Reviews with content warning for Infertility - Life Ceremony

Reviews tagging 'Infertility'

Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata

6 reviews

wordsareworlds's review against another edition

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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sarahjroos14's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

3.5

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edgaranjapoe's review

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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

4.25

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yuyuv's review against another edition

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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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kymzii's review against another edition

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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).

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afi_whatafireads's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious reflective relaxing fast-paced

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

5.0

Grotesque. Nauseating. So BLOODY BRILLIANT!

Murata had sealed to be my new favourite author this year.
These collection of short stories are nothing short but UNIQUE and just BRILLIANT . Sad that these are the only books that she’s written so far, but lowkey, Life Ceremony was just a well-curated collection of short stories, that leaves you stupefied, horrified but extremely impressed.

5🌟 (ALL THE STARS IN THE WORLD)

In the collection of 11 short stories from Murata, Life Ceremony caters around the topic of humans subjecting to the word “normal.” Consistent in her tone and way of writing, Murata had wrote a variety of stories that will have you laughing at some, gobsmacked with a few and overall leaving the book just feeling… well.. things :’) Murata has that effect on you and lord do I love her books.

“Normal is a type of madness, isn’t it? I think it’s just that the only madness society allows is called normal.

What made me absolutely in love with Murata is her Writing Style . Murata is consistent in all of her books, with almost a monotonous tone that , when read, it felt that whatever horrendous things that the characters in the book are doing … is well… considered …… normal 😂 It will caught you off guard if you’re not used to her writing, but coming in from Earthlings and CSW, well, we expect nothing less from Murata and that is why she’s a literal queen :’)

I love how she goes against everything and wrote on how humans act if the roles are reversed in this world. In one of the stories Eating The City and A Magnificent Spread , it showed the irony of the human mind in being feeble, especially in following a certain rule. Humans have been trained to follow a certain societal standard that when someone goes against it, they will considered “Weird” and “Different.”

I like how Murata portrays “Normal” is something as a perception of human beings into being able to accept something. The whole book portrays in how the society’s voice impacts an individual’s personality so much, to a point that we often wear masks to ensure that we can be acceptable in society.

While some stories are worth pondering upon, there are some stories like Puzzle which is one of my favs and is one of the most unique stories I’ve read, but lord it was nauseating 😭😭 I almost vomitted at certain parts to how descriptive Murata had wrote certain parts. This particular story had been exceptionally well-written in a sense of exploration of a human body in another perspective. While its absolutely effed up and took a whole weird turn towards the end, it was a story that showed Murata’s strength in writing.

Another of Murata’s strength is being relatable in the most creative way. Life Ceremony , the story that was made the title of the book is by far my favourite story in this book and the longest one as well. It was unique how Murata perceived the concept of “Everlasting Humanity” into something that is (literally) be inserted in a human.

“ The world is but a brilliant mirage, a temporary illusion. I mean, it’s an illusion you can only see now, so how about enjoying it to the full while you can.

An exploration of sexuality, life and pertaining to societal standards, Murata had narrated a collection of short stories that I will remember for a very long time. It’s addicting, weird but super well done. I’m in love.

CW: Cannibalism, Death, Sexual Exploration
(Yes , I know… the content warnings sounds ring bells in showing me being .. well.. but dont be weirded out and try reading this at least once in ur life)

Biggest thank you to @definitelybooks (Pansing Distribution) for this gorgeous copy

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