What I believe in is to “keep thinking” and “keep doubting”. The moment I make up my mind about something, I feel as though my brain stops thinking, and that scares me. Therefore, I personally feel it’s important to keep questioning things even if it doesn’t benefit myself.

In this off-kilter collection, Murata brings a grotesque whimsy to her fables of cultural norms . . . Like the author’s novels, this brims with ideas.” — Publishers Weekly Hayes, Stephanie (2020-11-09). "A Dystopian Novel That Challenges Taboos and Refuses Judgment". The Atlantic . Retrieved 2021-12-05. A spare, quietly brilliant novel . . . Like being lulled into a soft calm.” —Arianna Rebolini, BuzzFeed Murata creates an original and surreal world in the most unlikely places. Furukura, the convenience store woman, is a strange, complex, gripping protagonist who inadvertently propels her own story forth through a series of subtle actions yet it is through these actions and also the spareness of the author’s prose that we see what a master Murata truly is. This book is not only readable, it is fun, thought provoking and at times outrageous and outrageously funny. It is sure to be a standout of the year.” —Weike Wang, author of Chemistry

a b Specchio, Anna (July 5, 2018). "Eutopizing the Dystopia. Gender Roles, Motherhood and Reproduction in Murata Sayaka's "Satsujin Shussan" ". Metacritic Journal for Comparative Studies and Theory. 4 (1): 94–108. doi: 10.24193/mjcst.2018.5.06. ISSN 2457-8827. Now, on the contrary, I like to eat mysterious things. The act of eating gives me a strange sensation of a connection between a cultural object and the body. Not only while chewing, but also after that, I feel the object melt in my stomach and the process of how that affects my body. With enough knowledge and information, I’d be happy to put even the strangest things in my stomach. In 2020, we finally get our hands on Sayaka Murata’s newest novel . . . A new statement by Murata that finding your own freedom is a struggle against family and society which takes sacrifice.” — Books and Bao Praise for Convenience Store Woman: Rich, Motoko (June 11, 2018). "For Japanese Novelist Sayaka Murata, Odd Is the New Normal". The New York Times . Retrieved June 14, 2018. While Murata interrogates our shifting cultural norms and asks why certains aspects are taboo, it isn’t to say that normalization is always a good thing or not, but merely to show that society is fluid and that morals themselves are a construct. They reflect what a society values, as when she write ‘ based on the idea of birthing life from death, this ceremony was a perfect fit for the mentality of the masses and their unconscious obsession with breeding.’ In many instances in the story, the characters begin to see humans less as a higher species but returning them in their minds with the animal kingdom.

Many of Murata's main heroines find themselves in asexual relationships, such as Natsuki in Earthling and Keiko in Convenience Store Woman. [19] [20] Asexuality is a theme that coincides with questioning the standards society typically expects from citizens, a notion that Murata explores frequently. [16] The asexuality prevalent in Murata's works can also be attributed to Japan's rising aversion towards sex. [18] Global warming and climate change [ edit ] The flat prose also conceals her judgment: Although her characters argue and discuss the question of norms, Murata’s voice never takes sides. She wants to create ambiguity and sensibility, not certainty. In contrast to the protagonist, another character in the story “Life Ceremony” calls the world a “brilliant mirage, a temporary illusion” that is simultaneously real: “All our little lies are gathered together and become a reality that you can see only now.” Although absolute norms may not exist, collective belief renders them tangible. Murata’s word choices — “mirage,” “illusion,” “lies” — asks the reader to challenge their notion of “reality.” 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. We may be headed in a dangerous direction, but the vague conclusion seemed to be that we wouldn’t know unless we tried.’ A Clean Marriage" was published in English in Granta 127: Japan in 2014, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori. [26]

A Summer Night's Kiss" was published in English in Astra: Ecstasy in 2022, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori. [30] I don’t have any control of my stories, so when I heard Maho’s words and the confidence she had in asserting them so flatly, it surprised me. At first, I wondered if her thoughts were too extreme. But as I wrote the book, I questioned my opinion. An exhilaratingly weird and funny Japanese novel about a long-term convenience store employee. Unsettling and totally unpredictable—my copy is now heavily underlined.” —Sally Rooney, Guardian Everyone keeps telling little lies, and that’s how the mirage is created. That’s why it’s beautiful—because it’s a momentary make-believe world.’ Murata, Sayaka (April 12, 2022). A Summer Night's Kiss (Literary magazine). Astra House. ISBN 9781662619007 . Retrieved May 27, 2022.

Murata’s premises are always eye-opening, and the result will intrigue and satisfy readers of literary and speculative fiction alike.”— Library Journal Praise for Sayaka Murata: In the end, the Clean Breeder involves a kind of farcical and even obscene role reversal that puts all the discomfort and indignity of childbirth on the narrator’s husband—at least in the moment of conception. The man is the partner uncomfortably strapped down. He is the one facing the nurses’ condescending encouragement: “One last little push, Mr. Takahashi!”I thought this story was quite bland. I think that Murata could have definitely taken this one step forward and even intensify in ways. I think different styles of foods through culture and the way that different cultures make food are so commonly criticized and I think that this could have definitely talked about it a bit more. ok yeah i see what's happening!!! enjoyed this one, although it felt a little incomplete (but it's a short story so i think i'll just have to get used to that). will never look at wedding veils the same way again. cheers! I liked this one more than the last one only because it had more weight and importance on it. It was cute seeing their friendship and what their life was like. Again, not too much happened here but I liked it. It’s the novel’s cumulative, idiosyncratic poetry that lingers, attaining a weird, fluorescent kind of beauty all of its own.” —Julie Myerson, Guardian Did you set out to write a collection of short stories or does Life Ceremony draw together stories written over an extended period of time? And what ties them together as a collection?

As in Convenience Store Woman, Murata displays her gift for scrambling notions of utopia and dystopia to propulsive effect — only this time, her characters are convinced that they’re rebelling, not conforming . . . Murata manages what her characters cannot: She transcends society’s core values, to dizzying effect. As Earthlings swerves into violent, transgressive, fantastical territory, Murata—ever the good scientist—keeps us in thrall by never putting her thumb on the scale. Her matter-of-fact rendering of wild events is as disorienting as it is intriguing.”— Stephanie Hayes, Atlantic In “Life Ceremony,” the mirage falls apart when one sees through it. Murata is interested in what happens to those who do, those who refuse to conform. Some of her characters stay true to their beliefs and face ridicule and ostracization, some slowly conform or at least lose their grasp on right or wrong: “I just don’t know what to think anymore” and “maybe everyone’s right,” one thinks — thoughts the reader may also have throughout the collection. A darkly comic, deeply unsettling examination of contemporary life, of alienation, of capitalism, of identity, of conformity. We’ve all been to this convenience store, whether it’s in Japan or somewhere else.” —Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer

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Per usual in short story collections, some texts are stronger than others, but this one truly displays some gems like the title-giving "Life Ceremony" (cannibalism! sex! morality!), and the ones discussing the relativity of what counts as repulsive ("A Magnificient Spread") or, ähem, respectful, maybe ("A First-Rate Material" about, you know, making curtains out of human skin etc.). And how can you not love a story written from the perspective of a curtain?! Plus: Even the really, really short fragments absolutely deserve to be in there. I found the last three entries to be a little weaker, but hey, overall, this is great stuff.