This book continues to highlight Murata's fascination with how humans interact - with other people, with animals and nature, with procreation, with death, and packages it into a neat collection for English readers.

It's exactly in the same vein as A Clean Marriage if you want a taste of her style (or something to tide you over until July). It does not go as dark as Earthlings (which I personally did not enjoy), though a few stories still warrant content warnings.

The way Murata can take a scalpel to a custom we consider to be common and normal, open them up and show us how truly bizarre they are. She is not afraid to go beyond the weird into the macabre and horrific, but she also shows how compassionate, genuine joy and childlike innocence can be just as important and valuable. Aside from the general exploration of familial relationships, I love that so many of her female protagonists break the traditional mold (Two's Family are arguably in a QPR) or happily single (Life Ceremony), friendships often play a larger role as well (Eating the City or Poochie).

While I certainly have my favourites (the first two and the last two stories), none of the pieces are truly bad or don't offer the reader a little something.

Sayaka Murata has been on my radar since the release of Convenience Store Woman, which quickly became one of my all-time favorite books, so I was really excited to see a short story collection from her. These stories are both weird and oddly engaging at the same time. Most of the stories in the collection revolve around food in some way. My favorite stories in the collection were the title story, Life Ceremony and the last story, Hatchling. The Hatchling reminded me somewhat of Convenience Store Woman. Both dive into how society sees you compared to how you see yourself and what the characters are willing to do to "fit in" to their surroundings. The characters in both stories are very interesting and react to their environments in ways that aren't conventionally expected. I absolutely love how Murata always incorporates the stress of societal expectations within her writing and how each of her characters respond to those expectations in different ways. I highly recommend both this collection and Convenience Store Woman. So excited to see other works from this author in the future!

When I saw that Sayaka Murata was releasing another book, I got so excited because
her other book "The convenience store woman" was such a great read.
Anyway, back to this new book of hers.. 2 words to describe it would be
"Kooky" and "Weird". It was definitely one of the weirdest short stories collection
that I have read in awhile.

I enjoyed every story in this collection. If you are easily disturbed and queasy, sit this
one out. But if you are a fan of weird and a little morbid.. then you will enjoy this one!

My favorite story among the collection is the one title "Life Ceremony". That was quite
a ride!! Super thought provoking and extremely odd! :)

Sayaka Murata at her best. We've got cannibalism as the new norm; we've got people wearing other people as fashion; we've got business-man pets... I loved these stories, the first and last were probably my favorites, but they were all really good and weird and interesting.

Are you are looking for something off the beaten path? Then this is the book for you! A few years ago I read Convenience Store Woman by this author. I loved it. It was different and original. I really related to it, as well. When this collection of short stories popped up on @netgalley I jumped at the chance. It did not disappoint on the original and different fronts. Although, I didn’t relate to the stories nearly as much. These are wildly different with some sci-fi and maybe even horror elements. Note the heart in the bowl of food on the cover.

Thanks to @netgalley and @groveatlantic for an advanced copy of this book. It will be released on 7/5/22.

Uno più bello dell’altro, uno più perturbante dell’altro: dodici racconti che riflettono (o, meglio, inducono a riflettere) su identità, società, famiglia, corpo, abitudini sociali e personali, portando il lettore fuori dalla sua comfort zone senza che neanche se ne accorga - e lasciandolo a banchettare con carne umana, cambiare personalità a seconda della compagnia in cui si trova, cercare il proprio cibo negli angoli più nascosti di una metropoli.
Ho amato molto Convenience Store Woman, ma evitato Earthlings, proprio per i temi trattati: lo recupererò, per vedere se mi dà altrettanto nutrimento (intellettuale, eh XD) di questi racconti.

Life Ceremonies (2022) is a collection of 12 short-stories from Ginny Tapley Takemori, translated from the Japanese originals (2019) by Sayaka Murata. The same translator-author were responsible for the brilliant Convenience Store Woman and the, to me, less successful Earthlings.

