Weird

Murata's stories explores our relationship with food, family, friends by introducing new concepts and then opens our eyes to possible interpretations. My initial reaction to most of these new introductions was queasiness than an appreciation.

Murata picks up 'normal' and changes it. We make normal, acceptable but creating an acceptable story about it. So as long as the 'story' holds up the normal continues. Once that changes then all doors are open.

the stories were interesting and otherworldly but i did not enjoy much of the writing style and sometimes the stories were too radical to the point that they were disgusting. they were different from murata's convenience store woman which had a much more brighter tone, after some time, each story became predictable because they were presenting a societal problem in a repetitive way. however, i enjoyed it nonetheless.

From the author who brought us “Earthlings” and “Convenience Store Woman” is this collection of short stories.
I haven’t read her work before, so I thought short stories would be a good place to start as I had heard the writing can be a bit challenging. Like all good short story collections, there is a theme which they are built around.

I think I’d describe this theme as - pushing the boundaries of accepted norms and asking ‘why not?’. There’s a story about using human bodies to spruce up our houses and wardrobes - jumpers from human hair, chandeliers from ribs and jewellery from fingernails. Another story explores what it would look like if we ate the people we know after death, as a show of respect and celebration. Murata tells the story from the point of view of a right hand side curtain in a teenaged girl’s bedroom, in another story.

They are all fascinating, and somewhat gruesome - I found myself wanting to look away or cover my eyes at some spots while reading, which is obviously not the same as when you’re watching a TV show or film. I did like them though, I thought they were interesting and have found myself thinking about some of the stories in the time since I finished the book.

I also think the exploration of those questions is really interesting. Why is it horrible to think of our loved ones being useful after death, of living on as shoulder blade book ends?

Recommended for fans of Sayaka Murata, of course, and it made me think of the satirical essay from Jonathan Swift - tongue in cheek, of course, and making a different point but somehow the same light challenge and teasing wink.

Thanks to netgalley and to Grove Atlantic for the DRC - this is available to buy 5th July, 2022.

trigger warning
<spoiler> cannibalism, underage sex </spoiler>

A woman who is disgusted by vegetables starts foraging for weeds in Tokyo. Two schoolgirls talk about sex. A curtain tells a story.

This is the third book I tried by this author and I guess I should stop trying. We don't get along well.
For the main chunk of this book I had the impression that the author did not neccessarily tell a story but share a certain idea, and preferrably disgust the reader while being at it. Body fluids play a big role, in all their shapes and forms.

Some stories read to me like a psychotic episode glorified as thinking outside of the box.
Only with the last story I felt like there was a point to this - and here comes the huge but: If you liked Sayaka Murata's previous book, please go and look at different reviews because as I said, I did not get along with those, either.

I dislike this so much I forced myself to read it in one go because there is no way I would have picked this up again.

The arc was provided by the publisher.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC for an exchange for an honest review.

Very infesting, I enjoyed reading this book.

Does anyone write about alienation better than Sayaka Murata? The protagonists of Life Ceremony feel alienation from society not because they are flawed, but because customary methods of connectivity aren’t universal. Murata insists that meaningful connection between people is defined by people, and can exist outside of tradition, custom, society, etc. And if this sounds simple, reading any story in this collection will provide a new lens to the surreality of disconnect that we all experience to some degree. Murata’s brand of surrealism is unlike any other. In one of my favorite stories, “Puzzle”, a woman feels so disconnected from people that she identifies more with the gray buildings that comprise her physical landscape than she does the individuals within it. It is only until she recontextualizes buildings as things built by and for people, things informed by people, that she is able to understand herself as something connected to people. As she starts to perceive individuals as different organs moving in and out of bodies (buildings) others begin to notice her connecting to them as she hadn’t been able to before. The stories in Life Ceremony praise forms of connection that are born from the experience of alienation. A thesis for Murata’s philosophy might best be pulled from the story “Body Magic”, where a young girl reflects on her and her peers developing understanding of sexuality. “We were still in danger of being easily knocked down by strong words or diminished by values created by the adults who ruled the world. Each time, we had to make our bodies our own.” Reading Murata, we are better equipped to do just that.

