Rating: 3.5 stars

I love how whimsical Murata's short stories are and it reminds me of one of her earlier novels, Earthlings. Some of the short stories were forgettable but some stuck out to me. Overall the pacing was well done and the variety of topics presented in these stories were decent.

Thank you NetGalley and Allen and Unwin for the arc. I'm inspired to read the rest of Sayaka Murata's backlog.

Thank you to Net Galley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

As a whole, these stories show what a unique, versatile voice Sayaka Murata is. While I favored some over others, I maintain that her writing is unlike anything else.

A FIRST RATE MATERIAL
This opening story is about a young engaged couple who stand on opposing sides about a social norm. In this world, human remains are repurposed into clothing and furniture, which Naoki finds to be barbaric. Nana, however, isn't so sure and would like to have the status that comes from purchasing such items. I liked the commentary here, as it made me think about why it's so commonplace to use the skin/remains of dead animals, while using human remains is such a taboo, disgusting concept. If you really think about it, both are pretty gross.

A MAGNIFICENT SPREAD
The narrator's strange sister, Kumi, is planning to host her fiance's parents for the first time. And, in doing so, has every intention of preparing them food from the magical world of Dundilas, where she claims to have lived in another life. The narrator is skeptical of this, but has no real room to judge, as she and her husband eat exclusively from an online food store called Happy Future Foods, which produces "healthy" meals (that resemble space food). The fiance's parents also bring their own contributions, an assortment of bugs from the country. The fiance has his own agenda, exclusively indulging in fatty foods and soda pop. Each person finds the others' offerings to be gross. The question that's posed is -- is it better to respectfully allow everyone to separately eat what they'd like to eat OR is the ideal a fusion of each culture's foods?

A SUMMER NIGHT'S KISS
This one was short and sweet (though it left me wanting a bit more). It's about two elderly women who are friends, despite living as polar opposites. Their common ground is that both exist outside of societal conventions (given one's a nymphomaniac and the other's a virgin with two kids produced through artificial insemination). Love the shades of difference juxtaposed here.

TWO'S FAMILY
Same characters as the previous story with some minor adjustments. This time, we find Kikue and Yoshiko living as platonic life partners. Something very heartwarming about seeing the love between friends represented on the same scale as family and romantic partners. These last two have been very sweet.

THE TIME OF THE LARGE STAR
This one was short and promising. Would have liked to see it developed further. It revolved around a city in which no one sleeps and everyone seems to be anti-sun (aside from the young boy and girl featured).

POOCHIE
This one was weird. Two school-aged children adopt a "pet"... only the pet turns out to be a burned out, middle-aged business man, seemingly attempting to escape whatever tasks he's been assigned. Not really sure what the point is here, other than (possibly) corporate jobs turn people into mindless drones? Seems like it checks out.

LIFE CEREMONY
I had absolutely no idea what the title story of this collection would contain, but... even if I had guessed? I would've been wrong. Suddenly the book cover makes a whole lot more sense!

"Life Ceremony" is wild and gross and engaging, all at once. It depicts a society in which the human population is quickly dwindling (for reasons not specified). As a result, societal norms and rituals have shifted. Instead of funerals, people host "life ceremonies" for the dead, in which they prepare and feast on the corpse. And sex has been recoined "insemination," only occurring (during/after these life ceremonies) with the purpose of repopulating.

One of my favorite moments in the story was between the narrator and a man she encounters on a nearby beach:

"The world is changing so fast I no longer know what's right or wrong."

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

We see Murata contrasting human behavior with that of animals (or... insects, given the explicit mention of cockroaches). Wild (and disturbing) to see what society could resort to if they stripped themselves of human emotions and began acting as so many other species do.

BODY MAGIC
Not my favorite, but I can recognize the importance of the themes (even if the execution was a bit strange). This one's about bodily agency in conjunction with embracing one's own sexuality. While I think there's something to be said about sex positivity (and steering away from slut shaming), there were definitely some uncomfortable aspects to this. There appears to be a loose connection to Earthlings (though I haven't read that one yet).

