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mementomoriiv's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
4.75
Murata uses extreme imagery to explore modern relationships of the body and family, ritual, food, and sex. It's very well written and well imagined.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism and Sexual content
Moderate: Vomit and Excrement
eohzy's review against another edition
challenging
funny
reflective
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? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism
Moderate: Vomit and Excrement
Minor: Incest
Not for the squeamish!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!
If you're weird and queer and have great taste in books read this!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Excrement, Vomit, and Blood
lucyduller's review against another edition
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Stalking, Excrement, Incest, Sexual content, and Cannibalism
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia
Minor: Death, Sexual assault, and Excrement
grunbean's review against another edition
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.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Death of parent, Ableism, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Vomit, Sexual content, Mental illness, Medical content, and Body horror
lidia7's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
very gross and disturbing
i enjoyed these stories the most: Body Magic, Hatchling
i enjoyed these stories the most: Body Magic, Hatchling
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Cannibalism, Excrement, Vomit, and Body horror
Moderate: Stalking, Death, Death of parent, Medical content, Animal death, Cancer, and Sexual content
Minor: Cultural appropriation, Eating disorder, and Incest
m4rtt4's review against another edition
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
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!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Cannibalism, Death, Sexual content, Excrement, and Body horror
Moderate: Incest, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Lesbophobia, and Vomit
cuteling's review against another edition
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 ★.
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 ★.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Eating disorder, Incest, Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Excrement, Cannibalism, Stalking, Vomit, and Medical trauma
annagerman's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
Sayaka Murata's mind is such a wonderfully wierd place, like a parallel universe that is close to ours but utterly disfigured, situated somewhere in uncanny valley.
Murata creates such bizzare and grotesque scenes, but with such ease and clarity, it's dissorienting.
I love her unique views on the subjectivity of morality and normalcy, human interactions and the weight of societal expectations.
My favorite stories were First-rate material, Eating the city and Hatchling. There were a couple more that were interesting or though-provoking. But as is expected in a collection of short stories, a few others just fell flat.
Usually what bugs me about short stories is that there is no time to develop the characters and explore deeper ideas. But with Murata, the abstract concepts and questions play a bigger part than the actual characters. Her characters are so bizzare and intense, that their belief system basicly defines them. So it actually works fine even in short story format.
Murata creates such bizzare and grotesque scenes, but with such ease and clarity, it's dissorienting.
I love her unique views on the subjectivity of morality and normalcy, human interactions and the weight of societal expectations.
My favorite stories were First-rate material, Eating the city and Hatchling. There were a couple more that were interesting or though-provoking. But as is expected in a collection of short stories, a few others just fell flat.
Usually what bugs me about short stories is that there is no time to develop the characters and explore deeper ideas. But with Murata, the abstract concepts and questions play a bigger part than the actual characters. Her characters are so bizzare and intense, that their belief system basicly defines them. So it actually works fine even in short story format.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Vomit, and Excrement
edgaranjapoe's review
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, Cannibalism, Sexual content, and Gore
Moderate: Death, Incest, Alcohol, and Vomit
Minor: Cancer, Acephobia/Arophobia, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Excrement, Homophobia, Stalking, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Animal death, and Blood