Books like 'Life Ceremony'
Readers who enjoyed Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary asia east-asia japan literary-fiction magical-realism
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All Fires the Fire by Julio Cortázar
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsCortazar's stories are like small time pieces, where each polished part moves relentlessly on its own particular path, exercising a crucial and perpetual influence on the mechanism as a whole...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century adult anthologies classics contemporary fiction -
![Han cantado bingo by Lana Corujo]()
Han cantado bingo by Lana Corujo
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsTodo empieza con un algunas noches, en los diez minutos suspendidos antes de que Abuela regrese del bingo, dos hermanas salen a escondidas por la puerta de atrás hasta El Ahorcado —un volcán redondo como una panza bocarriba—, cuentan hasta tres y corren de vuelta sin mirar atrás...Categorized as:
magical-realism literary-fiction fiction contemporary female-author coming-of-age family book -
![Nostalgia by Mircea Cărtărescu]()
Nostalgia by Mircea Cărtărescu
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsMircea Cartarescu, born in 1956, is one of Romania's leading novelists and poets...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century adult book classics contemporary fiction -
![Your Absence is Darkness by Jón Kalman Stefánsson]()
Your Absence is Darkness by Jón Kalman Stefánsson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA spellbinding saga about the inhabitants and inheritors of one rural community, by one of Iceland's most beloved novelists. A man comes to awareness in a church in rural Iceland, not knowing why he’s there or how he arrived... -
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![Petrovi u gripu i oko njega by Aleksei Salnikov, Алексей Сальников]()
Petrovi u gripu i oko njega by Aleksei Salnikov, Алексей Сальников
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAleksej Saljnikov rođen je 7. avgusta 1978. u gradu Tartu, Estonija), od 1984. živeo je na Uralu, a od 2005. godine u Jekaterinburgu, gde se i odvija radnja njegovog romana.Debitovao je kao pesnik. Širom Rusije postao je poznat posle objavljivanja romana Petrovi u gripu i oko njega, koji je od žirija kritike dobio književnu nagradu NOS; dobitnik je i nagrade Nacionalni bestseler (2018)...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism 21st-century action-adventure adult audiobook book contemporary -
![A River Called Time by Mia Couto]()
A River Called Time by Mia Couto
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratings"Extraordinary vision . . . his prose is suffused with striking images."—The Washington Post"To read Mia Couto is to encounter a peculiarly African sensibility, a writer of fluid, fragmentary narratives . . . remarkable... -
![The Early Stories, 1953-1975 by John Updike]()
The Early Stories, 1953-1975 by John Updike
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsGathering together almost all the short fiction that John Updike published between 1953 and 1975, this collection opens with Updike's autobiographical stories about a young boy growing up during the Depression in a small Pennsylvania town. There follows tales of life away from home, student days, early marriage and young families, and finally Updike's experimental stories on 'The Single Life'...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies classics contemporary fiction humor -
![Ministry of Moral Panic by Amanda Lee Koe]()
Ministry of Moral Panic by Amanda Lee Koe
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAmanda Lee Koe (Delayed Rays of a Star) made her mark with this debut collection of short fiction, with tales as colourful as their characters.Meet an over-the-hill pop yé-yé singer with a faulty heart; two conservative middle-aged women holding hands in the Galápagos, and the proprietor of a Laundromat with a penchant for Cantonese songs of heartbreak...Categorized as:
asia literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary female-author fiction -
![Shadowless by Hasan Ali Toptaş]()
Shadowless by Hasan Ali Toptaş
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsHasan Ali Toptas exquisitely weaves an enigmatic, mystical tale of memory and identity, displacement and belonging 'I'm a barber,' he said. 'I come from afar. Across lands already forgotten…' In an Anatolian village forgotten both by God and the government, the muhtar has been elected leader for the sixteenth successive year... -
![Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami]()
Dance Dance Dance by Haruki Murakami
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsIn this propulsive novel by the author of Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World and The Elephant Vanishes, one of the most idiosyncratically brilliant writers at work in any language fuses science fiction, the hard-boiled thriller and white-hot satire into a new element of the literary periodic table... -
![Oração para Desaparecer by Socorro Acioli]()
Oração para Desaparecer by Socorro Acioli