LOVER ON THE BREEZE
Well, I said, "these stories can't get any more bizarre" and Sayaka Murata said, "bet." This one's about not just one person that has sex with a curtain, but two! Suffice to say, this story went over my head.

PUZZLE
Thematically, this reminded me of Convenience Store Woman, but it was framed much differently. Sanae struggles with being human -- even the most basic human functions feel forced and unnatural. The world becomes more comprehensible to her when she looks at her fellow humans as "parts" (or organs) of the larger city.

As a warning, this features a lot of gross references to bodily functions and fluids. That aside, it was an interesting concept.

EATING THE CITY
This one seems to be pretty widely beloved, based on the reviews I've looked at. But, it wasn't really my speed. Once again, we're given some commentary about what's "normal" to consume. In this case, a woman begins foraging plants to feel closer with nature. While it was not my favorite story from this collection, I still appreciate the originality:

"If they tried it, the memories of the wild rooted in their flesh would come back to them, and they would discover that eating the city like this would connect the earth between the gaps in the concrete and their own body."

HATCHLING
Strong story to end on. Murata explores the way our surroundings seem to shape the personas we take on (sometimes to the point where we seem to lose ourselves). Haruka shifts who she is depending on which group she's around. And these different aspects of her personality are magnified and defining, making her true self indistinguishable. So many poignant lines here.

Thank you, NetGalley for providing me an ARC.

In these strange and wonderful stories of family and friendship, sex and intimacy, belonging and individuality, Murata asks above all what it means to be a human in our world and offers answers that surprise and linger.

I previously read her work and still am amazed by her mind. definitely a must-read.

3.5. I love murata but only a few of these stories really stood out. Still very weird and fun and I will continue to consume anything of hers that is translated.

I was given an advanced copy to review by NetGalley
I expected creepy, uncomfortable, unnerving short stories as like with EARTHLINGS and this did not disappoint
Sayaka has a way of just making you feel weird for liking her writing and being gripped by the stories and I just love it
She explores what is a normal society, taboos and expect each short story to be unexpected

"Life Ceremony", by Sayaka Murata, translated from Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori, is Murata's first short story collection available to English readers.

The collection is comprised of twelve stories, all dealing with characters acting in ways deemed abnormal by society. Some of the societies portrayed though do not resemble current societies anywhere, as things like cannibalism and recycling human bones, are things considered normal. Murata uses dark humor and satire to signal at how absurd it is to expect people to always conform to societal norms, and how the sudden shifting of these norms can affect humanity. My personal favorites were "A First-Rate Material", a story about a couple planning on decorating their home, who cannot see eye to eye on using furniture and accesories made of human bodies, the title story, "Life Ceremony", a story set in a world where upon death, the family of the deceased hold a very bizzare life ceremony to honor the person who has passed away, and "Body Magic", the story most reminiscent of "Earthlings".

If this is a first encounter with Murata's writing, some ideas will definitely shock and come across as eccentric. For those familiar with Murata's previously translated works though, there is nothing really surprising or shocking in these stories. That is not to say that they are not enjoyable for seasoned and unseasoned readers alike. Personally though, as a big fan of "Earthlings", published in 2020 in English, I felt a bit underwhelmed, as I recognized a lot of the themes from the stories. I do think that for readers who haven't read any of Murata's works, this is a great starting place, as it explores the themes she circles back to in her writing, like alienation from society, the hypocrisy of societal norms and expectations, and the price for defying them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the e-arc. All opinions are my own. "Life Ceremony" has been available to English readers since July 2022.

I loved Convenience Store Woman and I liked Earthlings - but mostly liked it in the same way that you like hearing distressing gossip. Like, it's awful and terrible and yet you need more, you know? Life Ceremony was a bit in between. It's got some quirky stories that are just intriguing and weird and astute commentary on societal norms. But then, there are just plain weird ones. The overarching themes are clear and I can appreciate what I grasped from this book though it could sometimes be a bit much.

How much cannibalism is too much cannibalism?

Is it two stories out of a whole collection of stories? Is it a whole collection of short stories that can be tied to cannibalism in some way or another? Is it two whole books by the same author dedicated to how amazing cannibalism would be?