The stories range between the more prosaic setting of Convenience Store Woman to the more alternative-worlds and taboo-breaching of Earthlings, and several variations on a similar theme.

The title story "Life Ceremonies" is set in a near-future world where, post demographic decline, funerals are replaced by life ceremonies. Those gathered first feast on the deceased and then seek an ‘insemination partner’ amongst the other guests, the ceremony followed by a reproductive pairing-off, something our narrator, who remembers the old taboos of our world, finds difficult to accept.

"“Oh, I almost forgot. I heard that Mr. Nakao from General Affairs passed away.”

We all looked at her.“What? Really?”

“Seems it was a stroke.”

I pictured Mr. Nakao’s good-natured smile. He was an elegant man with silver-gray hair and often shared sweets he received from clients with us. He’d retired just a few years ago.

“This morning the company was informed that the ceremony will be held tonight. They said the deceased would have wanted as many of us as possible to come along.”

“Really? I’d better hold back on lunch today, then. Maybe I’ll skip dessert.”

We all put our custard desserts back, unopened, into the bag from the convenience store.

“I bet Mr. Nakao tastes good,” said a woman a year older than me as she ate her pork and potato stew.“"

Similarly, “A First-Rate Material” is set in a future where human bodies are recycled so that e.g. a ring made of human teeth bones is more prized than one of platinum. Here however the narrator regards it as normal, whereas her fiancée is the one who refuses to buy her a bone engagement ring, and prefers cashmere to human-hair jumpers, which he forbids her to wear.

Others are set in our present-day world but focused on characters who have a very different view on city-life which they take to an Earthlings-like obsession.

Puzzle starts with the narrator realises how much she enjoys the physical closeness of other city dwellers, feeling her own body lacks the sensations she feels from others, before she starts to transform her view seeing herself, as well as buildings, as part of the city’s body and other people as organs within this organism.

“Sanae crinkled her eyes in a smile. “I’m fine!” As the train moved off, the passengers all raised their faces slightly, as if seeking oxygen. Surrounded by lips facing upward, Sanae relaxed her body and leaned into the eddy of body heat. Submerged in air full of sighs released from numerous mouths, she closed her eyes and savored the dampness on her skin, floating in it, happy being smothered in the carbon dioxide spewed out by passengers. Long ago the term forest bathing had been popular, but Sanae preferred “people bathing” like this. Even more people got on at the next stop, and enthralled by the mounting warm pressure, she opened her eyes a little and noticed the salaryman next to her cluck his tongue. She stared almost enviously at the black hole in his face, fancying that she could see through the thin, cracked lips to the red-black tongue bouncing against the inside of his mouth.
….
“Oh look, Sanae’s smiling again! No way it’s that DVD. It’s got to be a new boyfriend!”
“Right? Come on, Sanae, you’ve got to tell us!”
The membrane-covered fleshes all leaned toward her. Sanae laughed out loud in spite of herself. This triggered the internal organs, which also started to give off sounds, their flesh trembling.”

"Eat the City" has a character originally from the countryside who starts to try and forage wild plants from the concrete of the city, a pastime that turns into an obsessive mission:

“With my hand still thrust into the soil there next to the artwork, I savored the sensation of the earth that had raised my food for me. Nutrition nurtured by the earth flowed into my palm. I pushed my hand even deeper into the soil, and it overflowed the gaps in my fingers, staining my sallow hand brown. My hand looked like a tree. Normally I was different from plants, separated from the earth, but I was growing out of the earth too. Evidence of this was the fact that the plants I had picked in this city were spreading to all corners of my body. I squeezed together the fingers growing in the soil. My fingers and the soil mixed together, melded, and stared up at the plants growing out of them.”

