A review by vetathebooksurfer
Life Ceremony, by Sayaka Murata
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
ARC REVIEW LIFE CEREMONY BY SAYKA MURATA
[ARC provided by NetGally in exchange for honest review]
TW: eating disorder, can*niba*lism (using human cor*pses in various ways), se*xual content
From my blogging style you’ve probably gathered that Sayka Murata is one of my favourite contemporary Japanese authors, and that’s so for a reason: she doesn’t shy away from hard truths, while her characters - mostly women and young girls - are able to find happiness in extreme circumstances.
While Convenience Store Woman (pub. 2016) is mostly nice and cheerful, although at times weird - the protagonist, a small child, suggests cooking a dead bird for dinner, her second book, Earthlings (pub. 2018), is rough to an extreme - which I personally don’t find weird at all, - and tells a story about a Japanese girl to whom the world of Earth adults is no easy to survive in, than any uninhabited planet.
There are certain motives flowing through both of these books: unusual morals, characters unbound by societies expectations, treating food as an cultural embodiment /mere means to survive, unusual representation of love and feelings. Via Murata’s gaze we don’t find the protagonist weird, it’s the society. which is weird, wild and threatening. And after going through the Earthlings reviews, I noticed that Sayka Murata originally became popular in Japan for her weird short stories. I presume, this is them.
Life Ceremony is a collection of twelve short stories. I immensely enjoyed every single of them: it portrays women, that aren’t supposed to be happy - they are single, odd, having weird eating preferences, doesn’t fit in, have little to no voice of their own. Nonetheless, they are genuinely happy living in harmony with their surrounds. This is the human ability to adapt to anything in order to survive.
Though some of Murata’s characters consciously adapt to blend in perfectly, others find their voice through remarkable situations: refusing to eat and use dead bodies, while it’s considered honourable to the dead, looking for wild herbs in the city, feeling jealous for one’s own mantle piece or refusing one’s sexuality to be claimed by society.
Which leads me to my favourite part about Murata’s books: she gently shows how easy your relatives fall for any lie you create for them, as long as it sounds a little bit believable. People who supposed to genuinely care about you, are satisfied by their own explanations, despite you suffering and calling for help right in front of them.
Sayka Murata’s books make me - a young queer-woman - feel seen and understood. Totally recommend it, if you’re comfortable with these TW!
[ARC provided by NetGally in exchange for honest review]
TW: eating disorder, can*niba*lism (using human cor*pses in various ways), se*xual content
From my blogging style you’ve probably gathered that Sayka Murata is one of my favourite contemporary Japanese authors, and that’s so for a reason: she doesn’t shy away from hard truths, while her characters - mostly women and young girls - are able to find happiness in extreme circumstances.
While Convenience Store Woman (pub. 2016) is mostly nice and cheerful, although at times weird - the protagonist, a small child, suggests cooking a dead bird for dinner, her second book, Earthlings (pub. 2018), is rough to an extreme - which I personally don’t find weird at all, - and tells a story about a Japanese girl to whom the world of Earth adults is no easy to survive in, than any uninhabited planet.
There are certain motives flowing through both of these books: unusual morals, characters unbound by societies expectations, treating food as an cultural embodiment /mere means to survive, unusual representation of love and feelings. Via Murata’s gaze we don’t find the protagonist weird, it’s the society. which is weird, wild and threatening. And after going through the Earthlings reviews, I noticed that Sayka Murata originally became popular in Japan for her weird short stories. I presume, this is them.
Life Ceremony is a collection of twelve short stories. I immensely enjoyed every single of them: it portrays women, that aren’t supposed to be happy - they are single, odd, having weird eating preferences, doesn’t fit in, have little to no voice of their own. Nonetheless, they are genuinely happy living in harmony with their surrounds. This is the human ability to adapt to anything in order to survive.
Though some of Murata’s characters consciously adapt to blend in perfectly, others find their voice through remarkable situations: refusing to eat and use dead bodies, while it’s considered honourable to the dead, looking for wild herbs in the city, feeling jealous for one’s own mantle piece or refusing one’s sexuality to be claimed by society.
Which leads me to my favourite part about Murata’s books: she gently shows how easy your relatives fall for any lie you create for them, as long as it sounds a little bit believable. People who supposed to genuinely care about you, are satisfied by their own explanations, despite you suffering and calling for help right in front of them.
Sayka Murata’s books make me - a young queer-woman - feel seen and understood. Totally recommend it, if you’re comfortable with these TW!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cannibalism and Eating disorder
Minor: Sexual content