diff --git a/lib/utils/tar.js b/lib/utils/tar.js
index 9e3c7ec25cea6..887c40a0f6ebe 100644
--- a/lib/utils/tar.js
+++ b/lib/utils/tar.js
@@ -1,14 +1,10 @@
-'use strict'
-
 const tar = require('tar')
 const ssri = require('ssri')
 const npmlog = require('npmlog')
 const byteSize = require('byte-size')
 const columnify = require('columnify')
 
-module.exports = { logTar, getContents }
-
-function logTar (tarball, opts = {}) {
+const logTar = (tarball, opts = {}) => {
   const { unicode = false, log = npmlog } = opts
   log.notice('')
   log.notice('', `${unicode ? '📦 ' : 'package:'} ${tarball.name}@${tarball.version}`)
@@ -16,8 +12,9 @@ function logTar (tarball, opts = {}) {
   if (tarball.files.length) {
     log.notice('', columnify(tarball.files.map((f) => {
       const bytes = byteSize(f.size)
-      return { path: f.path, size: `${bytes.value}${bytes.unit}` }
-    }), {
+      return (/^node_modules\//.test(f.path)) ? null
+        : { path: f.path, size: `${bytes.value}${bytes.unit}` }
+    }).filter(f => f), {
       include: ['size', 'path'],
       showHeaders: false,
     }))
@@ -49,7 +46,7 @@ function logTar (tarball, opts = {}) {
   log.notice('', '')
 }
 
-async function getContents (manifest, tarball) {
+const getContents = async (manifest, tarball) => {
   const files = []
   const bundled = new Set()
   let totalEntries = 0
@@ -111,3 +108,5 @@ async function getContents (manifest, tarball) {
     bundled: Array.from(bundled),
   }
 }
+
+module.exports = { logTar, getContents }
diff --git a/lib/view.js b/lib/view.js
index 1415147767de8..42ba4b1c1b68e 100644
--- a/lib/view.js
+++ b/lib/view.js
@@ -9,12 +9,16 @@ const npm = require('./npm.js')
 const { packument } = require('pacote')
 const path = require('path')
 const { inspect, promisify } = require('util')
-const readJson = promisify(require('read-package-json'))
 const relativeDate = require('tiny-relative-date')
 const semver = require('semver')
 const style = require('ansistyles')
 const usageUtil = require('./utils/usage')
 
+const fs = require('fs')
+const readFile = promisify(fs.readFile)
+const jsonParse = require('json-parse-even-better-errors')
+const readJson = async file => jsonParse(await readFile(file, 'utf8'))
+
 const usage = usageUtil(
   'view',
   'npm view [<@scope>/]<pkg>[@<version>] [<field>[.subfield]...]'
@@ -86,8 +90,8 @@ const view = async args => {
   if (local) {
     const dir = npm.prefix
     const manifest = await readJson(path.resolve(dir, 'package.json'))
-    if (!manifest || !manifest.name)
-      throw new Error('Invalid package.json')
+    if (!manifest.name)
+      throw new Error('Invalid package.json, no "name" field')
     const p = manifest.name
     nv = npa(p)
     if (pkg && ~pkg.indexOf('@'))
diff --git a/tap-snapshots/test-lib-utils-tar.js-TAP.test.js b/tap-snapshots/test-lib-utils-tar.js-TAP.test.js
index 72b46004b684c..402a0e735afc4 100644
--- a/tap-snapshots/test-lib-utils-tar.js-TAP.test.js
+++ b/tap-snapshots/test-lib-utils-tar.js-TAP.test.js
@@ -11,8 +11,7 @@ exports[`test/lib/utils/tar.js TAP should log tarball contents > must match snap
 package: my-cool-pkg@1.0.0
 === Tarball Contents ===
 
-4B  node_modules/bundle-dep
-97B package.json           
+97B package.json
 === Bundled Dependencies ===
 
 bundle-dep
diff --git a/test/lib/view.js b/test/lib/view.js
index 9053d1a6473c2..88b2769a05899 100644
--- a/test/lib/view.js
+++ b/test/lib/view.js
@@ -482,7 +482,43 @@ t.test('throw error if global mode', (t) => {
   })
 })
 
-t.test('throw error if invalid package.json', (t) => {
+t.test('throw ENOENT error if package.json misisng', (t) => {
+  const testDir = t.testdir({})
+
+  const view = requireInject('../../lib/view.js', {
+    '../../lib/npm.js': {
+      prefix: testDir,
+      flatOptions: {
+        global: false
+      }
+    }
+  })
+  view([], (err) => {
+    t.match(err, { code: 'ENOENT' })
+    t.end()
+  })
+})
+
+t.test('throw EJSONPARSE error if package.json not json', (t) => {
+  const testDir = t.testdir({
+    'package.json': 'not json, nope, not even a little bit!'
+  })
+
+  const view = requireInject('../../lib/view.js', {
+    '../../lib/npm.js': {
+      prefix: testDir,
+      flatOptions: {
+        global: false
+      }
+    }
+  })
+  view([], (err) => {
+    t.match(err, { code: 'EJSONPARSE' })
+    t.end()
+  })
+})
+
+t.test('throw error if package.json has no name', (t) => {
   const testDir = t.testdir({
     'package.json': '{}'
   })
@@ -496,7 +532,7 @@ t.test('throw error if invalid package.json', (t) => {
     }
   })
   view([], (err) => {
-    t.equals(err.message, 'Invalid package.json')
+    t.equals(err.message, 'Invalid package.json, no "name" field')
     t.end()
   })
 })