“Picking up on themes in her novel Earthlings, most of these stories are about alienation, exploring what it means to be ‘normal’ through a close focus on characters, nearly always women, who do not conform to social expectations . . . The author’s plain, clear, observational style makes the stories strangely believable, easy to read and hard to forget.”—Lisa Tuttle, Guardian

“Life Ceremony uncovers Murata’s preoccupation with our species’ norms writ large, beyond gender, sex, and reproduction. Several stories imagine near-future worlds in which bodies find new uses after death . . . In offering such exaggerated scenarios, Murata exposes the lunacy of the norms we so blithely follow . . . Murata’s lifelong feeling of being a stranger has given her a perspective from which to create her worlds.”—WIRED

“Sayaka Murata writes about the life more ordinary . . . But ordinary is a shape-shifting concept . . . Murata’s prose, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori, is both spare and dreamlike . . . Murata’s skill is in turning round the world so that the abnormal, uncivil or even savage paths appear—if momentarily—to make sense.”—Louise Lucas, Financial Times

“Life Ceremony is not a book for the squeamish or easily shocked . . . Much of the humor in these stories comes from the incongruity of grotesque elements in quotidian settings, such as when the characters in Life Ceremony discuss with perfect earnestness how they’ll have to carefully prepare a deceased co-worker’s flesh for a stir-fry with cashew nuts . . . At their best, these macabre stories are suffused with a tender compassion for the foibles of their characters.”—Florentyna Leow, Japan Times

“In Life Ceremony, Murata’s first collection of short stories to appear in English, her narratives are conspicuously weirder, weird in the sense of weird tales—dark and macabre, surprising and strange. The twelve stories blend humor and horror to examine societal norms, and to expose how bizarre and oppressive certain social standards and traditions can be, especially for women . . . Murata’s signature matter-of-fact tone makes this off-kilter reality both viscerally and intellectually provocative . . . Translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori, Murata’s style is deceptively blunt and direct, making for a lightning-quick read. And yet, the stories’ haunting premises linger in the mind.”—Kathleen Rooney, Liber

“Mixes her signature blend of the humorous, the awkward, and the terrifying to tell stories of loners and outcasts who buck traditions and societal expectations. Murata’s stories will have you questioning what it means to be human in this world and what is sacrificed when we try too hard to fit in.”—Book Riot

“A strange, inventive, and disconcerting collection of dystopian fiction . . . Marvel at Murata’s brash imagination and bravery, but be warned: Life Ceremony is not for the squeamish.”—New Statesman

“The short-story format serves up a buffet of settings for Murata to work her magic. Whether they’re about eating one’s colleagues, or a sexless marriage, the stories are snapshots of rational, believable worlds on which are projected normal madnesses—and things we might not want to admit we think about—in all their funny, disgusting, innocent human glory.”—Russell Thomas, South China Morning Post

“[Life Ceremony is] strange. Like, brilliantly, properly strange—there’s nothing you’ve read before that you can compare to this. Want to read about a girl who falls in love with her bedroom curtain? You can do that here. How about people who honour their dead by eating them and then procreating? You came to the right place. It’s a wild ride to the edges of your imagination and comprehension—and well worth the trip.”—Harper’s Bazaar (Australia)