Life Ceremony: stories

A selection of stories with one unifying theme. They were all quite beautiful and really enjoyable albeit sad at times. Lots of asexual themes, lots of pondering about what’s considered normal and why, reflecting on what it means to have a body, to be alive, of the roles one has in society, the connection and meaning we are all so desperate for… If you are here merely to be shocked you will miss out on the more precious things these stories can offer. This book has a lot of depth, it can inspire you to think about your own life long after you put it down… Very engaging storytelling that draws you in from the first page - but so little time was allowed to enjoy some of the stories, to immerse oneself in all these unique perspectives as they were too short and had abrupt endings. I did however adore the longer ones and realising that each story is a different angle of the same theme somehow made the shorter stories feel more complete later. Overall, I adored the experience and can’t wait to read more by this author.

What Sayaka Murata has produced is a collection of bizarre tabo stories that leave you asking yourself deep questions about your life and society. The only reason I’m not giving this five stars is that at some points I felt so uncomfortable I couldn’t stop thinking about the themes in this book. But maybe that’s why I should give it 5!?

To pick up a Sayaka Murata book is to implicitly agree to be shocked out of your wits and park your discomfort and squeamishness at the door. In that sense, this collection of short stories fulfils that expectation. Most of the stories frame the human as part of the larger ecology. The titular story, in a ghastly fashion, challenges our preconceptions about what is the rightful way to celebrate death as part of life, not quite in the “ashes to ashes, dust to dust” fashion. Elsewhere, what makes a marriage, the different personas we adopt with different communities, our relationship with the environment we live in, are all examined with Murata’s signature offbeat and often deadpan humour (if it could be called that). The collection is admittedly engaging, in its morbid way, but some of the stories felt unfinished, and if there was a social commentary, did not quite make their mark, beyond the (presumed) intent to shock and/or revile.

A collection of quirky, humorous short stories.

Life Ceremony is the first collection of short stories by Sayaka Murata to be translated into English. Having read both Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings by this author I knew I was in for a bit of a wild ride. Previous reviews I spotted for the book have once again described her writing as “not for everyone” and I would repeat that. The stories in this collection are a bit “off the wall”, and I don’t think I have ever whispered “WTF” to myself as much as I did while reading this collection. In the title story Life Ceremony we are introduced to a future society where upon death the deceased is not buried or cremated, but eaten at a lavish ceremony which ends with people choosing a partner to try and procreate with. In another story A First Rate Material an engaged couple fight over the fact that they cannot agree about whether to use furniture and clothes made from human remains – which is known to be the height of fashion. The would-be brides friends often remark about how strange it is that her boyfriend refuses to buy here jewelry set in human bone. We also have stories about wild foraging, loving bedroom soft furnishings and purposely marrying someone who you have no emotional connection with, just to have an easy life. And more! What reality these stories are set in is never very clear. In Life Ceremony the protagonist talks about how when she was a child she joked about eating someone and everyone was shocked and thought she had something wrong with her, yet in “today’s society” if you DON’T eat people (as she refuses to) there is something wrong, but there is little to no reference to anything from “now”. So, yes, this is probably the weirdest collection of short stories I have ever read. At times it was difficult to read it while eating – see cannibalism – but I found almost every story fascinating. A brilliant collection.

This book is very strange & disquieting. I don't think I like it, but I keep reading it because it is so weird & I never know where the stories will go next.

After reading the convenience store woman & earthlings I just had to read more.Enjoyable read, can’t wait for more from this author

I read 'Convenience Store Woman' a couple of years ago, so when another book by Sayaka Murata popped up I couldn't wait to read it. 'Life Ceremony' is a little different though, as it's a collection of short stories with what appears to be the theme of taboos and norms running through them all. As I find with many short story collections these were a little hit-and-miss. Some of them I absolutely adored and others I didn't quite get. These stories are also a little more out there than 'Convenience Store Woman', challenging us at every turn as to why we think in a certain way, why we think some things are normal, and presenting alternatives that are entirely possible. Reading this one on the train wasn't always the best experience as I was paranoid people were going to read it over my shoulder, and I couldn't keep my emotions off my face! That being said I didn't get bored at any point. Highlights for me included: A First-Rate Material, A Summer Night's Kiss/Two's Family, Life Ceremony, Body Magic, and A Clean Marriage. Verdict: The perfect collection for anyone into the weird, and wonderful and looking for a quick fix to get you out of a reading slump.

This is a weird book. Every reader will have a "what the f*" reaction when reading most of the stories, but that is not a bad thing. In my anthropology classes it was often said that the process of understanding cultures is a matter of un-stranging the strange (sorry for the likely poor translation), and this book offers plenty of mind-boggling episodes to reflect upon. They're not hard to read also, so it's possible to read it for entertainment just as well.

Molto bella anche la storia extra

You know those books where you read something so weird you have to sit back and process that what you read was real? I had that moment with this book. I have read other works of Sayaka Murata, but I feel like this one had a pretty big impact in comparison to the others, but thats because I think that the topics they tackle are pretty outlandish but at the same time they're not??? I was greatly immersed in this book.

Full of silly Goofy stories. Everyone will find their favorite.

This is a very well written book that is quite captivating. It does however tackle some subjects that are a little unsettling. If you’re cool with some casual cannibalism and other creative uses of humans then let it rip with this one.