This was one of my most anticipated books of the year, and unfortunately, also one of my biggest let-downs of the year so far. I loved <i>Convenience Store Woman</i>, and couldn't stop thinking about <i>Earthlings</i> long after I finished it. Sayaka Murata writes weird, uncomfortable books, which often cover taboos, and do so in interesting ways. Sometimes her work is shocking (looking at you <i>Earthlings</i>), but the two books I've previously read from her also featured fascinating character work, and the narration was so compelling.

<I>Vanishing World</i> was conceptually fascinating, but in execution, it fell a bit flat for me. Our main character Amane wasn't as well-developed as I would have hoped, and her narration and POV felt a bit lacking. The depictions of societal understandings of sex, reproduction, and taboo were interesting to start, but as the book continued, it felt less thoughtfully explored, and more done so in a way to shock and surprise. I was very weirded out by the last fifth of the book, and not in a "oh, this was cool AND weird" way, more like it turned my stomach, and I felt uncomfortable, and weirded out.

Perhaps some readers will enjoy this, it just very much was not for me, unfortunately.

I received an advanced reading copy of this book, from the publisher, through Netgalley.

I have to preface this review by saying the ending of this book made me wildly uncomfortable. There is a lot of shocking content in Muratas novels, mostly cannibalism. I'm not entirely sure what to call what happens at the end, given so much is flipped on it's head, but I feel like it's probably pedofilia and rape and I am just warning you right now that it kind of occurs, the lines are very blurred by the way the world is set up so I'm confused and uncomfortable! Thank you Sayaka!

Vanishing world follows amane in a distopian future, during world war two artificial insemination became the norm over intercourse to have children & since then things have spiralled. Husband and wife do not have intercourse, infact marital intercourse is considered rape and incest. Think of "family" in this novel moreso like siblings and whatnot, there's nothing sexual between a husband and wife, they're only two people who live together for convenience and the purpose of having a child via insemination. Couples may have relationships with partners, but romance is dying out.

Sex is taboo, and many are repulsed and disgusted by the concept of it, many do not know what it is at all. The main character often has intercourse with her romantic partners, but the partners often don't really enjoy it so they break up over it.

The main crux of the book is the experiment city, in which everyone who lives there is a mother to all the children. The children are all referred to just as "child" and the adults are all referred to as "mother". People are selected for insemination every December, with some reccuring religious commentary about Adam and Eve with conception, and people give birth around August to September. Nobody gets to keep their child, everyone is a mother regardless and the child is everyone's child and is raised as a large community.

Before I tell you about what happens in the ending, which is a spoiler so don't read the paragraph after this, I will note that this book felt the least solid of Muratas works. Perhaps nuance was lost in translation, but where convenience store woman and earthlings hit the heart of societal issues and bring up multiple nuanced points, this book struggles to balance immersing you in such a wildly different world to the one we live in with the questions and critiques of society. It felt like a lot of conversations went repeated, without any additional depth or statements, so a lot of the book was a bit of a loop. At times I felt like chunks were missing, as we go from one state of normality to another with Amane without seeing this polar flip of assimilation to a new societal standard occur. This book could've done with just a bit more time to fully explore the themes and ideas it wanted to present; it felt somewhat part baked.

🚫spoilers for the ending that made me uncomfortable incase you want to know why I'm low-key crashing out about it🚫

The ending is where my issue with this book lies, and I will explain this as a spoiler here because I think this scene will be the dividing line on if you can or can't read this book, and I honestly wish I had a warning. A "child" is at her apartment building and putting up a poster for a mother's day celebration, remarking to our main character that they aren't a child anymore but the main character remarks she will always see them as her child. She spills her coffee and scalds the child by accident, so takes the child to her apartment in order to treat the injury. After seeing the child is male, she coerces the child into intercourse.

There's so much nuance to the world Murata has set up, since all of these people are mothers and everyone else is a child is this incest first of all? The "child" doesn't know what sex is and it isn't clear that the main character does anymore, but surely this is rape? There's a lot of blurred lines on what is or isn't happening but I found the entire ending unnecessary. I feel very repulsed, and while the rest of the novel is wonderful this is the first book by Murata that is so lowly rated by me as I can't in good faith rate this book as the four stars it would've been had this content not been included.

I enjoy Muratas social commentary, I enjoyed all the themes and questions raised by this novel, but this is the first time I've felt her content to be too much for shock factors sake; I don't know what those last few pages were and I am honestly just confused and dissapointed and may update this review after having more time to think on it!

Another extremely strange story by Sayaka Murata!