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsPrimeiro romance de Socorro Acioli após A cabeça do santo, Oração para Desaparecer conta a história de uma mulher que, sem lembrança nenhuma de seu passado, precisa reconstruir a vida em um lugar completamente desconhecido, apenas com a língua portuguesa como porto seguro.Cida, uma mulher sem identidade nem memória, reconstrói pouco a pouco uma nova vida em um lugar completamente desconhecido...Categorized as:
magical-realism literary-fiction romance fiction fantasy contemporary audiobook book -
![1Q84 BOOK2〈7月‐9月〉後編 by Haruki Murakami, 村上 春樹]()
1Q84 BOOK2〈7月‐9月〉後編 by Haruki Murakami, 村上 春樹
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 39 ratings1Q84, by Haruki Murakami, is a near-past story inspired by Orwells futuristic 1984. It is told through the bizarre experiences of two protagonists searching for each other: a woman who descends into an alternate universe in 1984, and a passive college entrance exam prep instructor who is also an unfulfilled novelist. However the world they exist in is more bizarre than they are... -
![Portable Childhoods by Ellen Klages, Neil Gaiman]()
Portable Childhoods by Ellen Klages, Neil Gaiman
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEmerging from a unique and powerful voice, this innovative collection offers a tantalizing glimpse of what lies hidden just beyond the ordinary, skirting the border between childhood and adulthood...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism anthologies contemporary fiction lgbtq low-fantasy magic -
![The Art of Us by Hilaria Alexander]()
The Art of Us by Hilaria Alexander
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTwo years ago, his kiss left her reeling, but she pushed him away and they never spoke of it again. Lena Andrews is bad at love, and has no intention of getting better at it. Men are good for one thing, and love isn’t it. She’s perfectly okay with finding happiness in her job as a comic book artist. Yet, she can’t shake the memory of her coworker’s kiss. Amos St... -
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![Safe as Houses by Marie-Helene Bertino]()
Safe as Houses by Marie-Helene Bertino
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsSafe as Houses, the debut story collection of Marie-Helene Bertino, proves that not all homes are shelters. The titular story revolves around an aging English professor who, mourning the loss of his wife, robs other people's homes of their sentimental knick-knacks. In "Free Ham," a young dropout wins a ham after her house burns down and refuses to accept it...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary female-author female-mc fiction -
![A Crown of Feathers by Isaac Bashevis Singer]()
A Crown of Feathers by Isaac Bashevis Singer
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratings"Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer"--Cover... -
![A Thousand Paper Birds by Tor Udall]()
A Thousand Paper Birds by Tor Udall
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAn intimate portrait of five inextricably linked lives, spanning one calendar year at Kew Gardens in London. Nothing is set in stone. A bird can be refolded into a boat, a fish, a kimono, or any other extravagant vision. At other times it aches to return to its original folds. The paper begins to fray. It tires, rebels... -
![Dear Shameless Death by Latife Tekin]()
Dear Shameless Death by Latife Tekin
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsA strange magical story of a young girl growing up in modern Turkey, from her birth in a small rural village haunted by fairies and demons to hertraumatic move to the big city. It concentrates on the daughter's struggle gainst her overbearing mother and is both fantastic and hallucinatory...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century adult book contemporary female-author fiction -
![The Little Teashop in Tokyo: A feel-good, romantic comedy to make you smile and fall in love! by Julie Caplin]()
The Little Teashop in Tokyo: A feel-good, romantic comedy to make you smile and fall in love! by Julie Caplin
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsGrab your passport and escape to the land of dazzling skycrapers, steaming bowls of comforting noodles, and a page-turning love story that will make you swoon!For travel blogger Fiona, Japan has always been top of her bucket list so when she wins an all-expenses paid trip, it looks like her dreams of the Far East are coming true... -
![L'assassinio del Commendatore. Libro primo: Idee che affiorano by Haruki Murakami]()
L'assassinio del Commendatore. Libro primo: Idee che affiorano by Haruki Murakami
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsUna borsa con qualche vestito e le matite per disegnare. Quando la moglie gli dice che lo lascia, il protagonista di questa storia non prende altro: carica tutto in macchina e se ne va di casa... -
![Литературный призрак (Большой роман) by David Mitchell, Дэвид Митчелл]()
Литературный призрак (Большой роман) by David Mitchell, Дэвид Митчелл
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsOblivious to the bizarre ways in which their lives intersect, nine characters - a terrorist in Okinawa, a record-shop clerk in Tokyo, a money-laundering British financier in Hong Kong, an old woman running a tea shack in China, a transmigrating "noncorpum" entity seeking a human host in Mongolia, a gallery-attendant-cum-art-thief in Petersburg, a drummer in London, a female physicist in Ireland,... -
