Reviews tagging 'Cannibalism'

Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata

165 reviews

darumachan's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This was dark and both challenging and fascinating for me. Murata's characters tend to be neurodiverse or psychologically at odds with social norms; the characters typically are well aware that they do not fit in well with society, and they must each work, in their respective way, to decide what will be best for them -- to conform, to pass as best as they can, or to resist. The characters in Life Ceremony are no different; what makes Life Ceremony stand out from other works by Murata (such as Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings) is that the societies depicted in many of the stories of Life Ceremony are dystopian, and the friction that the character feels comes from how that imagined society is incompatible with and intolerant of what we might recognize as mainstream social norms and expectations of our current lived reality. This creates entry points for neurotypical readers to identify in new, and perhaps more visceral, ways with a "social misfit" character type, when in previous works the neurotypical reader would be forced to work harder to be empathetic to a character who might be distant, challenging, or downright repellant to mainstream society. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Vomit, and Cannibalism

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

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death, Incest, Vomit, and Alcohol

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

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism

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

withlivjones's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

This is a really interesting and unusual collection of short stories that celebrate weirdness. There were definitely a few that fell a bit flat for me but the ones that don’t - especially the stories that follow the central theme of food - are absolutely fantastic, bizarre and toe-curling. My favourites out of the collection are “A Magnificent Spread”, “Hatchling”, “Eating the City” and the titular “Life Ceremony”. This book is perfect for newcomers to short stories and avid readers alike, especially if you enjoy horror or stories that will make you say “what the hell did I just read?” 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism

Moderate: Death, Gore, Vomit, Medical content, and Alcohol

Minor: Stalking

archerreadsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Cannibalism

achedester's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Cannibalism, and Stalking

silverfronds's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

I continue to be intrigued every time I read her writing at the absolutely wild places she goes. Nothing has topped Earthlings yet for me, but I look forward to reading more as her books are translated/published. As for this specific collection, I found that some stories really worked for me (poochie, two's family, lovers on the breeze) and others really didn't (puzzle, especially), but overall I had a good time with it and I think there's more good here than bad.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism

kymzii's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

Body Horror and Culture Shock
This is a collection of short stories that deal (somewhat metaphorically) with issues surrounding culture, food and lifestyle. However, it is the way Murata approaches these subjects that lift these stories out of banality i.e.

one story involves cannibalism and fertility rituals and another involves using dead human bodies as clothes and furniture.

Her tone is cool and removed and her characters seem a little closed off even when they are baring their souls. My one criticism is that some of her stories go nowhere and the collection would have been better without them e.g. the story where

a woman things she is a building (I'm still not sure what actually happened) or another when a woman is describing how she has a different personality with different friend groups (it just didn't go any where and her husband gets needlessly upset about the whole thing).

 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Cannibalism

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Cancer, Eating disorder, Gore, Infertility, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, and Toxic friendship

maferbyrne's review against another edition

mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Cannibalism

georgialee01's review against another edition

dark funny reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

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