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adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Graphic: Cannibalism
dark
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
probs 4.5 because the stories are memorable and most of them were really great
dark
funny
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
i’m slightly on the fence on this one. on one hand, the themes she explored were very marked; cohesive, in a way. i loved her exploration through body and flesh, autonomy, and just organisms living. the execution did leave me with an unsatisfied feeling.
some stories were too short were more could have been explored, and others were so incredibly long i kept counting pages. i like her style (even through what i felt were some awkward translation moments), and i like murata’s way of exploring the themes that many would shy away from. it did leave me unsettled, left me thinking about flesh and alienation from the body, and all that good stuff. my favorite was eating the city. the writing though…i hope i’ll be able to read her original text one day. ⭐️2.5⭐️
some stories were too short were more could have been explored, and others were so incredibly long i kept counting pages. i like her style (even through what i felt were some awkward translation moments), and i like murata’s way of exploring the themes that many would shy away from. it did leave me unsettled, left me thinking about flesh and alienation from the body, and all that good stuff. my favorite was eating the city. the writing though…i hope i’ll be able to read her original text one day. ⭐️2.5⭐️
It's been two months since I read this, but as I've read more surreal short stories, I've realized that this just wasn't my cup of tea. So I'm downgrading from a hesitant 3 stars to 2 stars.
3.5! I love the way Murata creates a mood in these stories, they feel cohesive and complete somehow, considering how short a lot of them are, like snapshots of other realities. There are some noticeably weaker stories, especially the ones of the shorter side, but stories like Life Ceremony and A Clean Marriage are great and stand strong against her novels.