Vanishing World is about a society in which babies are produced through artificial insemination, and married couples are considered to be platonic family members. Experiments are carried out for men to be pregnant via surgically inserted uteruses. In this world, Amane struggles with the fact that she was conceived naturally and raised to desire love and relationships in the “old fashioned” way. Eventually, Amane and her husband go to Experiment City in Chiba, Japan, where all babies are called Kodomo-chan and raised communally, with no parents or family structure. Amane is against it at first, but her reality slowly seems to bend as she spends more time there.

This book was uncomfortable and strange (as many Sayaka Murata books are), but very thought provoking. Compared to her other books, I would say this is more similar to Earthlings or Life Ceremony rather than Convenience Store Woman.

Thank you Grove Atlantic for the ARC!

Vanishing World offers an intriguing concept that initially pulled me in with its quiet eeriness and unique perspective on humanity and society. Sayaka Murata has a talent for crafting unsettling, thought-provoking worlds, and that’s definitely present here.

However, I found myself waiting for something more dramatic or emotionally intense to happen. The main character’s passive acceptance of her circumstances felt disappointing, especially as the story had so much potential to dig deeper or take a bolder turn. While the atmosphere was compelling, the plot felt a little too minimal for my taste—I kept hoping for more development, more stakes, more of something.

Overall, while the premise was fascinating and the writing was strong, Vanishing World left me wanting more from both the character and the story itself.

This was super weird and I could not stop reading it. Once I started I could not look away. This was worth the read.

I was hopeful to dig into Murata’s upcoming release after adoring Convenience Store Women – a book that is still so unique in my mind. Unfortunately, I could not make it through Vanishing World. I am not one to shy away from an unconventional or disturbing novel. For me, however, Vanishing World relied almost entirely on shock factor, and there was not enough world building to find the story really anything but… gross? The repetitive subject content doesn’t offer any form of reprieve, and I was really just left wishing I had passed on this one.

I really appreciate the publisher, Grove Atlantic, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Another messed up Murata story which I loved! This book has similarities to Earthlings, especially with its strange ending. If you didn't enjoy that book, this one may not suit you either.

Set in an alternate version of Japan, where babies are only created via artificial insemination, sex and romantic love have become rare and, in marriage especially, off-limits. The main character, Amane, struggles to find her place in this world. Eventually, she and her husband move to Experiment City, where all children are referred to as 'Komodo-chan' and all adults have a role in affectionately caring for them but do not provide primary care. Instead, children are raised communally.

It’s an incredibly strange read, but it also goes by quickly. This would have been a 5-star read if the ending hadn’t been absolutely bizarre and unnecessary.

Thank you to Netgalley for my ARC.

I'm going to be the odd one out on this one. She lost me. I found it hard to engage with Amane and with the world Murata created, I was a fan of Convenience Woman but this, this was relentless that just wasn't my cup of tea. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Murata has a lot to say about Japan and the larger world.

[arc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Vanishing World releases April 15, 2025

1.5

In the world that Amane has grown up in, the societal norm is to conceive a child by artificial insemination. Subsequently, marriage is viewed as a shared platonic benefit between two people who become each other’s family, and to copulate or have any type of romantic love would be “dirty” and defined as incest.

This was quite a peculiar and thought-provoking read that left me feeling very conflicted.

The examination of the boundaries and separation of procreation, romantic love, and sexual desire was interesting, but the thought processes were often too clinical and repetitive, and I couldn’t get a grasp on a lot of the worldbuilding.
For instance, how could they be so progressive as to scientifically create a womb so that men are able to conceive, yet be against same-sex marriage, when their marriages are glorified versions of roommates that act as a brother/sister dynamic?
What is the point of encouraging love affairs outside of marriages when it leads to nothing? The relationships will always remain stagnant when the society doesn’t allow for a future with that person.

The constant referral of having “clean love” and the connotation behind that really rubbed me the wrong way, but ultimately, what I couldn’t overlook was the disturbing nature of the final scene in which the main character carried out an act of pedophilia.
I truly do not understand why the story had to end on such a sour note when the author could’ve shown the repercussions of conformity and suppressing natural instincts in a much more palatable way.

There’s no denying that Murata opens a door to provide commentary on social constructs, the value placed on women and their reproductive organs, and how we define intimacy, familial structures, and parasocial relationships, but the abruptly gratuitous ending almost negates all of that entirely.

cw: mentions of self-harm, attempted suicide, fatphobia, miscarriages, sexual coercion, pedophilia

Almost a perfect execution of a wacko idea—completely demolished by the ending.