I don't know where that line is, but Murata ran passed it and then ran a marathon.

The stories are good and will make you question social mores, especially anything taboo. I don't think anyone can write a story that both pushes the reader's comfort AND tells a wholesome story. There's nothing shocking or tragic. Nothing that will turn your stomach or make you want to take a shower after reading. There are beautiful stories containing deep emotional connections between people . . . through cannibalism.

I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

These bizar short stories turn the world upside down to make us question the things we think of as normal. Murata takes something outlandish, often some disgusting behaviour (e.g. eating humans instead of burying them after they die and then find a partner to inseminate...) and then zooms in on the single remaining person who also finds this crazy, but then slowly gets convinced that maybe it's not all that strange.

I usually lose interest when things get too unrealistic, but because the writing (and translation) is so good and the stories relatively short, I found myself willing to go along. I enjoyed it more than expected (and actually had the same experience with her previous two novels Convenience Store Woman and, to a lesser extent, Earthlings).

3,5 rounded up

Sayaka Murata’s Life Ceremony, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori, is a wildly imaginative and chilling short story collection about loners and outcasts. Once again, Murata writes about non-conformity and once again she does it in her unique subversive style. She presents us with a world turned on its head, where what we accept today, is outlandish tomorrow.

These stories present an alternate reality. From stories about recycling human remains, to funerals where the celebrants are expected to pair off and procreate, this book forces us to question our norms.

Murata is one of several emerging Japanese authors who are challenging gender roles, marriage, motherhood and sexuality, as well as the complicity of women in adhering to these constraints. Murata does it deftly with dark humor and absurd scenarios. She confronts the outsider narrative in the same straightforward and unflinching manner that Mieko Kawakami does in Heaven.

The subject of conformity brings to mind Japan’s submission to the Academy Awards this year. Chie Hayakawa’s movie Plan 75 is about senior citizens who are encouraged and incentivized to be euthanized. Hayakawa, Murata, Kawakami and the others call our attention to the alarming consequences of conformity.

Murata’s stories aren’t all even or equally good, but they are all straightforward. There is no need to guess what Murata thinks about society. As the stranger says to Maho at the end of the titular story:

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

For true Murata fans, this collection is a must, but where Convenience Store Woman handled the themes with a light touch, Life Ceremony and Earthlings have a much bolder, in some cases repulsive, approach. Readers of Convenience Store Woman should be warned, as I also mentioned in my review of Murata’s Earthlings, that this book is not for everyone. It is thought-provoking, unique and unpredictable, but it is also disturbing at times. Murata is evolving into an author with a clear message and will stop at nothing to get it across.

The Granta edition of Life Ceremony includes “A Clean Marriage,” previously published in Granta issue 127 on April 24, 2014. The absence of this story in the Grove Press edition is a great loss since it is a precursor to recurring themes in Murata’s novels.

Ginny Tapley Takemori delivers another beautiful crisp translation. Isn’t the sign of a great translation one that is transparent and allows the author’s prose to come through while respecting the complexities and subtleties of the two languages? Takemori does a superb job of allowing Murata’s elegant lean prose to shine through.

Life Ceremony is an addictive read. It is disruptive, haunting and thought-provoking. Murata deals in extremes and it is here where her point comes across most clearly. Through her absurd scenarios, it is impossible not to recognize that accepted morals are random constructs and may need to be questioned regularly.

These stories entertained me and made me think. They were also unsettling. But what’s a little discomfort in exchange for an important lesson?

This review was posted on BooksonAsia.net by Tina deBellegarde

When I read Convenience Store Woman a few years ago I couldn’t get enough of Murata’s writing. I’m a big fan of short stories, so I was excited to read this book. This is only my second book by Murata and I learned very quickly that I had no idea what I was in for and it was marvelous. Murata does an incredible job of exploring themes of individuality and alienation in the modern world. Life Ceremony turns the world on its head, presenting bizarre people, situations, and societies that are both familiar and utterly foreign. The themes in every story both analyze and challenge commonly accepted traditions and social conventions.

