Sayaka Murata

"With Life Ceremony, the incomparable Sayaka Murata, whose Convenience Store Woman has now sold more than a million copies worldwide, returns with a brilliant and wonderfully unsettling collection, her most recent fiction to be published in Japan. In these twelve stories, Murata mixes an unusual cocktail of humor and horror and turns the norms and traditions of society on their head to better question them. 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 what it means to be a human in a world that often seems very strange, and offers answers that surprise and linger"--

Stories

Life Ceremony

From the author of international bestseller “Convenience Store Woman” comes a collection of short fiction: weird, out of this world and like nothing you’ve read before.

An engaged couple falls out over the husband’s dislike of clothes and objects made from human materials; a young girl finds herself deeply enamoured with the curtain in her childhood bedroom; people honour their dead by eating them and then procreating. Published in English for the first time, this exclusive edition also includes the story that first brought Sayaka Murata international acclaim: ‘A Clean Marriage’, which tells the story of a happily asexual couple who must submit to some radical medical procedures if they are to conceive a longed-for child.

Mixing taboo-breaking body horror with feminist revenge fables, old ladies who love each other and young women finding empathy and transformation in unlikely places, Life Ceremony is a wild ride to the outer edges of one of the most original minds in contemporary fiction.

Klara Hansen 

“Do you think we're weird?" He shook his head. "No, I don't. 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." 

"’but don't you think Naoki's sick? How come he's so neurotic about human materials?’ ‘I don't know. It's probably got something to do with having had a bad relationship with his father when he was little."

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 reader'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.

Beautiful section. The last story resonated a lot with me. 

Makes me think about overdue friendships, relationships, situationships where -- as they end, we say goodbye to a version of them that we will never exist again in our universe. They turn into a reminder of our old selves. Funny how sometimes, we say goodbye to people, without even truely realizing it.

Ceren

The easygoing, simple and cheerful Masashi had already been wiped out of our world. He might still exist somewhere where I'm not, but I would never meet him again.

People are more easily taken by ugly thungs, not lovely things. That's reality, they'll say,  that's the truth! Then they'll follow their imagination and follow a banal story to satisfy themselves, and they feel reassured.

Lindsay

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

Instinct doesn't exist. Morals don't exist. They were just fake sensibilities that came from a world that was constantly transforming transforming.

“Human hair is just the thing to wear for formal occasions, like meeting your future in-laws.”

“But it always was, wasn’t it? That’s what family is. Children always leave the nest,”

I’ll have to reference this story to shitty people all the time 

“People who always eat the same food are constantly missing out on the opportunity to learn, you see.”

I really enjoyed this book. It’s so weird and disgusting but at the same time I love the way her writing does this. My favourite short story is probably “Two’s Family” but man they were all good. 

Jeremy Wang

oh sayaka, i can’t tell if you’re actually weird or if you just never grew past eight years old. i’m leaning toward the former because there are some actual philosophical gems in this collection, but honestly half the stories read as if elon musk siphoned off a few million and paid an edgy kid to turn their favorite daydream into literature. 

all of these stories discuss the theme of naturality. for example: is it natural to treat the human body as sacrosanct? when it dies, why not eat it or use it to make furniture or clothing? why shouldn’t our buildings and cities be treated with as much reverence? sayaka interrogates every aspect of human society under this unflinching lens of “naturality”. 

i really resonated with hatchling and its chaotic confusion about identity. eating the city was a wonderful adventure until it adopted some earthlings-esque cultish overtones. and of course the titular story was sayaka at her cannibal-loving best. what a curious person.

oh sayaka. only you can write so indulgently about cannibalism and get away with it. 

charisa

Anyaconda

Another fabulous and thoughtful reading experience by Sayaka Murata.
What a trip! As it goes with short story collections, some I enjoyed more than others. That's why this only gets 4 stars. 
I really enjoyed "First Rate Material", "A Magnificent Spread", "Life Ceremony" and "Hatchling".

The topics are highly interesting and makes you question our culture, ethics, behavior and moral choices and how they might change over time.

I'm eagerly awaiting the author's next novel.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Leisha Chadwick

i just love sayaka murata, absolute weirdo

Probably one of the weirdest books I've ever read. Would recommend.

this blew my mind and changed how i see world. fuck the societal norms i guess.

Beautiful writing. The author has an amazing imagination and was able to pull the reader into different worlds. I did find this book a bit strange and often lost my appetite lol

lucy lou

Stef

High Fidelity

Thank you, Net Galley, for the opportunity to read this book in digital format.
It is an average collection of short stories.
For me, only two of them really piqued my interest and held my attention. The concepts of those were amazing. 
Everything else was not my cup of tea.
Too bland, too without a context or convincing setting that bothers me.

expected nothing less than cannibalism from her

Camille Wenner

five stars with a caveat - the first half of the stories are nowhere near as good as the latter half. The first few felt like underdeveloped ideas, where Murata was not really being true to herself and carrying out her ideas to their logical extreme as she usually does. at that point I was genuinely going to give the book 2.5 stars but then it really surprisingly picked up and hence the five star review! I absolutely am enthralled slash disgusted by the fact that her humans are so dissociated from their bodies, so divorced from any idea of what humanity actually is. 

Kwan Ann Tan

Loved this latest collection of stories by Sayaka Murata in all their weirdness. Some of them I could easily see expanded into novels.

Mario Menti 

My first read by Sayaka Murata was Convenience Store Woman and it was eccentric and bold and in your face. I believe Murata brought that same energy to her short stories in Life Ceremony. The plots were dark and morbid but delivered with a tongue-in-cheek flourish that enticed you again and again to the next story, no matter how twisted (I am looking at you "Lover on the Breeze"🤨). I highly recommend these stories and had a really fun time reading them.

Life Ceremony Stories

Reviews

Highlights