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.