"It had never occurred to me that anything like this magical stardust could emerge, and it was the first time in my life that I'd ever realized that there was such a large expanse inside me."

After loving Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, I knew this would be a hit. A collection of 12 short stories foreshadowing a new type of world in the future full of "life ceremonies" instead of funerals, insemination, and cannibalism. While all these stories somehow connect to a scary future, the themes used are very genuine and prevalent in real life. Topics of sexual health and pressure, foods from different cultures, beauty standards, and the expectation of women are all shown in this new world.

Sayaka Murata is able to take these uncomfortable ideas and make them into something so interesting to read about. There were definitely some weaker stories in the bunch, but for the most part, this collection held its own throughout. I found this to be a strong short-story collection that will keep people engaged and get everyone thinking.

A wonderfully strange collection of stories that I can't stop thinking about. Murata beautifully brings together themes of identity and belonging in many of these stories, as well as a preoccupation with food. The title story, "Life Ceremony," was particularly moving in its own peculiar way.

I have not read Sayaka Murata’s bestseller “Convenience Store Woman”, although I have gifted it to Mr. Smithereens, who read it, and so now we have it on our shelves somewhere. I don’t quite know what to expect, but as Sayaka Murata was already on my radar, I jumped on the chance to download the ARC of her short story collection: Life Ceremony.

I expected Japanese quirkiness but I probably got more than what I’d bargained for. The stories in the collection ranged from the bizarre to the weird and every nuance in-between. I don’t want to spoil anything because for me the surprise effect was total. (I would even recommend to steer clear from the Goodreads page that gives away too much in my opinion). I was uneasy, from awed to disgusted, but never indifferent. I can’t tell if those stories are representative of Murata’s work and interests, but wow, that’s out of the ordinary.

The most fascinating in these stories is the ability to project into an alternate world which is very close to our present one, but for a few things that are considered totally shocking in our world, and that are deemed normal or even proper in this other world. In that respect, Murata is pushing us to reassess what we consider as normal and proper, and realize that these are only social conventions.

Now that I had my first bite into Murata’s writing, I am really curious to read Convenience Store Woman. Any other translated work of hers (novel or stories) that I should consider?

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley. I received a free copy of this book for review consideration.

I really enjoyed reading all the strange little stories in this book. It feels light-hearted but also touches on topics that make you think about our own world and how we live in it, once you get past the bizarre premise. It's quite a light-hearted, quick and entertaining read, that I would definitely recommend.

It is often said that the difference between fact and fiction is that fiction needs to be believable.

In Dune, Frank Herbert creates a desert plant where water is scarce, so the indigenous people of the planet have evolved customs to conserve it in every way possible. Spitting is a form of respect, shedding a tear even more so, for they offer their body’s water which is the most precious thing to them. And when one of their tribe dies, his body’s water is extracted, purified and distributed among the tribe. Now this is speculative fiction, a genre that thrives on being absurd – and yet, in the world built by Herbert, these absurd customs are believable.

The title story of Life Ceremony has a funerary custom where the dead are cooked and consumed by the funeral attendees – and after eating the dead, they may pair off to procreate so death can give way to new life. The narrator of the story speaks of how when she was a child, eating fellow humans was taboo but now it is part of their custom – it is almost a commentary on how customs keep evolving, and what is considered taboo today may be completely acceptable tomorrow. This is in fact a common theme between all the stories of this collection, and Murata tries to advocate against prejudices and for a greater understanding and acceptance of other people’s life choices, be it in food, habits, sexuality or even the choice of a non-traditional family unit.

The trouble is, the world she creates is not believable. The explanation given for the custom of life ceremony, for example, was that the population shrank abruptly and the world had become gripped with the fear that the human race might go extinct. But how does that evolve into a custom of eating the dead? This wasn’t a world where food was scarce. What makes it worse is the pages full of descriptions of human meat being cooked, like a parody of the contemporary Japanese books we love reading for their description of exotic Japanese food. We asked for it, so the joke’s on us.