The closing story “Hatchling” is perhaps closest to Convenience Store Woman territory, and my favourite of the collection. The narrator is someone who so much fits in with those around her, and, in particular their very first impression of her, that she has 5 completely different personalities for different friendship groups, and no real true-character, something that she realises could be an issue when she starts preparing her wedding invites:

“Whenever I met up with childhood friends, I was still Prez, and with high school friends I was Peabrain, and I was still Princess to college club friends, while emails from my coworkers at the part-time job I did while in college were addressed to Haruo. Now I’d become Mysterious Takahashi. My life continued with these five characters progressing alongside one another.

The one who liked sparkling wine was Peabrain. Haruo preferred beer, and Princess often drank sangria. Prez was usually organizing the parties, so she drank only oolong tea or, at most, one glass of lemon sour. Mysterious Takahashi drank shochu or whiskey on the rocks. “
A Magnificent Spread is another strong story – an engagement feast for a woman’s sister and her fiancees’s parents reveals some strongly different tastes in food, ranging from insects from a rural tradition, through junk-food, and space-style meal-in-a-tablet, to the narrator’s sister’s own odd preference for recipes from the magical city of Dundilas where she believes she lived in a past life. This has some interesting things to say on cultural differences and whether they are best accepted by each embracing other’s culture into a whole, or allowing each person to remain separate within their own preference.

3.5 stars – some of the stories definitely approach strong 4 star territory but I found the collection a little uneven (with some of the stories I haven’t mentioned above rather weaker), perhaps because of my preference for a certain style of Murata’s work over another

Do you find sweaters made of human hair and furniture made of bones distasteful? I mean, it would be such a waste to throw away corpses of the dead instead of using them. Why is goat hair (cashmere) okay, but human hair is not? The first story in Life Ceremony is about the wonderful world in which human materials are used. A First-Rate Material is a powerful story that makes you take a better look at your own body: are you taking good enough care of your body so that one day it can be used as a material?

Sayaka Murata changes an aspect – a thing that is seen as normal – of the world and writes a story about how the odd one out deals with it. The stories lead to interesting thoughts and make you think about how you yourself deal with the themes raised in the stories.

The power of food

Take for example the second story, A Magnificent Spread. In this story you can choose between normal food, food from the future, and food from the magical city of Dundilas. The question here is whether it is true that if you eat the food someone makes for you, that you believe in the world they live in? Can you be brainwashed by the food you eat? Compare this to the vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free diets and ask yourself if you are also ingesting a lifestyle.

I was amused by this second story: everyone’s normal is different. Both stories I mentioned above are about different normals, diversity and having a hard time understanding the other. Lifestyle as described in this story can also be seen as culture, traditions and religion. Dinner in A Magnificent Spread was saved by the husband, whose actions made me laugh out loud.

Organ puzzle

Other stories also deal with “new normals,” such as new kinds of families, two children with an adult human pet, and the life ceremony from which the collection of stories takes its name. It seems that the author has made it her mission to spread a certain fascination with the human body. Puzzle is very memorable because of the alienation the narrator feels with her own body. Its polar opposite, Hatchling, does the same with personality.

Recommendation

I especially like the longer stories in Life Ceremony. Sayaka Murata’s stories and books resonate with me, but that won’t be true for everyone. If you loved Earthlings and Convenience Store Woman, you will love this collection of stories as well. If you were disgusted by the cannibalism and sexual content in Earthlings, then I recommend skipping Life Ceremony because you’ll find more of it here.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I requested this title after reading her novel "Convenience Store Woman" last summer, and I knew that whatever this book contained, it would hold my interest.

This collection of short stories is meant to make you question different aspects of life that we may not often take into consideration, and right off the bat in the first story, it does exactly that. Before even completing the book, I was telling friends and family members about some of the stories I'd read, sharing the interest with anyone who would listen.

As it went on, I found myself being more weirded out by what I was reading, and therefore liking it a bit less. However, I definitely think this book can help you to push your personal reading boundaries!

Thank you to NetGalley and Sayaka Murata for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.

After reading Convenience Store Woman, I was very excited about reading Life Ceremony and it did not dissapoint. Life Ceremony is a collection of 12 short stories which challenge what normality means through setting stories in the future, past and different worlds.

