A review by ellaellaellaetc
Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata

2.75

this was a bit silly and imo a waste of time and money. I think sayaka murata was advised to capitalise on her current success by putting out something/anything and the result was her putting a bunch of random stuff together that she didn't really care for. sorry but it's true. some of these stories had such great potential like the titular "life ceremony", the first story "a first-rate material" and the final story "a clean marriage" were all quite good, I could see them being expanded on in a full novel or novella but they also work as short stories and give you a lot to ponder. a lot of the other stories on the other hand, did not feel the same. rather than being short stories, they felt like ideas that she couldn't be bothered to finish. most of the longer stories felt really fleshed out and interesting and I can see the point of, but all of the shorter works (some of these "short stories" were like 2 or 3 pages long) just seemed like her notes app od potential ideas rather than completed flash fiction/short stories. i wouldn't really recommend you purchasing this like I did but if you want to borrow my copy I can tab the stories actually worth reading because when the stories are good, they're very good. idk I guess I have to rate this. 2.75 cause that's like smack in the middle?? idk.