Speculative fiction is meant to open the mind of its reader – to help one make sense of the ever changing world and expand one’s ability to engage with reality. Murata has some outlandish ideas to serve the genre, but they’re half formed and she lacks the craft to sell them to the reader (and yet her books keep selling). In the hands of a better writer, perhaps this would’ve been a better book.

This collection was the perfect balance of weird and heartwarming. Each story felt like a Japanese fable with a clear moral and arc in the narrative. They were whimsical, silly and funny.

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

I loved Convenience Store Woman and was eagerly awaiting her first collection of short stories. Life Ceremony does not disappoint! Murata has a way of exploring societal taboos and making her readers feel very uncomfortable at being forced to face these issues through her writing. Life Ceremony truly messes with the reader's emotions (and stomachs!) and we are left to really think about the subject of each of these essays. There are twelve essays in all with varying degrees of unease for the reader. Everything from cannibalism to incest to stalking to death. Readers with sensitive stomachs may want to avoid this collection.

Murata's style of writing is so unique- she writes so beautifully with every sentence clearly carefully chosen. Her words are poetic and highly visual- you are transported into the story (whether you want to be a part of it or not!). I love how she isn't afraid to deal with very serious and controversial topics. Her signature sense of humour that I saw in Convenience Story Woman is sprinkled throughout these essays also. Murata's exploration of what it is to be human and how we are possess animalistic characteristics/qualities is absolutely fascinating.

Murata has created something in this collection that will really make you stop and take a step back and think about the human race and all of its complexities. The stand out short story for me were the title piece (truly terrifying!- no spoilers but it's a very dark and disturbing essay). Murata wants us to challenge and question our social norms. These essays are quirky, thought-provoking and hauntingly unsettling to read. The uniqueness and eccentricity of Murata's writing style is very powerful and provocative. A 5 star rating all the way!

Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for the arc in exchange for my honest review. Life Ceremony is out on the 5th of July.

Life Ceremony starts with a splash, setting up the persisent uneasiness and gruesomeness of all stories straight away. While they vary in length and subject matter, all the work present in this collection stands out in their own way. Going from a world where human body parts are used to build furniture and clothes to following a young girl living in a city where no one sleeps, this collection is perfect for all grown up Tim Burton kids—macabre, meaningful and beautiful, Life Ceremony is a testament to Murata's ability to portray the horrid reality of it is to be human.

Sayaka Murata has undoubtedly become a household name, a name well recognized and appreciated. She is in the same league as Sally Rooney and Hanya Yanagihara as their newest releases tend to mark the year with a “literary event”. Who can forget those recorded reactions of readers as they finished the last few pages of Murata’s previous book Earthlings and I’m quite sure, this collection of uncanny stories will create the same excitement and buzz as her previous two novels.

When it comes to short stories, I do not like the slice-of-life kind, my love and appreciation lies with the ones that are weird and fantastical (but not too much as to render them fantasy), dark and morally twisted and in my five years of reading career, I’m afraid to admit no writer has able to top the sickly stories of Ian McEwan’s. Sayaka Murata’s Life Ceremony was a solid contender.

A collection of twelve stories, all varying in length as well as in craft and excellence. The book starts off with A First Rate Material which perfectly captures the essence of this whole book- society’s ambiguous morality. This first story was about how human parts can also be used as materials for making furniture, chandeliers, clothes, ornaments etc. Other stories include unusual foods, 75 year old and virgin mother of two, a country that never sleeps, sex at funerals, a curtain that also talks, multiple personalities and what not.

I enjoyed this collection, and had a wonderful time reading it in between my busy schedule. They were a refuge. But now having read the entire thing and reflecting upon each story with critical eyes, I think the stories that were longer, stories that were given more time and pages were the only I loved the most whereas the ones that were short felt like an introduction to a larger piece, an idea rather than a complete thing. For example the story Poochie could have been an excellent story had Murata given it more space. It was basically about a human pet of two school girls.