Each story makes you questionning reality and normality which was very intresting to read.

Would highly recommend it.

Having heard so much about Murata-san's cult sensation Convenience Store Woman, I was intrigued to read Life Ceremony.
It comes with several stories all written in the form of a female narrator but dealing with different topics of non-conformity and with great insight of the human psyche in human interaction.

However interesting some of the topics of some stories were, I couldn't help feeling bored reading and wanting to skim a long some of the text as in some stories, the detail didn't add anything to the story. On the other hand, I applaud the author on dealing with difficult topics and an imaginary future that could combat Japan's continuous population decline.

Sayaka Murata is a nonconformist Japanese writer who explores alternatives against traditional society norms.
She exams deviations from expectations and normalcy.
Questioning my own repulsions and uncomfortableness a few times was my job—
I cringed a few times — but I absolutely love the way Sayaka looks at life — at people - at animals - insects - nature - foods ——reality—humanity.
This is the third book I’ve read by Sayaka.
To me, her work speaks with an understanding of the unconscionable—as if she was born with exceptional deep observation skills.

The themes in these knock-out-quirky-short stories…..[12 total]….are centered around women, men, friendships, marriages, families, tumultuous relationships, gender roles, parenting, sex, cannibalism, food, nature, society…..and other disorientating taboos.

The title of the twelve stories are:
A First-Rate Material
A Magnificent Spread
A Summer Night’s Kiss
Two’s Family
The Time of the Large Star
Poochie
Life Ceremony
Body Magic
Lover on the Breeze
Puzzle
Eating the City
Hatchling

These stories could be read in one or two sittings….but I purposely took my time - usually reading 1 story a day. Never more than two. Delectable—savory and unsavory humanitarian oddities to reflect.

“Eating the City” was one of my favorite stories….
….splendid childhood memories…..

This excerpt is deliciously heartwarming—
Awwww…
….the innocence of being a kid🪁🍉🐜
“It would be the same for anyone, their sense of smell responding to the summer scent that linked back to memories of vacations, bringing up vivid, nostalgic, scenes”.
“Until I left elementary school, it was our family’s custom for the three of us to get in the car, drive to my
father’s childhood home in the countryside, and stay there for a week over the Obon festival. It was a typical country house, deep in the mountains of Nagano. We would drive up a narrow mountain road to reach the house, which had an entrance hall about the same side as a child’s bedroom and an atmosphere completely different from our house in Saitama. I was so fascinated by the Old house as soon as we arrived, I would immediately start running around and exploring, but with all the rooms connected by sliding paper doors, I would soon get lost and then burst in on the room where adults were relaxing. They would scold me, but as soon as they let me go, I would be off again, running around the sliding doors open. Once I finished exploring inside, I played outside to my heart’s content until it was time for dinner. Then I was so hungry, so I would keep peeking in on the kitchen, where my mother and grandmother we’re cooking. I was a picky eater, but to my parents’ delight, I ate twice as much as usual when we were in the mountains. The vegetables Granny brought in from her vegetable garden were much sweeter than those we ate at home. Wondering why that was, I’d open my mouth wide and bite into vegetables that I never normally ate”.

“Sometimes we think nostalgically, for no reason at all”.

In “A Summer Night’s Kiss”…we meet Yoskiko…..
“Yoshiko had just turned seventy-five. She had never had sex and had never kissed anyone either. She had never even once had intercourse with her older husband, who died five years earlier. Both of their daughters had been conceived by artificial semination, and she was still a virgin when she became a mother”.
Kikue (around the same age) — has never married, has no kids, but ‘has’ been kissed.
The friendship between these two polar opposites of the septuagenarians [becoming my favorite word—given I’ll be 70 years old in five months]…..is quite endearing.

