Sayaka Murata

Tras murakami, la nueva voz de la literatura japonesa. «Una novela extraordinaria sobre lo difícil que resulta a veces formar parte del mundo.» The New York TimesKeiko Furukura tiene 36 años y está s

Keiko Furukura tiene 36 años y está soltera. De hecho, nunca ha tenido pareja. Desde que abandonó a su tradicional familia para mudarse a Tokio, trabaja a tiempo parcial como dependienta de una konbini, un supermercado japones abierto las 24 horas del dia. Siempre ha sentido que no encajaba en la sociedad, pero en la tienda ha encontrado un mundo predecible, gobernado por un manual que dicta a los trabajadores como actuar y que decir. Ha conseguido lograr esa normalidad que la sociedad le reclama: todos quieren ver a Keiko formar un hogar, seguir un camino convencional que la convierta, a sus ojos, en una adulta.Con esta vision hilarante de las expectativas de la sociedad hacia las mujeres solteras, Sayaka Murata se ha consagrado como la nueva voz de la literatura japonesa.

From the author of international bestseller Convenience Store Woman comes a collection of short fiction: weird, out of this world and like nothing you've read before. An engaged couple falls out over the husband's dislike of clothes and objects made from human materials; a young girl finds herself deeply enamoured with the curtain in her childhood bedroom; people honour their dead by eating them and then procreating. Published in English for the first time, this exclusive edition also includes the story that first brought Sayaka Murata international acclaim: 'A Clean Marriage', which tells the story of a happily asexual couple who must submit to some radical medical procedures if they are to conceive a longed-for child. Mixing taboo-breaking body horror with feminist revenge fables, old ladies who love each other and young women finding empathy and transformation in unlikely places, Life Ceremony is a wild ride to the outer edges of one of the most original minds in contemporary fiction.

Mind-blowing, twisted and wildly entertaining, Earthlings asks: how far would you go just to be yourself?As a child, Natsuki believed she was an alien, a different species to her earthling family and classmates. She hoped a spaceship would come down and take her home. Now, she lives quietly in an asexual marriage, pretending to be normal.But the buried horrors of Natsuki's past are pursuing her. As she flees the suburbs for the Nagano mountains and a reunion with her beloved cousin Yuu, she wonders, what will it take to escape the earthlings?

Keiko has never really fitted in. At school and university people find her odd and her family worries she'll never be normal. To appease them, Keiko takes a job at a newly opened convenience store. Here, she finds peace and purpose in the simple, daily tasks and routine interactions. She is, she comes to understand, happiest as a convenience store worker. But in Keiko's social circle it just won't do for an unmarried woman to spend all her time stacking shelves and re-ordering green tea. As pressure mounts on Keiko to find either a new job, or worse, a husband, she is forced to take desperate action... A best-seller in Japan, and the winner of the prestigious Akutagawa Prize, Convenience Store Woman marks the English-language debut of a writer who has been hailed as the most exciting voice of her generation.

This Akutagawa-prize winning novel follows the everyday activities of an unconventional woman who finds happiness in convenience store work, despite mounting familial pressure to marry or move along to a different kind of life. *Also appeared in March Buyer's Notes*

Una novel·la provocadora sobre lexigencia demmotllar-nos a les expectatives de la societat.La Keiko Furukura sempre va ser considerada una nena estranya, fins que a 18 anys va començara treballar a temps parcial en una botiga oberta les 24 hores. Per a la Keiko, la botigava representar un mon ordenat i predictible que li va permetre comportar-se com unapersonanormal. Modelica, fins i tot. Pero quan en te 36, encara continua en aquesta feina destudiantsi mestresses de casa que necessiten un sobresou, i no ha tingut mai parella ni gairesamics. Ella esta contenta amb la seva vida, si be sadona que no respon a les expectatives dela societat i que la seva familia samoina. Quan un jove cinic i amargat comença a treballar a labotiga, la vida tranquil·la de la Keiko es veura alterada... pero, sera per a be?

Una novel·la provocadora sobre lexigencia demmotllar-nos a les expectatives de la societat.La Keiko Furukura sempre va ser considerada una nena estranya, fins que a 18 anys va començar a treballar a temps parcial en una botiga oberta les 24 hores. Per a la Keiko, la botiga va representar un mon ordenat i predictible que li va permetre comportar-se com unapersona normal. Modelica, fins i tot. Pero quan en te 36, encara continua en aquesta feina destudiants i mestresses de casa que necessiten un sobresou, i no ha tingut mai parella ni gaires amics. Ella esta contenta amb la seva vida, si be sadona que no respon a les expectatives de la societat i que la seva familia samoina. Quan un jove cinic i amargat comença a treballar a la botiga, la vida tranquil·la de la Keiko es veura alterada... pero, sera per a be?

From the author of international bestseller Convenience Store Woman comes a collection of short fiction: weird, out of this world and like nothing you've read before.An engaged couple falls out over the husband's dislike of clothes and objects made from human materials; a young girl finds herself deeply enamoured with the curtain in her childhood bedroom; people honour their dead by eating them and then procreating. Published in English for the first time, this exclusive edition also includes the story that first brought Sayaka Murata international acclaim: 'A Clean Marriage', which tells the story of a happily asexual couple who must submit to some radical medical procedures if they are to conceive a longed-for child.Mixing taboo-breaking body horror with feminist revenge fables, old ladies who love each other and young women finding empathy and transformation in unlikely places, Life Ceremony is a wild ride to the outer edges of one of the most original minds in contemporary fiction.