I loved this collection of essays. I always find it difficult to review essay collections without droning on forever, as to review each individual story is a bit tedious. These stories carry Murata's usual charm and quirkiness, with such creative premises and leaving the reader with much to ponder. I loved each of the stories, but especially the first one for how creative it was. I highly recommend this collection to anyone who is a fan of Murata's previous work, or people who enjoy speculative and/or literary fiction.

sayaka murata questions the norm of society by painting gruesome and unnerving realities that manage to be both relatable and a possible prediction for our near future. each unique story runs on the same theme of conformity and feeling alienated by society, and seemingly ends without proper resolutions — perhaps serving as a reflection on the uncertainty of humanity. however, considering the structure of short stories, it does at times feel a bit contrived and redundant. nevertheless, there's a lot to be appreciated with the collection, especially if you're a fan of the likes of murata, ottessa moshfegh and melissa broder who use the weird and gruesome to make profound observations on life.

<blockquote>“Instinct doesn't exist. Morals don't exist. They were just fake sensibilities that came from a world that was constantly transforming.”</blockquote>

VERY thankful to NetGalley and Grove Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I must start by stating that this is my first Sayaka Murata book. As any other author that I read for the first time, prior reading this book I was filled with all the expectations and/or reviews I had read from other readers but not my own. I guess this is normal. Regarding her writing, I was expecting something so gross and horrible that I would never want to take a look at it ever again. But that was not the case at ALL. Do not get me wrong, this collection displays short stories that are indeed very gross and uncomfortable but in a exceptionally subtle and smart way. It is not just a bunch of disgusting things that are put in there in order to gross you out or make you cringe. Also, all the characters are FEMALE and they go through provocative situations that are narrated in such a detailed and magnificent style that I have rarely seen on this genre. It is just so unique and I love it. Besides, the way that every story is filled with this...existentialist body horror???!!!!! I am in love. Please, you have to read this collection...trust me.

After reading both of Murata’s novels translated into english, I was so excited to see she had a short story collection coming out! The stories here explore similar themes to her previous works including bodies, sexuality, societal expectations, womanhood, belonging and feeling different in the world.

Straight from the first story we’re plunged into Murata’s imagination and use of the grotesque with one of my favourite stories, ‘A First Rate Material’, in which we follow a couple who are engaged and live in a world where humans body parts are reused and remade into things like clothing, furniture and jewellery once they die. The female main character and her friend kind of indulge in the expensive sweaters made of human hair, lampshades made from fingernails, bones and teeth for jewellery etc but her husband-to-be finds the idea completely repulsive. This story was the perfect mix of weird and unsettling while exploring genuine questions for me and questioned the fact that we as humans use animal skin and bones for products, bags etc but draw the line at humans.

My other favourites from this collection were ‘Two’s Family’ in which we follow two women in their 70’s who made a pact when they were younger that if they hadn’t married by the age of 30, they’d live and spend the rest of their lives together instead which I thought was so beautiful and could’ve easily read a whole novel about. I also was really intrigued, if unsettled, by the title story ‘Life Ceremony’, set in a world where once a person dies their loved ones hold a life ceremony in which those who attend eat the body and then are encouraged to pair off for the insemination part of the ceremony and create ‘life from death’ to help combat the dwindling population.

Although I enjoyed a good chunk of the stories, a lot of them left me wanting more and wishing they were longer. For example, in the story ‘Poochie’ we’re introduced to two young schoolgirls who are keeping a middle aged man as a pet in a shack on the mountains which is such a wild, unique premise but was so short and just didn’t really go anywhere.

Overall, Sayaka Murata is still one of the most interesting writers I’ve read from and I find her imagination and the stories she comes up with so fascinating. I can’t wait to read more of her work in the future and definitely recommend this collection both for fans of her work already or new readers coming to it for the first time.

Life Ceremony is the first collection of short stories by Sayaka Murata ever to be translated into English and comprises twelve short stories. Some stories are sweet, some are shocking and uncanny. But interesting nonetheless.

**A First-Rate Material**

Nana’s fiancé Naoki is averse to anything made with human body parts and that includes the sweater she bought and the furniture she was hoping to buy for their new home. He’s even threatened to call off their wedding if she keeps buying and using items made from human products.

**A Magnificent Spread**

Revolves around the narrator’s sister Kumi who suffers from *adolescent delusion syndrome* and tends to blow things out of proportion. The narrator and her sister were both born and bred in the humdrum suburbs of Saitama.
One day Kumi informs her sister that she’d be visiting her boyfriend's parents and has offered to cook for them. Problem is that the food she cooks isn’t what people would consider normal.

Kumi goes on to say she has insisted on cooking using recipes from her fictional world— the magical city of Dundilas— and would need her sister’s help in making the dishes.

The narrator on the other hand and her husband eat prepackaged foods sold online by Happy Future Food.

When Kumi’s boyfriend’s family finally arrives at the narrator’s house, his parents refuse Kumi’s dishes.
Rather they offer the narrator what they brought with them from the countryside: a jar containing caterpillars 🐛 and a plastic box filled with grasshoppers.

