Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Life Ceremony

Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata

75 reviews

catandherbooks's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

Murata's only gone and did it again!!! She just gets it.

If you're weird and queer and have great taste in books read this!

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lucyduller's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.5

I love a short-story collection; it’s a great way to get to know an author’s style and get vignettes of many different stories. I also really like Sayaka Murata’s novels, in particular the wildly popular Convenience Store Woman, which I highly recommend you read!

This however, was really disappointing. It’s tricky because for many of these stories, I get what she is doing…I think.

I think she’s trying to subvert norms and tell a story from the perspective of a societal outsider. In some cases, I think that worked quite well. The short stories I actually enjoyed were: Hatchling, A Summer Night’s Kiss, Two’s Family, The Time of the Large Star, A Clean Marriage and Body Magic

The rest however were pretty disturbing. Cannibalism, being a human building, an affair with a curtain (yes a literal curtain). Some of them felt like half formed ideas, where the story gave gruesome detail about the weird disturbing parts without the reflection or the zoom out on the bigger picture that makes the story make sense. So for a lot of this book, I had a confused face, as pictured in the post, teehee.

I can confidently say these stories are unlike anything I’ve ever read before. I think it would be interesting for anyone interested in social anthropology to read, but otherwise, I’d recommend skipping this one and read Convenience Store Woman instead. Unless of course you would like to read some disturbing, disgusting, gruesome, odd stories — if that is the case then this collection of short stories is for you!

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nialiversuch's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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ellenisntcool's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I'll write my full thoughts later, right now I have to sit and figure it out

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chubble's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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jamieann123's review against another edition

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Heavy focus on cannibalism and use of human body matter. The writing is incredibly jarring for the subject matter.
Understand this is the aim of the writer but too much for me-and I am usually a fan of horror.

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grunbean's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective sad 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

4.25

A real mix of stories, all weird, all confrontational, all wonderful. If you are uncomfortable with ideas that are a bit gross it could be a challenge to read. I really enjoy ‘weird’ books, and I was hooked on these stories. My favourites were Life Ceremony and Eating The City.

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weirdly_reading's review against another edition

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challenging funny reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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anemosise's review against another edition

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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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aunticles's review against another edition

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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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