women aged between 15 and 50 is fixed. Because the number of birth-giving machines and devices is fixed, all we can do is ask them to do their best per head … although it may not be so appropriate to call them machines.”
Granted, there are beaucoup reasons “Earthlings” isn’t for everyone — but I have no time for those who’re simply offended that the story isn’t as cutesy as the iconically Japanese cover. The same goes for reviewers who lament the dearth of “likable” characters. For Murata, no one is all-good or all-bad, and no gender or age has it easy. Surely when Murata named an essential character “Yuu,” she knew the meaning of “you” in English....more
I'm not usually drawn to sci-fi, so I'm extra grateful for the friend who turned me on to this. Not to spoil the story for anyone by describing what hI'm not usually drawn to sci-fi, so I'm extra grateful for the friend who turned me on to this. Not to spoil the story for anyone by describing what happens beyond what readers/listeners learn within the first few minutes of the marvelous audiobook performed superbly by Kim Staunton -- this book held me spellbound within 1970s Los Angeles and 1800s slave days of Maryland. Even with wishing the ending hadn't been quite so abrupt, I still give it 5 stars!...more
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