<i>Normality is the creepiest madness there is.</i>

Amane, the protagonist, lives in a world evolving away from the family unit as artificial insemination becomes the norm. The plot follows her love life incessantly (with detached, clinical wording) and leans more into the scifi genre in the third part of the book, which is really the "good" part, for lack of a better word. The book is pretty short, full of sardonic humor and wry insights, and a surrealist plot. The ending is extreme and exists to drive home a point. Consider it driven, and consider me repulsed.

<i>Is there any such thing as a brain that hasn’t been brainwashed? If anything, it’s easier to go insane in the way best suited for your world.”</i>

I'd recommend this to people who have a high, <i>giant</i> tolerance for unconventional plots and for major triggers. Think Kazuo Ishiguro or Haruki Murakami, but weirder. It raises so many questions about intimacy, conformity, and social taboos that I really liked, but chooses difficult plot points to go along with this. I'm conflicted about this book, so I'll leave this at 3 stars.

Anyway, thanks to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the ARC!

I enjoyed the author’s first two books but this one didn’t hit for me. An interesting premise taken to extremes and without much besides the initial concept to speak of.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC copy of the book.

This is a dystopian story set in Japan with a main emphasis on procreation, but with a different way that society views that topic. This story was gripping and I had a lot of insightful thoughts while reading it. I've read Sayaka Murata's Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings which were both really good, so I was very excited to read this one. I love Murata's writing and how the stories go at a slower pace, but they are unputdownable.

An unsettling depiction of a world in which people are no longer convinced naturally, sleeping with your spouse considered incest, and being sexual at all is a rarity.

I found the usual quick and succinct writing the author used to keep the characters and plot at arms length which may have been the point. If it had been my first murata book I would have thought it neat but as I have read from her before I question if their writing is just not for me if it will always be written in this style. Many of the themes were very similar to earthlings but less disturbing while still being unsettling. I felt like I wanted to know more about the setting of the second half of the book which was far more interesting. And I had no idea what the motivations for the main character was with some of her actions in the end.

Vanishing World is all about the perspective of our main character Amane Sakaguchi. She is an outcast in this scifi version of our world where sexual intercourse has become superfluous due to advances in the field of artificial insemination, and sex between husband and wife is even viewed as incest.

“I get the feeling there’s always a set number of people who don’t really fit into society, whatever system is in place, and that percentage is always about the same.”

This book grabbed me pretty much from the start. While the writing can feel a bit stunted at times due to the nature of translation, the world is unique and the character of Amane while unlikeable is fascinating. I enjoyed the exploration of quintessential, current Japanese issues. Vanishing World seems like an echo of and response to what is happening in Japan regarding the ageing population, declining birthrates due to the detachment of sexual and romantic attraction. The dystopian narrative also comments on the still existing wage gap between men and women, and the (lack of) legality of same sex marriage in Japan.

"Having been made to suffer by the religion of romantic love, we wanted to be saved by the religion of family. If we could succeed in truly brainwashing our entire bodies, I had the feeling we could finally forget romantic love."

Though the world-building is an important aspect of the story, the narrative mostly focuses on the inner world of Amane. We quickly learn that she is an odd person in more than one way. Amane isn't the product of artificial insemination like her peers, she has the desire to connect sexually with others, and she has a persuasive, bordering on coercive, personality. Her multi-faceted personality makes for an intriguing character study throughout.

Now we come to the philosophical aspect of the book. While there are some aspects of polyamory to be found with the distinction between 'lovers' and 'family', I would have loved to see this be pushed just a little further. Vanishing World also falls into the trap of gender essentialism, and conflates romantic and sexual attraction. There is some exploration of determinism throughout the book in regards to Amane's behaviour. We can also see some similarities to Brave New World when it comes to Experiment City. Important recurring themes are the definition of normality and conformity to the current society one is living in. While I thought some interesting points were brought up regarding this, where this ultimately led left me shocked and disgusted.

"I wanted to yell at her that the world she believed was right was only one point on the spectrum between the past and present."

As you can see there are actually quite a few aspects that I appreciate about Vanishing World. I finished this book in just two days because I was enthralled by it. However the ending could only lead me to give this book 1 star. I do not condone and am not interested in reading about the romanticization and justification of incestuous and paedophiliac thoughts and actions. The last few pages left me absolutely horrified and wishing I hadn't read them.

"Whichever world I’m in, it drives me nuts to think I’m perfectly normal. Normal is the most terrifying madness in the world."

Vanishing World might be your next favourite read if you enjoy explorations of current topics within Japanese society set in a scifi world. The book is an interesting character study. Beware that this story features and in ways romanticizes incestuous and paedophiliac thoughts and actions.

TW include but are not limited to: sexual coercion, paedophilia, fatphobia, incest.

