Reviews with content warning for Body horror - Life Ceremony

Anthology. As all collections there are some stories that stand out more than others. I enjoyed this a lot! ☺️

While I found this incredibly enjoyable, I would recommend that readers new to Sayaka Murata start with her novel Convenience Store Woman rather than this anthology.

Like all of Sayaka Murata's works, these stories challenge our ideas about taboo and social norms. If you read and enjoyed Convenience Store Woman you'll have an idea but it's even closer to Earthlings. There's a lot of taking that idea of being an outcast for one reason or another and pushing that to an 11 for exploration.

Stories are shocking and funny at the same time!

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maddierosiec's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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gia0203's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I absolutely love sayaka murata and her writing style. life ceremony thematically is very similar to earthlings. they both explore society’s expectations, sexuality, and the body (particularly relating to food and hunger). personally, I enjoyed every story, which is rare for me in a short story collection. I found the book endearing and grotesque and oddly moving… I think I just enjoy her writing so much because I view the world in the same way she does. murata delights in exploring the unconventional, however discomfiting it may be.

consciously or not, her narratives echo the neurodivergent and queer experience. it’s very comforting to live in the minds of characters who don’t fit in.

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afternoonlight's review against another edition

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dark funny fast-paced

weird, often disgusting, but surprisingly funny.

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wordsareworlds's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional medium-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

3.5

A solid anthology, Murata uses a lot of extremely weird and unsettling elements as a way to comment on life and society. I enjoyed it, but felt like some of the stories were really heavy handed in their commentary, rather than letting the reader infer anything.

Not all the stories were weird in a body horror/dealing with mortality way. One was about a love triangle between a girl, her boyfriend, and a sentient curtain hanging in her room, and I did really enjoy that one. My favorite overall was Puzzle. None of them were a complete miss, but there was one (or two nested together) about the ways the relationship between two women could have gone that were the most "normal" but also the least interesting in how they flowed with the rest of the anthology.

There are elements of gender essentialism I find on par with most other Japanese literature I've read, but I don't think it really veers into anti-queer or anti-trans sentiment.

I'd recommend this to people who are looking for the literary version of Black Mirror that deals with society and mortality using bodies and extreme personalities instead of technology.

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jasminrain's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.0

This is easily one of the strangest books I've read in my life. The content of the stories and where they are heading is completely unexpected and their content varies from reflective pieces to some of the most bizarre literature I have come across. There are absolutely amazing stories that break the boundaries of imagination, but also quite a few stories that just make you go "meh". I enjoyed parts of it but I don't think I'll return to the author.

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serenspace's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.25

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badlucklaura's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny fast-paced

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

4.0

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