Book Review: Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata

My Rating: 

3.37⭐️

Life Ceremony by  Sayaka Murata (translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori) is a collection of twelve wildly imaginative, bizarre and unique short stories.

The first story, A First-Rate Material, (4/5 for the unique concept but this one did make me a bit queasy) is set in a future where premium clothing, home décor and furniture are made from human remains (skin, bone, nails, etc) and a soon to be married couple disagree over their preferences/abhorrence for the same. A Magnificent Spread (4/5) revolves around two sisters, one of who is soon to be engaged and how their beliefs and their food preferences can either be a unifying factor and promote tolerance or tear them apart. A Summer Night's Kiss (2/5) is more a vignette than a story that depicts an interaction between two very different women who have been lifelong friends – one promiscuous, the other reserved who is enticed by her more promiscuous friend into trying fruit the texture of which is similar to a boy’s tongue.

In Two's Family (4/5), we meet two women – friends who have raised their respective children together in an unconventional family setup. The Time of a Large Star (4/5) revolves around a little girl who moves to a country where nobody sleeps. Poochie (3/5) tells the story of two schoolgirls who adopt and care for an unlikely pet. The titular story Life Ceremony (3.5/5) revolves around a custom of feasting on the human remains of the recently deceased – an effort to fortify the friends and family partaking in the ceremony with the necessary life essence to procreate in a world where the human population is dwindling.  Body Magic (3/5)  revolves around sexual curiosity and awareness among teenagers. Lover on the Breeze (3/5) traces the attachment that forms between a young girl and the curtains that adorn her bedroom window over the years. Puzzle  (2/5 but another one that I did find more than a little gross) a woman’s discomfort with her own body manifests in a weird obsession with other people’s bodies and their bodily fluids. In Eating the City  (4/5) a young woman tries to recreate her experiences of eating fresh vegetables in the countryside during her childhood by experimenting with wild vegetation, dandelions and weeds that she scavenges from the city she now lives in. The final story Hatchling (4/5) revolves around the concept of belongingness and blending in. A woman who adopts different personas in order to blend in with her different “communities” in her personal and professional life finds it hard to understand her true self in the wake of her wedding.

Most of the stories revolve around female characters and touch upon themes of family, identity, relationships, individuality and belongingness. The stories vary in tone and setting – from darkly funny and futuristic, bold and feminist to dystopian yet awkwardly sentimental. I had thoroughly enjoyed Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata in the past and therefore was eager to read this collection. Though some stories are a bit disturbing the collection is addictive and engaging and Murata pushes her imagination (and the readers') to extreme limits- blurring the distinction between normal and abnormal. 

“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."

(from the titular stories Life Ceremony)

While I admire the writing and the creativity of the author and I did like the intention and messages the author sought to convey, I was not blown away by this collection as many other readers have been.