The narrator and her sister find their offerings revolting at which point Keiichi, Kumi’s fiance points out that “What people eat is part of their own culture. It’s the culmination of their own unique personal life experiences. And it’s wrong to force it on other people.”

**A Summer Night’s Kiss**

Seventy-five-year-old Yoshiko has never had sex or kissed anyone either despite having two daughters (both of whom were conceived by artificial insemination)

“Two’s Family,” tells the story of Yoshiko and her best friend Kikue. They’ve been classmates in high school and they both made a promise to each other that if they hadn’t married by the time they reached thirty, they’d live together.

On Yoshiko’s thirtieth birthday they started living together. Between them, they have three daughters (two through artificial insemination) and the third daughter by Kikue.

Their living arrangements seemed to work out fine but their friends have different ideas.


**The Time of the Large Star**

A little girl moves to the countryside with her father because of his job. People are weird here: they never sleep. When the sun rises, the townspeople get moody saying “*The Large Star has come out*” and suddenly become cheerful at sundown.

**Life Ceremony**

The narrator learns from a colleague during lunch in the meeting room that a former colleague had passed away and that a ceremony would be held that night.

Apparently, at a life ceremony, guests would eat the deceased’s body and also seek an insemination partner among other guests.

The narrator likens this weird tradition to cockroaches that eat a deceased one of their own.

Then she goes on to describe in lurid detail the smell and taste of human flesh, as well as different ways it could be prepared.

Ok moving on. This one was just weird…I had to skim the pages in the chapter 😂😂


I really enjoyed the book. Short and sweet. Definitely recommend

Thank you to Sayaka Murata, NetGalley and Grove Press for the ARC of this book

A very weird book but I had a lot of fun reading this! There's definitely more to the book than it just being "weird." Just trust me when I say that this was one of the best experiences I had reading a book.

As always, Sayaka Murata gives me a lot to think about. That's always the case when I read her book. I really like her writing style, some of the stories were quite heavy to read but here comes an amusing line that makes me laugh. Murata is certainly an interesting author, her imagination is quite strange and bizarre but I'm glad that she gets to share this creativity in her books. An easy 5 star read for me.

My favourite stories were A First-Rate Material, Poochie, Life Ceremony and Body Magic. Sayaka Murata is so clever and unique, I think this would be excellent for fans of her novels, or K Ming Chang's Bestiary or Agustina Bazterrica's Tender Is the Flesh. Absolute staff pick and will pick up everything Murata writes in the future and whatever backlist gets translated.

Obviously I had to request this ARC because I can’t get enough of Murata. I like how she plays with the weird and unconventional. She uses human bodies in uncanny ways to critique traditions and social norms. She takes inanimate objects and personifies them to show us longing and desire. She writes about human experiences by making them grotesque and animalistic. I absolutely loved these bizarre and hilarious stories because they were about everyday experiences like friendship and love and belonging.
🦷✨

A collection of twelve short stories each of which is bound to shock and many times even disgust readers with its eccentricities. New life ceremonies where human bodies are recycled into products to ceremonies where a dead body is converted into a feast for all friends and family, to a bipolar woman who is actually somewhat like multi-polar every single story is a new surprise!.
This is a very unconventional and an unforgettable read, written in classic Murata style that left me in awe of her vivid imagination and talent to put it into perfect prose.

A fun and fantastical collection of short stories about animals, nature, food, and relationships. All of these stories have a bit of weird or absurd, some of them are gross and will make you cringe, but they are all unique and interesting. Every story has a fantastical quality that feels grounded, yet pushes the boundaries of reality- whether it's questioning what is "normal" or actually reaching into fantasy worlds- they will all keep you guessing as to where they are going and make you think.

This is the first book I've read by this author, but it definitely made me want to read her previous books. I'd recommend this if you like the quirky and weird, with some grotesque mixed in. CW: death-both animal and human, cannibalism, body horror.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced e-book copy to review.

Enjoyed but not my favorite. I have loved multiple other of this authors works and this one was definitely the lowest one, not meaning it’s bad just not as good as her other works.

Life Ceremony is an amusing, thought-provoking, bizarre, well-written collection of short stories. Murata creates a setting that is distinct enough from our own world and society to make you think but comparable enough to make the stories plausible and come to life.

i found earthlings a bit too strange for my taste, but in life ceremony the weirdness and thoughtfulness really shines -- the short story format really, really works for the kind of questions and themes the author addresses, and the wonderfully unsettling way she does so.