Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata

11 reviews

shuvtterbug's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

I genuinely enjoyed this so much and I do think it may be because of how partial I am towards Sayaka Murata and her writing style. While certain stories were a bit eerie they evoked such a strong emotion in me. It’s hard for me to stop reading with Murata’s works. I especially felt that the story hatchling was one I related to the most. While I feel that there’s a real me I often am unsure of which this one is. I encourage anyone to take a stab at at least one of these short stories if not the entire collection.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Cancer, Violence, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Alcohol, and Stalking

maggieoc_x's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny medium-paced

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

3.0

Sayaka Murata is one weird girl....I like her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cannibalism, and Sexual content

Moderate: Death and Vomit

Minor: Animal death, Alcohol, and Stalking

farenmaddox's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

A brilliant short story collection, although I found a couple of the stories a little tepid. The titular story was spectacular.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, and Cannibalism

Minor: Alcohol, Cancer, and Pregnancy

biobeetle's review

hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Death and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual content

nialiversuch's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gore, Medical content, Mental illness, Abandonment, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Bullying, Cannibalism, Pregnancy, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

risemini's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Alcohol, Blood, and Death

akira_outofthegravity's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

A series of short stories that have the same themes of Convenience Store Woman but with added fuckery. 

As someone who is an asexual lesbian I didn’t find a lot of the stories particularly disturbing, maybe that’s the point, but a lot of people found this to be crazy weird and while it was definitely that, it wasn’t as weird as I’d thought.

As in Convenience Store Woman, Murata talks about asexuality, aromanticism, life, sex, and the idea of not fitting into society. I enjoyed this collection! 

The highlights were:
Life Ceremony
Hatchling
A clean marriage
Two’s family
Poochie

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Cannibalism, and Confinement

Moderate: Death, Gore, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Stalking, Medical content, and Incest

Minor: Alcohol

A lot of talk about semen.

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

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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

yuyuv's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism

Moderate: Incest, Infertility, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Alcohol, Body horror, Homophobia, Eating disorder, Lesbophobia, Gore, Death, Dysphoria, and Acephobia/Arophobia

withlivjones's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.5

This is a really interesting and unusual collection of short stories that celebrate weirdness. There were definitely a few that fell a bit flat for me but the ones that don’t - especially the stories that follow the central theme of food - are absolutely fantastic, bizarre and toe-curling. My favourites out of the collection are “A Magnificent Spread”, “Hatchling”, “Eating the City” and the titular “Life Ceremony”. This book is perfect for newcomers to short stories and avid readers alike, especially if you enjoy horror or stories that will make you say “what the hell did I just read?” 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism

Moderate: Gore, Medical content, Vomit, Death, and Alcohol

Minor: Stalking