Reviews with content warning for Cannibalism - Life Ceremony

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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katarina_sarmo's review against another edition

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medium-paced

5.0

As usual, Sayaka Murata delivers an oh-so weird and oh-so wonderful novel with each of these stories making me rethink my perspective on societal norms.

Murata has a way of using these very creative (if that’s what you want to call it) and perverse scenarios to put into words and comment on the strange unwritten rules that seem to uphold our society. She somehow makes something so disgusting into an utterly normal and unproblematic concept; if you try to explain these stories to somehow who hasn’t read them, you’ll probably be labelled psychotic and sent away. She has turned cannibalism into a warm fuzzy blanket and it is both horrific and deeply thought-provoking.

A fair warning that this collection can be extremely disturbing and uncomfortable at times (or most of the time, to be honest) so if you find that the idea of cannibalism or wearing human hair makes you cringe, maybe stay away. I couldn’t even find content warnings on StoryGraph that cover the content of this book.

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henriettta's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

A First-Rate Material: 5/5

A Magnificent Spread: 2/5

A Summer Night’s Kiss: 2.5/5

Two’s Family: 4/5

The Time of the Large Star: 2.5/5

Poochie: 2/5

Life Ceremony: 5/5

Body Magic: 4/5

Lover of the Breeze: 3/5

Puzzle: 2/5

Eating the City: 2.5/5

Hatchling: 4/5

Clean Marriage: 2/5

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ecox180's review against another edition

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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

4.0

Sayaka Murata is the queen of beautifully written, shockingly disturbing magical realism that explores loneliness, societal norms, and what is considered “normal”.

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fox_at_the_circus's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

One of the main themes of this book and all the stories is societal norms and what is considered normal. With some of the stories I really saw the connection to her other two novels. She also likes reusing characters, eg there's a girl that visits her family's house in the countryside in summer in 2 short stories and her book "Earthlings" and there are also two friends that get kinda alternative universe stories.
A lot of her characters go on a journey of self acceptance in one way or another. Some of them have a weird sense of superiority about their way of living, that kinda went against the message of "there is no normal/everyone is weird in their own way", but maybe that's just the other side of the same coin, trying to say, that everyone judges others on their own standards.
Overall, i have mixed feelings about the collection. I really liked some stories, especially the two about Kikue and Yoshiko. Some stories I totally forgot. And some I didn't enjoy reading that much, mostly the ones that focused a bit too much on bodily fluids for my taste. Definitely check the content warnings beforehand.

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cuteling's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

This was the 1st, of the only 3 (the other two being Earthlings and Convenience Store Woman) Sayaka Muratas books translated to english, that i've read.

Life Ceremony is a collection of 13 stories, some shorter - some longer, varying in topics going from furniture out of human remains, cannibalism, keeping a grown man as a pet, inanimate objects having feelings for a human being, obsession with bodily fluids, and overall just crazy and bizarre stories about the society and expectations people have for each other and how brainwashed everyone is.

In most stories there's a weird theme that's considered normal and the standard in that particular chapter and it highlights how society looks down on people that don't fit in or obey and become a "beneficial" part of the society.

I like how the book portrays basically the same message in most of these, because despite being about almost identical issues Sayaka manages to shine light on them in so many different ways and angles that they all feel very distinct.

Overall I recommend this book just would suggest reading it first with the order being
Life Ceremony (it gives you the best idea of what kind of a writer Sayaka Murata is, in my opinion)
-> Convenience Store Woman (shorter, milder compared to the other two, cleanses your pallet)
-> Earthlings (the most disturbing and strange of the three, HUGE TW for: pedophilia, incest, cannibalism, rape, domestic abuse, murder).

There were some stories that i wasn't particularly fond of, either because i didn't like the topic or found it a bit boring. On the other hand there were stories i absolutely adored with my favorite two being Body Magic and Puzzle!
I give it 4.25/5 ★.

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