Sayaka Murata did an unbelievable job creating this world in which societal norms are wildly different from our own. In this alternate reality, sex with your spouse is unheard of, relationship dynamics are turned on their heads, and advancements in medicine allow for humans to switch up the only way of the world we knew. It was fascinating to watch Amane’s idea of family transform from what she thought it should be based on what she was taught to what she herself wanted it to be. Her thoughts on love and companionship were relatable, but became a little outrageous at one point. Even with this, I was enraptured with this world the author built. I wish we were given more on the ending, but when an author leaves you wanting more of a finished story, they did their job well. Cannot wait to see what other weirdness Sayaka Murata can create.

This book is…well…interesting.

It’s disturbing really. I mean the fact that this society is nearly asexual is not the disturbing part but how it went from one extreme, hypersexualization, to the other extreme. Sure the author critiques the customs and societal development of Japan, but it nevertheless, unsettles me.

I have a hard time reading about so much judgment. It’s probably a thought that I had hoped would change for the better. That we would become less judgmental and more accepting. But in this book everything that we know as normal is not and having sex with your husband is called incest. People take lovers to “feel love” and have them around their spouse, that’s interesting. It is polyamory but I guess a bit more extreme as one person is only the companion and then there is a lover.

Some characters also seem to be looking down on families in general and marriage, which in this book is just a friendship really but also like siblinghood…so incest it is. While this of course is all possible and it’s an interesting scenario it just made me feel more uncomfortable than I want to while reading for pleasure. Quite frankly this is also luckily a scenario I do not think plausible for the future.

I do find it interesting how the concept of love is regarded in this book; as something to do outside the home, something nearly frowned upon, something to run away from. Once the protagonists enter Experiment City, it just reduces love to an interesting extreme and in general, the entire narrative just gets so much more absurd and disturbing. Clinical really.

And the ending? WTF!!!

Unfortunately the book is way too repetitive for me even if I connected at all with the narrative. Probably just not my cup of tea.

I love my weird girlies, but I didn't connect with Amane. She has an obsession with penetration, but I wished there was more space to develop her finding pleasure. There is more to sex than penetration and I would have loved to see her finding her own world with like-minded people and their weird kinks. I also internally screamed when she broke up with someone just because he didn't want to have sex with her anymore. I'm aware this book is written in a different time and place, but a reader can dream.

Thank you NetGalley and for giving me access to an e-arc for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This was the second of Sayaka Murata’s books that I’ve read (after Convenience Store Woman) and I really enjoyed it. It asks a lot of questions and really made me think about the future of humanity, our attitudes to scientific advancement and human nature. It also raised a lot of interesting points about our current attitudes to gender and relationships. I did find it a little confusing at points, but I thought the central premise was really interesting and a good companion/response to other similar books (raises similar themes to The Handmaid’s Tale for example). It made me deeply uncomfortable at times (particularly the end), but that’s all part of the Sayaka Murata vision I guess!

Sayaka Murata isn't known to shy away from the controversial and uncomfy to tell a story and this book is no different.

Set in a dystopian world where love and sex aren't necessary to procreate and seen gross to society. Family is very important to society and if you do want love you must seek it from a fictional source or outside the family, essentially your spouse is not a romantic role anymore, but that of a sibling.

Amane is unlike her society, she's always sought out lovers to meet her needs and loves her platonic life with her husband. When the opportunity arises for her and her husband to travel to an experimental society where even the family is no longer a thing and all children are raised communally and almost robotically, they take it. Both Amane and her husband long for a baby and they vow to raise that baby themselves, going against the rules of the experiment.

But as the couple drift apart and drink the koolaid, Amane loses herself and her grip on reality and what she's always valued.

An exploration of humanity and our need for each other and love and community to thrive. What are we if we aren't the people we love? Do we even have souls if we remove our connection to others.

Viewing children and people through the lens of what comfort can they give me, the individual, and viewing them as less than pets.

This is a terrifying and confronting look at what society could look like if we tear apart the fabric of community and family.

The ending could've been flushed out more, which is why it's not a four star book for me.

I also recognise that this book depicts gross scenes, the culmination of Amane's grief and mental break is especially confronting. This won't be a book for everyone, but I do think it makes sense for Amane to act that way.

Overall I really enjoyed the way this book made me contemplate societal norms, the creeping dystopia, and what ultimately makes us human.

I went into this expecting a weird little book but it ended up being waaay more thought provoking than I was expecting.

Raises such interesting questions/thoughts on the nuclear family, fitting in, sexuality, sexual repression, societal expectations, parenthood, marriage, different ways of living, and much more while incorporating them into a completely unique premise.

I feel like this is Murata’s most fleshed out book yet and I’m so excited to see what she publishes in future!