Anyway, I loved this collection and will recommend it to nearly every reader. Coming out on 5th of July.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for my DRC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I read and loved Sayaka Murata's "Convenience Store Woman", couldn't read "Earthlings" because of content triggers, and this short story collection is definitely a mixed bag, not just in terms of content but also in my satisfaction.

I will start with saying that the title store, "Life Ceremony", was probably the best and most stand out piece in the collection. It has everything I love about Murata's writing: the strange tenderness, a deep glance at a social anxiety, and a different view of intimacy. I honestly really enjoyed this one, especially when held up against the other stories in this collection. I think that if you just read this story and skipped the others, you're probably better off to be honest.

That said, I think a lot of what Murata attempts in this collection is incredibly interesting and the premises are ones that I would never have even thought about. One of the stories (I cannot remember the name) discusses the idea of society beginning to use human remains in everyday items like clothing, dishware, and furniture. I thought it was really interesting and the main conflict being between a woman and her fiance who is absolutely against using any human materials in their items was a fun conflict to read.

This collection, like Murata's other works, really questions your morality and what makes one quirk appropriate or okay over another. I think Murata does a really good job of creating stories that really question and challenge the reader. That being said, I feel like sometimes Murata goes a little overboard and most of the stories in this collection end up being so abstract that it's difficult to remember what the point was.

I think if you like Murata's writing, you'll most likely enjoy this one and even if you end up liking only a few out of the collection, those stories will still be worth the read.

4⭐️

<i> “Normal is a type of madness, isn’t it? I think it’s just that the only madness society allows is called normal.” </i>

Anything Sayaka Murata writes… I will read. I am a sucker for reading stories about nonconformist ideas and creative explorations of moral dilemmas, and Life Ceremony did not disappoint on that front.

If you’ve read both Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings, I will warn you this is much closer to Earthlings. There is a long list of content warnings (I will try to include as many as I can remember at the end of this review). Definitely be prepared going into this that a lot of the stories contain taboo content and are honestly just ~bonkers~ (in a good way). I found myself laughing out loud a few times at how absurd it was.

One of the stories is written from the perspective of a curtain, another is set in a time where instead of funerals there are “life ceremonies” (where people eat the body of the deceased and then basically participate in an orgy), one is about a girl who has multiple personalities, one is about the purity of sexual desire, another is about two women who are platonic life partners… A lot of the stories focus on how animalistic humans are (or can be).

They are short stories, so they barely scratch the surface of their topics, but I think it’s done in such an effective way. They are so creative and striking that they can’t help but be memorable (and often disturbing).

I know this is NOT going to be for everyone, but it was for me. I couldn’t put it down and I would happily read full novels about probably 10 out of the 12 stories.

CW: cannibalism, death, incest, undereating, vomit, stalking, bullying

Thank you to Grove Atlantic and Netgalley for the free e ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have to say that I was quite disappointed with this collection. Though it had a few standouts that had Murata's strange and contemplative touch, a good amount of it, maybe 40-50% was unmemorable and didn't standout. My favorite though was the title piece, which I felt was the most reminiscent of her other works that I have read and was the most thought-provoking which is what I'm looking for when I reach for her work. I'm not drawn to reread this anytime soon if at all, compared to her novels. But I hope this is just a one-time thing and that her next pieces will be more interesting to me.

After reading Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings, I could not wait to read Life Ceremony. It did not disappoint! Sayaka Murata has a way of exploring societal taboos that leave the reader thinking, and questioning. I love her writing style. Beautifully translated, and hauntingly disturbing, I won't soon forget this book!

These short stories are just as twisted as past work like 'Earthlings." But there are some interesting insights to be found within these decidedly non-conformist tales.

Sayaka murata is a real genius, her short stories were just as good as her novels.
She knows how to take the readers mind to the exact place she wants it, by just changing one little aspect of our normal life she lets us see the world from a completely different angle.
Her writing style has this typical enchanting Japanese flavour, but she still stays true to herself!

