This author is really gonna deliver an original experience, every time. While it also tackles themes of conformity, I did not like Vanishing World as much as Convenience Store Woman and ultimately felt like it lacked any substantial depth. It was like thought-provoking commentary was introduced and moved on from before it was realized. And when we moved on, it was to stiff over-explanatory conversations. This one made me feel very weird, and mostly confused. The characters actions and motivations just didn’t add up and the pacing changed so much. But at least I felt something, I guess.
That ending was total overkill in my opinion. It was like the scene before it was the ending and then that last scene was tacked on to be polarizing. It added nothing to the actual story and cheapened the book overall for me. 2.5 stars.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Upon finishing this book, my reaction was a long, "Hmmmmmmmm..."

Honestly I don't have all that much to say about this novel, because like 'Earthlings', this is one you should experience for yourself. The ideas are certainly interesting, dismantling well-known and accepted conventions about sex, marriage, and the family unit. What does marriage mean in a world where sex between a married couple is considered to be incest? Should one still get married if having kids is out of the equation? What about the 'sanctity of marriage' if the couple in question are allowed, and even encouraged, to have extramarital affairs, and what does it all mean for gay marriage? Does the concept of a 'family' still hold any meaning when on top of all of that, a child you give birth to does not belong to you, but will be raised communally instead?

Unfortunately, I find some points to be rather repetitive, such as Amane's defence of her love for anime characters and her disdain for the 'old ways'. The latter was the key wedge in the relationship between Amane and her mother, and I don't know, after a while I just don't really care that much.

However, my biggest gripe was the ending. Like 'Earthlings', things went bonkers and without giving anything away, let's just say I threw up in my mouth a bit. Now I'm not particularly averse to reading about depraved acts of sex and violence, but the escalation didn't quite convince me. I personally thought it was trying too hard to be shocking and I'm also not sure what the point was?

I've read all of Sayaka Murata English-translated books to date, and while this wasn't terrible by any means (I mean, I still gave this a 3.5 star rating) I consider 'Vanishing World' to be my least favourite so far.

Do you want to suffer ? Feel disgusted and have a pit in your stomach? There were times I felt nauseous, completely dumbfounded at what the hell was going on. Please read the trigger warnings before starting the book. There may be things that you will not want to read. The world has changed will you change with it or fight the “evolution” of humanity. Though she tries to adapt and conform her different upbringing makes it difficult. Making her behave abnormally for her world even when she has managed to completely discard her old ways. Somehow they still manage to come back and slyly affect her but she’s too far gone to notice. The author has an incredible way of showing characters loosing their mind and taking drastic actions for their beliefs.

Thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic Publishing I received a ARC for an honest review !

Speculative fiction set in a not-too-distant Japan. Women and men marry to have children via artificial insemination - they do not have sex, as that would be considered incest. Amane, although married, discovered sex in her teens and continues to have it with boyfriends. The first two parts of the book were interesting - I'll leave it at that.

In the presumably not-too-distant future, children are all born via artificial insemination and sexual intimacy is mostly a thing of the past. Spouses are now more like best friends or brothers and sisters, free and encouraged to pursue romantic relationships openly outside of their marriages. In Experiment City, things have gone even further and all children are raised communally and both men and women can be pregnant.

This was an interesting premise with truly awful delivery. Stilted, repetitive dialogue with no character development or relationships to care about. The style of reserved, affectless protagonist that worked so well for Convenience was unbearable here. It read like a very rough draft that no one bothered to revise. And the ending was disturbing to say the least.

Another WEIRD book by Sayaka Murata and I enjoyed it. These books are not for the normal reader - I think you really have to be into weird stories because they absolutely deliver on the weird. This left me with some interesting considerations about our world and how we operate as a society.

I was really hoping to finally get the hype for Sayaka Murata when I picked up Vanishing World, the first novel I’ve read by the Japanese author, but it left me feeling cold and somewhat frustrated. From what I understand each of Murata’s novels have crazy, out there endings, and Vanishing World is no different. I’m just not sure that it earns the shocking conclusion beyond simply being shocking.

Ginny Tapley Takemori’s translation is faultless, and there weren’t any of the trademark awkward dialogue moments you sometimes find in a poorly translated novel, so that’s something. Overall though, I’m thinking I should have started somewhere else with Murata.

Thank you Grove Atlantic & NetGalley for the ARC!

Vanishing World, like Earthlings, questions what it means to be “normal”. In a world where sex, love, and family have become arbitrary, what fills that void for us? Do we repress, or evolve? Murata’s writing is heavy on the internal dialogue of her characters, but still manages to move the plot along in a way that feels succinct. If you enjoyed Earthlings and Life Ceremony, I’d recommend!

This was, although definitely weird and unsettling, a solid 4 star read…. Until the end. Truly. Wtf. I loved Convenience Store Woman but that was like a 2 on the scale of weirdness where this was like a 9. The weird was tolerable until the end. The writing was good and the story was super interesting and unique so it’s a bummer i only ended up giving it 2.5 stars but i could not get over the ending scene!?

** spoiler alert ** Welp, this is a weird one.

The book often felt to me like a long-form Literotica work that reimagines the sex rules in society.

