"I think the riskiest kind of novel is the one that tries to rescue us from mundane existence—by taking a closer look at mundane existence."

"If the tone falls flat, than the action is simply a series of discrete encounters, recreated on the page. In the best of these novels—from the work of Haruki Murakami to Albert Camus—the writer finds a tiny gap between the simple nature of things, and how they appear to us."

From "In Praise of Sayaka Murata/John Freeman on a Young Japanese Writer We Should All Be Reading." 

That review — in Literary Hub — was written 3 years ago, when the current Murata book was "Convenience Store Woman," which I thought was great. I'm reading it today because I'm reading her new book "Earthlings" and I don't want any spoilers to that.

ADDED: Sample text from "Earthlings":

“Deep down everyone hates work and sex, you know. They’re just hypnotized into thinking that they’re great.” My husband was always saying that. 

His parents, his brother and his wife, and his friends sometimes came to spy on us. My and my husband’s womb and testes were quietly kept under observation by the Factory. Anyone who didn’t manufacture new life—or wasn’t obviously trying to—came under gentle pressure. Couples that hadn’t manufactured new life had to demonstrate their contribution to the Factory through their work. My husband and I were living quietly in a corner of the Factory, keeping our heads down.

The first person character regards her town as a "factory for the production of babies."