Life Ceremony

Stories

De: Sayaka Murata

Narrado por: Emily Woo Zeller, Jeena Yi, Nancy Wu, Natalie Naudus, Eunice Wong, Pun Bandhu

The long-awaited first short story-collection by the author of the cult sensation Convenience Store Woman, tales of weird love, heartfelt friendships, and the unsettling nature of human existence

With Life Ceremony, the incomparable Sayaka Murata is back with her first collection of short stories ever to be translated into English. In Japan, Murata is particularly admired for her short stories, which are sometimes sweet, sometimes shocking, and always imbued with an otherworldly imagination and uncanniness.

In these twelve stories, Murata mixes an unusual cocktail of humor and horror to portray both the loners and outcasts as well as turning the norms and traditions of society on their head to better question them. Whether the stories take place in modern-day Japan, the future, or an alternate reality is left to the audience's interpretation, as the characters often seem strange in their normality in a frighteningly abnormal world. In “A First-Rate Material,” Nana and Naoki are happily engaged, but Naoki can’t stand the conventional use of deceased people’s bodies for clothing, accessories, and furniture, and a disagreement around this threatens to derail their perfect wedding day. “Lovers on the Breeze” is told from the perspective of a curtain in a child’s bedroom that jealously watches the young girl Naoko as she has her first kiss with a boy from her class and does its best to stop her. “Eating the City” explores the strange norms around food and foraging, while “Hatchling” closes the collection with an extraordinary depiction of the fractured personality of someone who tries too hard to fit in.

In these strange and wonderful stories of family and friendship, sex and intimacy, belonging and individuality, Murata asks above all what it means to be a human in our world and offers answers that surprise and linger.

©2019 by Sayaka Murata. English translation © 2022 by Ginny Tapley Takemori (P)2022 by Blackstone Publishing

still a fun read

Still so wonderfully weird but thought provoking as ever. Really enjoyed these. not as weird as her other books in thar you wonder about hers or your sanity. I will keep reading her works.

Fun and thought provoking

Great book with a few fun and thought provoking stories, though a couple of the stories were a bit underwhelming in comparison to the seemingly more developed and thought through stories it was still a good experience.
As for the narration I found the second narrators voice a bit grating and the narration robotic, otherwise a great listen.

Really caught my attention

A unique twist on we humans. Made me think about my relationship with humans and our relationship with food.

Excelente calidad

Sayaka tiene un estilo y una voz propia muy original, dónde logra crear una atmósfera que se siente real pero un poco extraño, un poco uncanny valley. Con las colecciones de cuentos es difícil mantener una calidad pareja, pero creo que está es una de las pocas veces que realmente todos los cuentos me gustaron. Mis favoritos son el de las estrellas y Body Magic.

Disturbingly beautiful

Murata's style is so unique, and I always end up loving it. She is well on her way to becoming one of my all-time favorite authors.