The opening story….”A First-Rate Material CRACKED ME UP…(expect a mild squeamish bodily response)
It’s the type of story — that if you think about it too literally…your blood pressure might spike along with an increased heart rate.
Here’s a small sample of why…..
Naoki was Nana’s fiancé.
Nana had a sweater made out of 100% human hair.
“Just the thing for winter! Warm, durable, and luxurious”.
Naoki has told Nana that any item made of human hair gave him the creeps. He says its sacrilegious— barbaric.
He told Nana that if she used any items hacked from dead bodies— fingernails, teeth, bone, skin, skulls, or any other grotesque revolting dead human product, he would break off their engagement.
THE STORY WAS HILARIOUS- THOUGHT-PROVOKING - with a wonderful powerful luv-bug message!

So….12 stories in all ….offbeat-outlandish!!

A note to the author….To Sayaka Murata…..
I’ll read every book you write. I hope all your books are translated in English. I think you are positively great!!!

Thanks (always) to Grove Atlantic …..and Netgalley.

I loved these twelve new short stories from Sayata Murata. Having read and loved her two previously translated novels, Convenience Store Woman and Earthling, I was excited to delve into the author’s kooky world again. Readers who loved the off kilter topics that the author touched upon in her previous works will not be disappointed with these fresh new accounts of life in Japan from the point of view of characters who take traditional notions and turn them completely on their head to make you think about the society we live in. This is a strong collection that will draw new readers in with the quirkiness and satisfy fans. I real read anything this author puts out at this point.

Life Ceremony was a captivating collection of thought-provoking and engaging short stories by Murata Sayaka. All the stories had something interesting to offer, but my personal favourites were "A First-Rate Material, "Life Ceremony", "A Magnificent Spread", "Body Magic" and "Hatchling". The tales explore a range of themes, but with a focus on dissecting human life and its meaning. Many of the stories raised questions I'd never considered before, so it was interesting to consider my own take on them after reading Murata's 'answers'. If you are already a fan of Murata's writing, reading this book is a must. This is also not a bad place to start if you are new to her work but already enjoy contemporary Japanese fiction.

Thank you to Grove Press and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata is an explosive collection of short stories that reminded me of Kelly Link and Black Mirror. The short stories range from dystopian to sci-fi, but always with connections to the here and now. The collection starts off with "A First-Rate Material," a thought experiment about a future where everyone uses human remains to make clothes and jewelry. I thought this might be a comment on how we use animal fur nowadays, or it might be a comment on how some people like to preserve hair or teeth as mementos. It was definitely a fun story to read!

Here is an excerpt from "A First-Rate Material":

"Yumi opened the menu and ordered a second cup of tea, then noticed the sweater I was wearing.
"Hey, Nana, that sweater... is it human hair?"
"Oh, can you tell?" I beamed at her, nodding. "Yes, one hundred percent."
"Fantastic! It must have been expensive."
"Yeah, a bit... I took out a loan. But it'll last me for life," I answered rather bashfully, lightly running my fingertips over the garment. The jet-black hair was closely knitted into rows of braids, with an intricate weave at the cuffs and neck, and it glistened alluringly in the rays of light shining in through the lobby windows. Even though it was mine, it was ao beautiful, and I gazed at it, enraptured."

Overall, Life Ceremony is an impressive short story collection that comments on modern-day life by taking us to alternative realities where everything is taken to the extreme. "A Magnificent Spread" is a comment on the freeze-dried, health-conscious foods that seem to be the future. "Lovers on the Breeze" is a Pixar or Ghibli-esque story told from the perspective of a girl's beloved window curtain. Other stories are equally unique and endearing.

I must warn you though that if you are squeamish, this might not be the short story collection for you. The author seems to have a preoccupation with internal organs, sex, and weird foods. While we're at it, here's a Content Warning for cannibalism. This collection won't be for everyone, but if you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of the weird, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in July!

A short story collection by an author with a gift for conveying thought-provoking, socially relevant points through seemingly ordinary yet wholly bizarre scenarios. — the cover is a brilliant visual representation of this! Love it.