![1Q84 by Haruki Murakami]()
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsThe year is 1984 and the city is Tokyo.A young woman named Aomame follows a taxi driver’s enigmatic suggestion and begins to notice puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She has entered, she realizes, a parallel existence, which she calls 1Q84 —“Q is for ‘question mark.’ A world that bears a question.” Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo takes on a suspect ghostwriting project...Categorized as:
asia east-asia japan literary-fiction magical-realism 21st-century adult alternate-history -
![Death in Midsummer and Other Stories by Yukio Mishima]()
Death in Midsummer and Other Stories by Yukio Mishima
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsRecognized throughout the world for his brilliance as a novelist and playwright, Yukio Mishima is also noted as a master of the short story in his native Japan. Here nine of his finest stories, selected by Mishima himself, represent his extraordinary ability to depict a wide variety of human beings in moments of significance... -
![The Lantern of Lost Memories by Sanaka Hiiragi]()
The Lantern of Lost Memories by Sanaka Hiiragi
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOne photograph, one treasured memory, one chance to go back . . . In a cosy photography studio in the mountains between this world and the next, someone is waking up as if from a dream. A kind man will hand them a hot cup of tea and gently explain that, having reached the end of their life, they have one final task...Categorized as:
magical-realism literary-fiction fiction fantasy contemporary audiobook cozy low-fantasy -
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![Missing Kissinger by Etgar Keret]()
Missing Kissinger by Etgar Keret
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA magician tries to pull a rabbit out of a hat, but takes out only its head; a guy brings a girl home with him for the first time only to find that his best friend has pissed on his doorstep; a young man graduates from Magician School but soon discovers that he can't do everything; two drunk students do battle with a pavement and win; someone has a mother and a girlfriend who hate each other's...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies comedy contemporary fiction humor -
![The View from the Seventh Layer by Kevin Brockmeier]()
The View from the Seventh Layer by Kevin Brockmeier
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsKevin Brockmeier--award -winning author of The Brief History of the Dead--has been widely praised for the richness of his imagination, the lyrical grace and playfulness of his language, and the empathic emotional complexity of his storytelling. And this dazzling collection once again affirms his place as one of the most creative and compassionate writers of his generation...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism anthologies audiobook contemporary fiction low-fantasy magic -
![The Knife Thrower and Other Stories by Steven Millhauser]()
The Knife Thrower and Other Stories by Steven Millhauser
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe Knife Thrower introduces a series of distinctively Millhauserian worlds: tiny, fabulous, self-enclosed, like Fabergé eggs or like the short-story genre itself...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies audiobook contemporary fiction low-fantasy -
![In the Penny Arcade by Steven Millhauser]()
In the Penny Arcade by Steven Millhauser
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe seven stories of In the Penny Arcade blend both the real and the fantastic in a seductive mix that illuminates the full range of Steven Millhauser's gifts, from 'August Eschenburg', the story of a clockmaker's son whose extraordinary talent for creating animated figures is lost on a world whose taste for the perverse and crude supersedes that of the refined and beautiful, to 'Cathay', a...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century adult anthologies contemporary fiction horror -
![May We Shed These Human Bodies by Amber Sparks]()
May We Shed These Human Bodies by Amber Sparks
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratings***Best Small Press Debut of 2012 -- The Atlantic Wire***May We Shed These Human Bodies peers through vast spaces and skies with the world's most powerful telescope to find humanity: wild and bright and hard as diamonds...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary female-author fiction fantasy -
![Melisande! What Are Dreams? by Hillel Halkin]()
Melisande! What Are Dreams? by Hillel Halkin
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAn inspiring novel; a philosophical love story; a moving ode to a woman, as joyful and celebratory as it is elegiac. The narrator is a man in his forties, a scholar of ancient Greek philosophy known as Hoo. He has been given the nickname by Mellie, the woman he addresses in this book while exploring his memories of their years together and apart...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism adult book contemporary drama fiction historical-fiction -
