Natsuki is a young girl who believes she is an alien from the planet Popinpobopia, awaiting rescue alongside her cousin Yuu and her plush hedgehog, Pikkut. To survive the abuse of her family and the rigid expectations of the human "factory," she rejects societal norms of marriage and procreation. As an adult, she enters a platonic contract marriage with a man who also feels like an outsider. Together with Yuu, they retreat to a mountain home to abandon humanity entirely through extreme physical and psychological defiance.
Readers who find comfort in the strange or the grotesque use this narrative to examine the psychological toll of social conformity. Those interested in the fringes of human behavior or the rejection of capitalism and gender roles will find a literalized version of total alienation. The story provides a stark perspective on how individuals develop coping mechanisms against trauma. Readers walk away with a visceral understanding of what happens when a person fundamentally refuses to participate in the biological and social structures of the modern world.
Deep, inward-looking, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?
Insights from EARTHLINGS
“I'm a magician. I'm an alien. I'm a tool for the Factory.”
Natsuki believes she is an alien to survive her family. It shows how far a kid will go to feel safe in a house that hates them.
“The Factory is where people are processed into parts.”
The Factory is such a chilling way to describe society. It treats people like machines meant to produce more workers and nothing else.
“We’ll survive, no matter what.”
Yu and Natsuki find comfort in being outcasts together. Their bond is the only thing that feels real in their small, suffocating world.
Adults in this story are terrifying because they demand conformity above all else. They see any hint of individuality as a defect that needs fixing.
- Published
- 2018
- Publisher
- Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
- ISBN
- 9780802157027
- Language
- EN
