LIFE CEREMONY Stories

A cast of gifted narrators inhabits this edgy, sometimes gruesome, collection of short stories by Japanese author Murata, best known for her cult novel, CONVENIENCE STORE WOMAN. Eunice Wong delivers the title story, as well as "A Magnificent Spread," lending a tone of mischief to tales of macabre food adventures. Nancy Wu's warm voice deftly handles the most sentimental of the stories, "A Summer Night's Kiss" and "Two's Family." Natalie Naudus, Jeena Yi, Pun Bandhu, and Emily Woo Zeller round out the rest of this first-rate team of storytellers; each of their voices is unique, but each is also a piece of a larger mosaic. This is what a masterful audio collection of short stories should be and one that experienced listeners will relish. D.G.L. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2023]