3.5 stars
I really enjoyed Sayaka Murata’s earlier book Convenience Store Woman. The collection of short stories in Life Ceremony continues down the quirky path set by Convenience Store Woman, but I feel like it jumped almost too far into an uncomfortable and awkward place, although I was left with the impression that this is an issue with me and that the author was being true to herself and her writing throughout.

I’m really struggling to say whether or not I enjoyed these stories or not. They definitely gave off a creepy, skin-crawling vibe, but several of them were memorable. Set in the future, these stories examine a world in what appears to be a death spiral, seemingly devoid of humanity as we define it today. Between a future of wearing clothing and using furniture that is made completely out of body parts of the dead, cannibalism and copulation as a mourning ritual for a society with rapidly falling population numbers, women being rewarded for being incubators and turning their babies over to the government to raise, and people being kept as pets by others, Life Ceremony is Brave New World for a modern audience.

This book is really like nothing I’ve read before, and while saying this book was enjoyable would be inaccurate (especially since I’m not sure a book like this really is meant to be “enjoyed” in that way,) it was provocative and thought-provoking about the direction society is going. And I’m not saying that I believe that cannibalism for food and furniture is our future, but the feeling of society going down a rabbit hole that it can’t climb out of definitely makes you think.

Thank you to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. It has not influenced my opinion.

Unique and eccentric. Murata's collection of short stories did not disappoint. There are some great stories in this collection such as Life Ceremony which looks at a world where eating human flesh is considered a norm. The stories explore human boundaries and query how far we are willing to go in the pursuit of our needs and desires.

Not all the stories captured my imagination. Some were insipid and felt like fillers. Poochie comes to mind as an example of one. However, in general I very much enjoyed this collection and would recommend it to all Murata fans.

Wonderfully strange stories! Especially the first one (about using human remains as furniture/jewellery) and the one about eating people after their death. I haven't read Murata's first novel but that one has now moved up on my to read list! Thanks to the publisher for sending me a digital advance copy <3

[4.25]

My first short story collection and I must say, I'm speechless. This was really, really good.

When I was accepted for this ARC, I was incredibly excited. I have not read Convenience Store Woman (but I definitely will) but I noticed people all around me reading and loving this book by Sayaka Murata. Naturally, I was anticipating this read and I was not disappointed.

The characters that Murata constructs are beautiful and terribly real and I really liked her exploration of human psychology and relationships, as well as the question, how far is too far? Some short stories that really resonated with me were "Eating the City" and "Hatchling". The story that is the book's title, "Life Ceremony" was amazing.

Short story collections are hard for me to rate five stars because I prefer more detailed, in depth looks into characters and concepts, which is obviously not the purpose of a short story and I completely understand that. I don't think the short stories were "too short", this is merely a preference. However, I really enjoyed this short story collection and I am looking forward to reading Convenience Store Woman some time this year.

Thank you NetGalley and Grove Atlantic to provide this ARC with exchange an honest review!

Actual rating 3.5/5!

This is my second time to read book from Sayaka Murata and I always know she has a unique thinking and perspective. That's what I see in this book. With twelve stories, I can see what kind of world she think maybe happen someday in the future. Some of the stories here I can say happen in the future and some can be happen right now.

For the stories that might be happen in the future, I think it's a unique thought. It never occurred to what Sayaka thought this would happen or not. Some stories may make people uncomfortable. Especially those related to the human body. In the first story related to the human body "A First Rate Material" I can still be tolerant but when it comes to "Life Ceremony" I'm not sure if people can read this calmly, because I honestly can't.

The other stories are no less unique. Using unique perspectives, one of which is even from a curtain in the room. Not to mention the many stories also about people who are different from most other people. It seems like Sayaka really wants to bring up the story of "normal" like in other books I've read.

Even though it's not as usual, I'm still interested in reading this because of the unique perspectives I've read and also some may actually happen. But, there are also some stories that I'm a little confused about the meaning of what it want to convey.

For my full review will be publish on my blog on 5 July 2022 (http://www.tikbookholic.com)