![The Jade Cabinet by Rikki Ducornet]()
The Jade Cabinet by Rikki Ducornet
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsMade speechless by her eccentric father, the beautiful Etheria is traded for a piece of precious jade. Memory, her sister, tells her story, that of a childhood enlivened by Lewis Carroll and an orangutan named Dr. Johnson and envenomed by the pernicious courtship of Radulph Tubbs, Queen Victoria's own Dragon of Industry...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century adult book contemporary female-author fiction -
![Hôtel Splendid by Marie Redonnet]()
Hôtel Splendid by Marie Redonnet
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThese three short novels are the first works to appear in English by a remarkable contemporary French author, Marie Redonnet. Born in Paris in 1947, Redonnet taught for a number of years in a suburban lycée before deciding to pursue a writing career full time...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century adult book coming-of-age contemporary female-author -
![Lands of Memory by Felisberto Hernández, Esther Allen]()
Lands of Memory by Felisberto Hernández, Esther Allen
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLands of Memory presents a half-dozen wonderful works by one of the greatest yet least-known Latin American writers of the twentieth century. Felisberto Hernández's extraordinary stories have been always greatly prized by other writers, and the two novellas and four stories collected in Lands of Memory show why...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism 20th-century adult anthologies contemporary fiction journey -
![The Nimrod Flipout by Etgar Keret, Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature]()
The Nimrod Flipout by Etgar Keret, Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFrom Israel's most popular and acclaimed young writer--Stories that are short, strange, funny, deceptively casual in tone and affect, stories that sound like a joke but aren't (Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi)Already featured on This American Life and Selected Shorts and in Zoetrope: All Story and L.A...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism 21st-century adult anthologies comedy contemporary fiction -
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![A Man by Keiichirō Hirano]()
A Man by Keiichirō Hirano
Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsA man follows another man’s trail of lies in a compelling psychological story about the search for identity, by Japan’s award-winning literary sensation Keiichiro Hirano in his first novel to be translated into English.Akira Kido is a divorce attorney whose own marriage is in danger of being destroyed by emotional disconnect... -
![If the River Was Whiskey: Stories by T. Coraghessan Boyle]()
If the River Was Whiskey: Stories by T. Coraghessan Boyle
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsMagical, surprising, and very funny stories about eccentrics, charlatans, misfits, and lost souls by the winner of 1987's PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary fiction humor satire -
![A Better Angel by Chris Adrian]()
A Better Angel by Chris Adrian
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe stories in A Better Angel describe the terrain of human suffering—illness, regret, mourning, sympathy—in the most unusual of ways. In “Stab,” a bereaved twin starts a friendship with a homicidal fifth grader in the hope that she can somehow lead him back to his dead brother...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary death fiction low-fantasy -
![Sweet Home by Carys Bray]()
Sweet Home by Carys Bray
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsA bereaved mother borrows her next door neighbor’s baby. An outsider builds a gingerbread house at the edge of an English village. A woman is seduced into buying special-offer babies at the supermarket. A father is reminded of his son as he watches the rescue of a group of Chilean miners. A little boy attempts to engineer a happily ever after following the death of his sister...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies audiobook contemporary family female-author -
![L'assassinio del Commendatore. Libro secondo: Metafore che si trasformano by Haruki Murakami]()
L'assassinio del Commendatore. Libro secondo: Metafore che si trasformano by Haruki Murakami
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsNella casa in mezzo al bosco che fu l’abitazione e l’atelier di Amada Masahiko, il grande artista autore del misterioso quadro L’assassinio del Commendatore, vive ormai da qualche mese il giovane pittore protagonista di questa storia...Categorized as:
magical-realism literary-fiction fiction contemporary mystery fantasy audiobook low-fantasy -
![Mothers & Other Monsters: Stories by Maureen F. McHugh]()
Mothers & Other Monsters: Stories by Maureen F. McHugh