The first story was a fascinating snapshot of a soon-to-be-married couple with strongly opposing views on a topic...and it had my skin crawling! The titular story was an excellent commentary on social norms, and my interpretation is that it's the worst-case scenario of morality and ethics being regarded as “social constructs”. Because the majority agreed on a concept, social norms spiralled in a very dark, disturbing way. The story about burnout earned a sad chuckle from me, while the rest didn't particularly grab hold of me. Perhaps they were a bit too much for me, but I recognise the underlying messages despite not always finding them agreeable.

Overall, clever writing as always, and I'm so glad more of Murata's work is being translated! Her critiques are on point though it's an unsettling collection that certainly won’t be for everyone, especially sensitive readers.

"I mean, normal is a type of madness, isn't it? I think it's just that the only madness society allows is called normal" - this quote from the title-giving story is more or less Sayaka Murata's poetological standpoint in a nutshell. The author does not only question society's taboos, customs and standards, but when she offers different viewpoints, she proceeds to challenge them as well, thus refraining from offering simple solutions, or rather; any solutions at all. The problem at hand is that the world is absurd, and there's no remedy, a fact that is horrifying, sad, but also quite funny, all at once. The unsettling ambiguity Sayaka Murata evokes is what makes her novels Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings so strong, and the same goes for this short story collection.

This is the first collection of Murata's short stories translated into English, featuring twelve texts set in the present, future, and in alternate worlds, focusing on topics like:
- using human remains like skin and bones as material to craft furniture, jewellery, etc.;
- food as an example for cultural acceptance and the concept of normalcy;
- a 75-year-old virgin with two kids being friends with a senior nymphomaniac;
- a city in which no one sleeps;
- a man with burn-out being kept as a pet by schoolgirls;
- ritualistic cannibalism;
- a side story to Earthlings;
- a curtain as a narrator;
- a woman who identifies way too strongly with concrete buildings;
- a woman who tries to transform the city around her with, let's say: herbal remedies;
- aaaaand: a woman who has no personality.

Per usual in short story collections, some texts are stronger than others, but this one truly displays some gems like the title-giving "Life Ceremony" (cannibalism! sex! morality!), and the ones discussing the relativity of what counts as repulsive ("A Magnificient Spread") or, ähem, respectful, maybe ("A First-Rate Material" about, you know, making curtains out of human skin etc.). And how can you not love a story written from the perspective of a curtain?! Plus: Even the really, really short fragments absolutely deserve to be in there. I found the last three entries to be a little weaker, but hey, overall, this is great stuff.

Sayaka Murata is a prolific writer, which means: There are many more texts to be translated. I can't wait to read them.

*advance copy from Netgalley + Grove*

Raced through these short stories. Each of them asks questions of current norms, and challenges both what makes something ‘acceptable’ and how society’s perceptions and attitudes change over time. My faves were ‘Eating the City’ (about foraging) and ‘Hatchling’ (about the different personalities we become with different groups of people) but ‘A First Rate Material’ and ‘Life Ceremony’ are thoughtful about the use of human bodies + our relationship to them after death. some of the stories were a little underdeveloped for me ('Two's Family' and 'A Summer Night's Kiss') although the storylines were interesting nonetheless.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Grove Press for an advance copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Extraordinary stories from Sayaka Murata.

It appears that among many other wonderfully weird things, Murata's fascination with cannibalism and artificial insemination/insemination without sex that we witnessed in her previous novel "Earthlings" and her story "A Clean Marriage" respectively, continues to be carried in this story collection too. Murata's grand imagination always catches me unaware, shakes me up, forces me to stop and think about her characters' unusual perception of the world. Her writing always keeps her reader's attention and curiosity alive, making them want to read more, devour more. I'd love this book to be longer, filled with more stories, but every good thing comes to an end, I guess. I rarely re-read books anymore due to my evergrowing to-read list, yet if I re-read one soon, this one probably will be at the top of the list. Hence, 5 stars.