I wrote some notes about my thoughts on each story, avoiding spoilers:

•A First-Rate Material: This story starts the collection off with a heavy ethical question regarding humanity’s ceremonies surrounding death. Life-saving organ transplants are commonly accepted in the West but in countries like Japan, it is seen as sacrilegious. Murata skillfully takes this debate a step further in this story while highlighting the borderline terrifying ways that things are increasingly commodified in capitalist societies.

•A Magnificent Spread: Was much lighter in tone and it made me smile. The story dissects the ceremony of food and the cultural significance of what we eat. Food is a great equalizer and a great way to interact with other cultures. The story could be repetitive and spends a little too long explaining certain characters’ food choices, but the payoff at the end was well worth it, the ending scenes honestly made me laugh out loud.

•A Summer Night’s Kiss: A short and sweet story about two aging friends that take an evening stroll. One a virgin, the other a nymphomaniac. I fell in love with Yoshiko and Kikue’s friendship in just a few pages.

•Two’s Family: Features the same little ladies from the previous story but remixed a little. I loved the unconventional family, it was absolutely beautiful. Excellent asexual representation.

•The Time of the Large Star: A tiny story about one of my favorite things – sleep, or the lack thereof. A strangely dreamy little short.

•Poochie: The story follows two school girls that take care of an unusual pet. It was so absurd and I honestly couldn’t stop laughing.

•Life Ceremony: This was a long one but honestly one of the best, it makes sense why it ended up being the titular story to the collection. The story centers on a career woman uncomfortable with the shift in cultural issues to sex, family dynamics, funerals, and the consumption of human flesh after a severe drop in the human population. I know that sentence sounds absolutely bonkers and it is, but it is a surprisingly meditative story about the birth and life cycle. There is a lot to unpack with this story honestly, and it is certainly a more extreme version of the current birth and family crisis happening in Japan.

•Body Magic: A thoughtful piece about teenage sexuality. I appreciated that the story distinguishes between sex and sensuality.

•Lover on the Breeze: This story was quirky but charming, about a teenage girl’s first boyfriend and her jealous childhood curtain.

•Puzzle: Sanae is a well-liked office worker that suffers from a form of extreme body alienation. The contrast between her inner and outer worlds is frankly disturbing and disorienting to read. This was a much darker story that borders on body horror, it was an intense and uncomfortable read, but I was captivated.

•Eating the City: An office worker that hates vegetables finds herself homesick for the fresh produce and foragables she grew up with in the countryside. This story brought up some interesting points about the types of foods deemed acceptable by society and particularly the practice of foraging. Like some of the other stories in this collection, the main character’s radical shift in worldview borders on insanity.

•Hatchling: This was such the perfect story to end the collection on. It was both relatable and utterly silly and feels like the plot of an anime or comedy drama. A woman adjusts her personality to fit in with the people around her, gradually developing “characters” throughout her life. She finds herself in a bit of a pickle once she becomes engaged to be married, and doesn’t know “who” to be. This was honestly a spectacular story about the different ways that people can perceive you as a person, and the natural desire to mold ourselves to the people around us.

Of the collection, it is honestly hard to pick my favorite, because I could appreciate almost all of them. Short story collections can be difficult to rate because the stories are either too samey or they are so different that there isn’t a nice flow. The collection is raucous and hard to define, transcending most genres. I know that not everyone that enjoyed Convenience Store Woman will necessarily like this book, as it very often veered into the grotesque and it will definitely be an uncomfy read. I ended up loving it though and even bumped my overall reading up because I simply enjoyed having a story that felt fresh and new each time I finished and moved to the next one. This is the second Murata book that has been a smash hit for me and I couldn’t be happier.

I love Sayaka Murata's books and was very happy when I was approved with the arc! The book consists of different short stories which are dealing with the same idea that goes as a thread through the whole book. I did enjoy the book, however from time to time it was a little bit disturbing to read and you definitely should not read it if you are have just eaten.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the arc e-copy in exchange for honest review!

