Reviews tagging 'Death'

Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata

56 reviews

anemosise's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

i loved so many of the concepts in these short stories, it's such a joy taking a (what mostly feels like a deeply personal) look into sayaka muratas head. my only complaint is that I wish some of the stories delved into their concepts a little bit more ferociously

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism and Vomit

Moderate: Sexual content, Incest, and Death

aunticles's review against another edition

challenging dark lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.5

This author was recommended to me by a neurodivergent friend who related to her very strongly. Having read these stories, I can understand that. Being neurotypical, I felt it gave me an insight into that world. I thought the ideas were brilliant but I didn't really enjoy the execution or writing style. The tone throughout is naive, matter of fact, almost bland, and it contrasts starkly with the visceral body horror in some of the stories. I found that the discomfort outweighed the humour in the stories and Life Ceremony was almost too much for me. This collection is definitely worth reading but I can't say I enjoyed the experience.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Pregnancy, Cannibalism, Death, Dysphoria, Gore, Medical content, Vomit, and Sexual content

lidia7's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

very gross and disturbing

i enjoyed these stories the most: Body Magic, Hatchling

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Cannibalism, Excrement, Vomit, and Body horror

Moderate: Stalking, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Animal death, Cancer, and Sexual content

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Eating disorder, and Incest

risemini's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Alcohol, Blood, and Death

m4rtt4's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I have now read all Murata's works that are available in English, and dare I say I have never encountered anything similar; she has such a distinctive style of mixing (feminist) social commentary with gore and body horror, and despite all the nauseating imagery I'm left questioning if our societal norms are wrong after all. Her writing makes me uncomfortable in the same way that Junji Ito's drawings do — so if you like either Murata or Ito, I recommend you'd try the other one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Cannibalism, Death, Sexual content, Excrement, and Body horror

Moderate: Incest, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Lesbophobia, and Vomit

lunxchloe's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

This was a wild ride. I found the different stories to be greatly differing in quality. While I enjoyed Two's Family, Eating the city and Hatchling, I didn't enjoy A summer night's kiss or A magnificent spread.

As disturbing and weird as some of the stories were, I found myself invested in some characters despite the short time one spends with them. New concepts of love and family are established and mostly women-centered at that.

Some stories I would rate 1*, others I would rate 5*. So I'm settling for the middle, 2,75*.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Death, and Sexual content

Minor: Medical content and Injury/Injury detail

mellowbread's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Life must be tough for you – why not just enjoy yourself in this momentary world of lies?

I am so repulsed, uncomfortable, queasy, creeped out, unsettled, but this was so thought-provoking that it seriously deserves a 4 star. I’m convinced I’m not normal, and I’m also convinced no one is normal. But every short story made me think about it what is acceptable and how do we draw the line between borderline gross/disgusting and acceptance? 
 
My favourites, and my thoughts:
A First-Rate Material - I often recycle, but never in this way 
A Magnificent Spread - I’m vegetarian, which many people don’t understand. It also made me think about cultural appropriation 
Life Ceremony - What is normal if not decided by society?

I still don’t feel comfortable about cannibalism though

 
Hatchling - Everyone sees a different side of you, but this takes it to an extreme

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Cannibalism, Vomit, and Pregnancy

Minor: Death, Cultural appropriation, and Stalking

akira_outofthegravity's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

A series of short stories that have the same themes of Convenience Store Woman but with added fuckery. 

As someone who is an asexual lesbian I didn’t find a lot of the stories particularly disturbing, maybe that’s the point, but a lot of people found this to be crazy weird and while it was definitely that, it wasn’t as weird as I’d thought.

As in Convenience Store Woman, Murata talks about asexuality, aromanticism, life, sex, and the idea of not fitting into society. I enjoyed this collection! 

The highlights were:
Life Ceremony
Hatchling
A clean marriage
Two’s family
Poochie

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Cannibalism, and Confinement

Moderate: Death, Gore, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Stalking, Medical content, and Incest

Minor: Alcohol

A lot of talk about semen.

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cannibalism, Sexual content, and Gore

Moderate: Death, Incest, Alcohol, and Vomit

Minor: Cancer, Acephobia/Arophobia, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Excrement, Homophobia, Stalking, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Animal death, and Blood

yuyuv's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism

Moderate: Incest, Infertility, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcohol, Body horror, Homophobia, Eating disorder, Lesbophobia, Gore, Death, Dysphoria, and Acephobia/Arophobia