if you are looking for a short story to read that involves, incest, pedophilia, child abuse, cannibalism, sexual assault, and more then i think that i've found the perfect book for you. just kidding, that was a trap. if what i've said so far entices you, i don't want you standing anywhere within five feet of me. 

do not let the cute plush hedgehog on the cover deceive you, this book is not lighthearted or wholesome. it tackles very serious and disturbing subjects that are often difficult to digest. therefore, please don't force yourself to read this book at your own expense. 

earthlings' plot fell flat for me especially in terms of its execution. while i find certain things triggering like any human being, i wouldn't call myself a weak-stomached person. unfortunately, i am capable of reading books that make me uncomfortable and can applaud authors that are capable of doing so, as long as it served a point. if a book is going to make me sit in the discomfort of its world, then it has to do something with it. personally, i don't think murata does that. the last thing i want to do while reading a book is linger in the uncomfortable for 200 pages only to reveal a dead end. i felt like an animal on a leash being dragged through plot point after plot point until there were no more pages to turn.

considering the extensive list of trigger warnings listed above, i think that this book should've been longer. the plot was very quickly paced and it worked to the story's detriment. i firmly believe that a lot of the traumatizing events within the novel went unaddressed and without care, therefore leaving the reader extremely unsatisfied. instead of flowing with the words, the sentences, the pages, like a good book does, earthlings was more of a timeline of tragic events where this thing happened and then this thing happened and then another thing happened. felt like a check list.

while this may be nit picky, i found yuu's random transition from being an "earthling" to an "alien" jarring. it was unrealistic for his character to simply act as if a switch was flipped in his mind. there should have been a gradual change in his mindset, but there wasn't, hence another reason why i think the book should've been longer. throughout the book up until yuu changes his mind, he is a rational adult, contrasting natsuki and her husband. in doing so, murata stays true to the essential components of her story, but sacrifices the authenticity of her character in order to do so. 

another element of this book that i found more annoying that anything was the redundancy of certain phrases like "the Factory" or how people are "tools," and many others. i can't stress this enough, there are other ways of getting one's point across with enough creativity. explicitly stating the same phrases over and over again is unnecessary. i can understand that the novel follows natsuki, and perhaps murata is simply staying true to the nature of her character, but it made the read a lot more difficult than it had to be. plus, natsuki wasn't the best main character either. i was constantly being reminded over and over again of the same concepts in the same exact shape and form, making it difficult for me to even care. although deadpan isn't something i personally like.

moving onto the only reason this book didn't get one star, i thought murata did a good job of illustrating the lingering aftermath of childhood traumas. in order to cope with the disgusting and horrific things that happened to her as a child, natsuki would turn to her imagination like magic, aliens, and the supernatural. however, these comforts follow her into adulthood since such figments offer her a safety that she is unable to find in others, seen in their victim blaming she experiences. while i personally think that murata could have elevated this concept through a different execution, it's an important phenomenon to bring to the forefront. natsuki deserved better.

overall, this book is full of traumatizing and disturbing moments in order to convey how natsuki and her husband felt like outsiders to a certain point where i genuinely wondered if this book was supposed to be satirical. spoiler alert, it's not. the characters in this book are dysfunctional but not in a good way. they felt stupid as they constantly tried to prove themselves in their deviation from japanese society. we get it, you're different. i didn't need to be dragged through a trauma marathon in order to understand that.