My first try of this author and it won't be the last. I'm trying to think if I've read anything like this before and I can't think of anything.
There are 12 stories in this collection and I would say all of them are aimed at making the reader feel uncomfortable. Murata takes the weirdest concepts and runs them to the full extent. Some really worked for me(like the title story "Life Ceremony" and the last story "Hatchling") while others did not("Poochie" and "Puzzle"). I guess what I gathered in all of them in terms of themes are 2 things. Firstly, mind your own business. As a society, we love to tell people what to do, to ostracize those that do not fit the "norm". There was a cute story about different food preferences people have and it sums up this idea perfectly. Like, if you want to eat roasted cockroaches,you do you, honey,as long as you don't make me eat them we're good. Just because you like something doesn't mean you should push it on others or judge others for being different from you. And secondly, the theme of normality. That was very clear and if I wasn't lazy I would find a direct quote from the book but oh well lol. Normalcy is just a type of madness that is accepted in society but it is not set in stone. Something we consider normal now wasn't acceptable 100 years ago and might be considered mad in another 100 years. If you want to fit in - do that,if you don't want- then don't, but it should be based on your decision, not on social norms.
That being said I still don't get what Poochie or Puzzle were about.
Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I became fascinated with Sayaka Murata’s way of seeing the world after reading her breakout hit, Convenience Store Woman. I was eager to pick up her new collection of short stories, Life Ceremony, and was surprised by its fresh, unique content. This collection features the bizarre and taboo, and contains the most unsettling, unconventional stories I have ever read.

A First Rate- Material: **** In a world where humans are manufactured after death into a variety of textiles and household goods, a soon-to-be bride contends with her future husband’s wishes that she not purchase human products. It took me several paragraphs to grasp that I was not reading an ordinary story (I actually Googled human hair sweaters thinking, “Is this really a thing?!) The thought of wearing a human tooth wedding ring or sitting underneath a fingernail chandelier at a rib cage table is enough to send chills down your spine while reading this unsettling story of a black market world come to life in an alternate form.

A Magnificent Spread: *** A woman, who subsists on the Happy Future Food her husband adores, helps her sister prepare a high-stakes meal based on her sister’s childhood fantasies for her fiancé’s family with potentially disastrous results. This strange story highlights how varied and personal eating habits and choices are, and celebrates a person’s right to eat what they choose.

A Summer Night’s Kiss: *** Two elderly women, polar opposites, go on an evening stroll musing on their striking differences and cherishing their roles in each other’s lives. After reading the first two stories, I expected some sort of unusual element to be involved in this story but there wasn’t. However, it was entirely too short and was over before I could really settle in and enjoy it.

Two’s Family: *** In an alternate world, the two elderly women from A Summer Night’s Kiss lead a different sort of life when they agree to move in together, never having married by the age of 30, and raise a family as friends. This story deals with a cancer diagnosis and the struggles that two straight women raising a family together ultimately face when others start peering into their lives.

The Time of the Large Star: *** A young girl and her dad move to a new country where its residents never sleep but don’t take advantage of the day’s full 24 hours because they don’t venture out when the “large star,” the sun, is out. This story had an interesting concept, but was much too short to explore the intriguing aspects of this strange country’s customs.

Poochie: *** In this brief vignette, two school-aged girls adopt and keep a very unlikely pet in a shed behind their school. This was an incredibly strange story considering that the pet in question is actually a grown man who appears to have run away from his previous life as a businessman and would rather live contentedly as a dog. I found this story to be pretty unsettling and kept expecting something sinister to happen, but the tale ended abruptly before the plot could really be developed.

Life Ceremony: **** In a world hopefully never to be manifested, the Earth’s population has dwindled, leading people to resort to Life Ceremonies upon one’s death. At a Life Ceremony, the deceased are cooked into a meal and enjoyed by their loved ones, who then couple off to procreate in an act no longer called sex, but insemination. Life begets life, and all of that. This has to be, hands down, one of the most bizarre and disturbing stories I have ever read. Very curious concept, but very hard to read.

