Life Ceremony

Yes, yes, yes! After a long time, a collection of short stories that I really enjoyed.

13 weird short stories. Most of them deal with some taboo theme or something strange to us, but in the story, this is normal. And in these stories, people who find this uncomfortable are unusual. We can read about diverse strangeness, from human parts used as clothes and furniture to unusual foods, families, and human pets. As expected, some stories are better than others. But I liked most of them, which is quite rare with short stories.

This was my second book by Sayaka Murata, and it sure won’t be my last.

Goodreads

Details:

• author: Sayaka Murata
  
• full title: Life Ceremony
  
• genre: literary fiction, short stories
• format/type: bookfiction
• country: japan
  
• topics: weird
  
• publisher: Granta
  
• publish date: 14.07.2022
  
• pages: 272
  

My Rating of the Book:

• content: 💙💙💙💙

Excerpt from the Book:

About the Author:

Sayaka Murata (in Japanese, 村田 沙耶香) is one of the most exciting up-and-coming writers in Japan today.   

She herself still works part time in a convenience store, which gave her the inspiration to write Convenience Store Woman (Konbini Ningen). She debuted in 2003 with Junyu (Breastfeeding), which won the Gunzo Prize for new writers. In 2009 she won the Noma Prize for New Writers with Gin iro no uta (Silver Song), and in 2013 the Mishima Yukio Prize for Shiro-oro no machi no, sono hone no taion no (Of Bones, of Body Heat, of Whitening City). Convenience Store Woman won the 2016 Akutagawa Award. Murata has two short stories published in English (both translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori): "Lover on the Breeze" (Ruptured Fiction(s) of the Earthquake, Waseda Bungaku, 2011) and "A Clean Marriage" (Granta 127: Japan, 2014).