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.
© 2022 Blackstone Publishing (Audiolibro): 9798212188326
Traductores: Ginny Tapley Takemori
Fecha de lanzamiento
Audiolibro: 25 de octubre de 2022
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.
© 2022 Blackstone Publishing (Audiolibro): 9798212188326
Traductores: Ginny Tapley Takemori
Fecha de lanzamiento
Audiolibro: 25 de octubre de 2022
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bookishluby.hn
3 ene 2024
Short stories filled with authentic, ironic, and mostly weird characters in odd story plots... MURATA IS TRUE TO HERSELF.
Dilvy
5 nov 2022
I LOVE Sayaka Murata. I wish I could speak Japanese so I wouldn't have to wait for translations.The way her quirky characters see life is really fascinating to me.I'm not giving this book 5 stars because some of the stories weren't specially remarkable for me and/or the fact that some characters were pretty similar to others but not the same confused me and distracted me, thinking that she should write a book like "A Visit From The Goon Squad" where characters are always related in the different stories. Despite that frustration, several stories moved me or shocked (me in a good and fun way). Murata-sensei manages to put beauty and love into topics that could be considered outrageous and I love that.My favorites were: A first-rate material, A magnificent spread, Two's family, Poochie, Life Ceremony and Hatchling.I saw a little bit of myself in those, well, except for Poochie... that one was just weird.Oh, and I believe one story is missing in the audiobook: A Clean Marriage.
Kat
8 nov 2022
Le doy 4 estrellas porque hay un par de historias que no fueron tan buenas, pero hay unas 3 o 4 historias que me parecieron excelentes. Me encanta que la autora escribe de cosas muy incómodas y asquerosas pero de una forma muy inteligente.
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