Body Magic: *** Young girls explore their sexuality and experience awakening in this unusual coming-of-age story. This story is all about sex, but is not described typically. Body Magic is graphic in its own way, pushing things to a different kind of extreme, making you question what you are reading.

Lover on the Breeze: **** An anthropomorphic curtain watches the girl who resides in its room come of age. This was a wholly original story that took me by surprise. The curtain observes its owner’s life and relationship, longing to be part of the human world.

Puzzle: *** A woman who does not look at herself as being human, navigates the world with a strange POV, obsessed with the visceral things that make others alive. I thought for sure it was going to be revealed that Sanae was a robot, and I was all in for that to be the case, but instead it seems as if she is very much human and just operating on a whole different level than the rest of us.

Eating the City: **** A woman turned off by the unsavory natural fare at her local grocery, takes to collecting and cooking plants found around Tokyo in a tribute to visiting her grandmother in the mountains as a child. This touching story invokes feelings of looking at the world around you with new eyes and making the most of what nature gives us.

Hatchling: **** Attempting to reconcile her various personas before her wedding when everyone who has ever known her will come together, a woman struggles to find one true identity. Hatchling probably rang more true than any of Murata’s stories in this collection. How often throughout our lives do we change who we are to fit in?

I've been reading this book for a while now. Since February, to be honest. I asked for it because I was super curious and excited to finally read something from Sayaka Murata and it is as good as a hoped. Unfortunately, I wasn’t expecting the number of triggers on her short stories (I’m mean, some of them go up to cannibalism!) and as thought the critics are great – on the second short story she goes to a place I love: food and culture and individual/collective choices, for example, and it moved me in so many ways – I’m not able to finish the other half of the book right now and I don’t know when or if I will, so I’ll not be providing a full feedback on it.

This is a mind-boggling, weird and wonderful collection of short stories and I really enjoyed it. We have a story told from the point of view of a curtain, a soon-to-be married woman who can't understand why her fiance doesn't want their wedding list to be full of furniture made out of people, a woman who thinks she's a robot and many more. My personal favourites were the titular Life Ceremony, which was very strange but also quite poignant and sweet, A Magnificent Spread, which was funny and unpleasant in equal measure and Poochie, which was just downright disturbing. There is a real blend of surrealism, horror and slice of life in this collection and I think it is my favourite of her books so far. I will definitely continue to pick up anything Murata puts out and would recommend this to anyone with a love of the weird.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review,

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for this good read. If you went into this short story collection and did not expect weird, what did you expect? This is the author of the well known novel, The Convenience Store Woman which was so weird and funny so I knew going into to. this, it would be the same. But weird in a way that you need to think as you read because it had a greater depth too.

Good read. Thanks!

Overall I enjoyed this collection of short stories. I usually read to escape or for entertainment and am not historically a fan of short stories, but these are really weird concepts that made me pause and think. I liked getting a behind-the-scenes look into someone else (the author) exploring deep into their own musings.
The three stories that stand out to me are A First-Rate Material, Life Ceremony, and Hatchling. A First-Rate Material is about a future where all body parts are used when someone dies (skin into clothes, bones into jewelry, fingernails into chandeliers, etc). The only other body of work to creep me out as delightfully were the Dexter books. Life Ceremony explores what it would be like to make sex a public occurrence, especially at funerals. A First-Rate Material is something I think everyone can relate to: how we act differently around different groups of people.
I was given a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The formatting of this ebook was so messed up it made it hard for me to focus on the story, the line breaks were all over the place. I only read half of these stories before I decided that the book just was not for me. I really liked one but found the others to be confusing and unsettling and not in a way I enjoyed. I did not finish this book. Ebook errors aside, the writing has the same other worldly perspective I loved in this author's other book but the subjects were so focused on human consumption I felt sick. I was totally unprepared for the content of these stories, and I found the themes to be interesting but the actual writing to be so off-putting that it's in my best interest not to finish. I am sorry to be unable to give a full review of this book, I hope that it finds the audience it deserves out in the wild!

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the advanced copy of this book, I will not be sharing a review on any other platforms. Since I did not read the entire book that would feel dishonest.