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsIn her debut collection, Maureen F. McHugh examines the impacts of social and technological shifts on families. Using deceptively simple prose, she illuminates the relationship between parents and children and the expected and unexpected chasms that open between generations...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism adult anthologies contemporary dystopia family female-author -
![The Bear Comes Home by Rafi Zabor]()
The Bear Comes Home by Rafi Zabor
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAs Rafi Zabor's PEN-Faulkner Award-winning novel opens, the Bear shuffles and jigs with a chain through his nose, rolling in the gutter, letting his partner wrestle him to the ground for the crowd's enjoyment. But as soon becomes clear, this is no ordinary dancing bear. "I mean, dance is all right, even street dance... -
![The Madman of Freedom Square by Hassan Blasim]()
The Madman of Freedom Square by Hassan Blasim
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsFrom the Iran/Iraq War through the Occupation, this collection of fictional short stories presents an uncompromising view of the relationship between the West and Iraq, as well as a haunting critique of the postwar refugee experience...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism 21st-century adult anthologies contemporary fiction journey -
![The Twilight Years by Sawako Ariyoshi]()
The Twilight Years by Sawako Ariyoshi
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAkiko is a working wife and mother of a teenage son. When her mother-in-law suddenly dies of a stroke, Akiko becomes the sole caregiver for her selfish father-in-law Shegezo.The Twilight Years raises important issues about the quality of life at the end of life, caregiving for the old, and the dilemma of women who have both career and family obligations... -
![Pen America Best Debut Short Stories 2017 by Yuka Igarashi]()
Pen America Best Debut Short Stories 2017 by Yuka Igarashi
Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsThe writers who are household names today all got their start when an editor encountered their work for the first time and took a chance. This new annual anthology is a celebration of twelve such moments of discovery-a showcase of the best debuts published this year by literary magazines and websites across the country...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism 21st-century adult anthologies audiobook contemporary fiction -
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![Vapor by Amanda Filipacchi]()
Vapor by Amanda Filipacchi
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSoon to be a major motion picture directed by Neil LaBute and starring Renee Zellweger, this is a surreal love story from the author of Nude Men. Now in paperback, Amanda Filipacchi's quirky comic romance gives aspiring actress Anna Graham a makeover that no reader will ever forget... -
![The Carpathians by Janet Frame]()
The Carpathians by Janet Frame
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRecipient of the prestigious Commonwealth Writers Prize in 1989, Janet Frame has long been admired for her startlingly original prose and formidable imagination. A native of New Zealand, she is the author of eleven novels, four collections of stories, a volume of poetry, a children's book, and her heartfelt and courageous autobiography -- all published by George Braziller... -
![The Woman Behind the Waterfall by Leonora Meriel]()
The Woman Behind the Waterfall by Leonora Meriel
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHeartbreak and transformation in the beauty of a Ukrainian villageFor seven-year old Angela, happiness is exploring the lush countryside around her home in western Ukraine. Her wild imagination takes her into birds and flowers, and into the waters of the river.All that changes when, one morning, she sees her mother crying... -
![The Broken Hearts Honeymoon by Lucy Dickens]()
The Broken Hearts Honeymoon by Lucy Dickens
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe wedding is off, but adventure awaits... The perfect armchair escape for fans of Jo Thomas, Jenny Colgan and Phillipa Ashley.'Funny, inspirational and so evocative' CATHY BRAMLEY'The ultimate armchair adventure - I absolutely loved it!' HEIDI SWAIN'Will leave you feeling inspired' CRESSIDA MCLAUGHLIN'THE BROKEN HEARTS HONEYMOON is truly gorgeous... -
![Hilda Furacão by Roberto Drummond]()
Hilda Furacão by Roberto Drummond
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEighteen-year-old Hilda, known as "the girl in the gold bikini" when she swam at her country club in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, abruptly leaves the gilded life to take up residence in room 304 of the Hotel Marvelous--as a prostitute. There she becomes Hilda Hurricane, an erotic force of nature no man can resist...Categorized as:
literary-fiction magical-realism romance fiction male-author classics contemporary book -
![Hiroshima mon amour by Marguerite Duras]()
Hiroshima mon amour by Marguerite Duras
Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsOne of the most influential works in the history of cinema, Alain Renais's Hiroshima Mon Amour received international acclaim upon its release in 1959 and was awarded the International Critics' Prize at the Cannes Film festival as well as the New York Film Critics' Award...
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