Men and women in the novel's world enter into platonic marriages where they live together and procreate via artificial insemination but never engage in any sort of intimacy. Having "copulation" between husband and wife is considered repulsive and described as incest. Both partners are encouraged, however, to take "lovers" - both imaginary, like anime characters, and real people.

There isn't much sex in those relationships either - they are more about spending time together and "dating." Those who still engage in good old copulation, like Amane, the main character, are often questioned and judged.

Even given a particular style of Japanese prose and the fact that this is a translation, so the language can be a bit stiff at times, the English version not quite living up to the original intent, I imagine, this is a very, very strange read.

It becomes horror-like in its intensity in the last pages. The author's choice of words, as characters are described as if an alien was looking at them, not knowing any words for the common human anatomy; the identical faces and expressions of children and helpers, Amane's slow path from fear and suspicion of the new order to the complete embrace of it - it was all a bit creepy. Not to mention her mother making noise in the empty apartment next door.

Her hate for her mother was really disturbing to me as well. I get that it's part of the idea of the fight between the traditional family structure and the new "we are all Mother" world, but it still chilled me.

Perhaps the most unsettling part was the vague sexualization of children. From fitting the girls with a contraception device as soon as they get their period and Amane's relationship with a teacher to the final scene between Amane and the unnamed child or teenager, during which she compares his "pistil-like pale protuberance" to a "short, fat umbilical cord" that connects then during the encounter. That is not something you can un-read easily.

Thank you, NetGalley and Grove Atlantic, for sharing an advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest review. The book is out on April 15.

Normal is the most terrifying madness in the world.

I love Sayaka Murata’s books, because she’s always questioning what it means to be normal. In Vanishing World, the old methods of having a family, falling in love, and even having sex have all evolved into some new, something more refined. And anyone stuck in the past is viewed as backwards. But who decides what’s normal and what’s abnormal? How much of yourself are you willing to change to fit into societal norms? And how long can you withstand the pressures to conform?

While reading this, I kept think of the old Twilight Zone episode “Eye of the Beholder”- only instead of beauty being subjective, it’s normality. Honestly, this whole book was like if a Twilight Zone episode left you unsettled and depressed. This book will be stuck in my head for a long time.

Vanishing World is one of the most thought provoking books I’ve read all year. While the ending was quite disconcerting (I’ve heard that’s Murata’s style), the book brings up many topics and questions that I simply cannot stop thinking about. Her writing is beautiful, with even the most mundane thoughts feeling as if every word were painstakingly chosen. If you’ve read and enjoyed Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami, I think you’d enjoy Vanishing World.

Thank you to Sayaka Murata, Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC!

This was my first book by Sayaka Murata and honestly I didn’t know what to expect but anything I did was completely and utterly tame! By far the most unique book I think I’ve ever read and I can’t quite decide whether I enjoyed it or not because I was incredibly uncomfortable 99.9% of the time (but I think that was the point?). I thought the character development was so clever that I didn’t even realise it was happening until the last page.

The ending though….baffled me and was honestly quite grim. Part of me was expecting it all to be some sort of dream and Amane had gone mad! I think I stared into space for a good 10 minutes after finishing wondering what just happened because I was CONFUSION.

Some of the descriptions used throughout were gross and ruined it for me a bit. I get that Amane was living in a world where sexual education was non existent but some of the descriptions of *ahem* parts….were gross and it was difficult to read at times because I was too busy cringing.

All in all, if you’re after a wacky and incredibly uncomfortable time, I’d recommend this one! I thought it was really funny in parts and was definitely a unique e concept. But I’m not sure I can give it more than 3* purely because it was a bit too unhinged for me.

Big thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata (Translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori). I was so excited to find this book. I’ve read Convenience Store Woman a few times, recommending it for a book club, and I’ve found these subsequent readings and discussions about Keiko’s experience working part-time in a convenience store to be both hilarious and enlightening about the scrutinization of women’s choices and options for life and careers in Japan. Although the book is thoroughly Japanese, I think there is much that is relevant to American culture as well. A few years ago, I read Earthlings. While not as funny as Convenience Store Woman, I found the book to be both shocking and revelatory, as it serves also as a kind of commentary and criticism of how women are viewed in Japan. Whereas Keiko is a character whose choices and life challenges the more dominant social expectations for women, Natsuki’s life and experiences challenge taboos about the treatment of women. I wasn’t laughing as much, but I think the book also served as a kind of allegory to challenge how women are viewed and treated in Japanese society. Vanishing World falls somewhere in between these two books; it was humorous and somewhat absurd, as both a satire of Japanese concerns about the population decreasing and an allegory of attempts to manage the population.
The book follows Amane, whose name means the sound of rain, in Japanese. Her connection to water is mentioned a few times in relation to other characters, as well as bodily functions. I wondered whether it was also related to the necessity of water for life. In any event, Amane grows up in an alternative version of Japan, where during World War II, advancements in technology allow for artificial insemination and there is no longer a need for copulation. Thus, sex serves no real purpose in this society where women, and eventually men in a later Experiment City, are able to breed at the same time. Amane finds out, though, that she was conceived through copulation and not artificial insemination like most other children her age. Amane’s mother tries to instill the older values of romantic love, marriage and sex into her, but Amane seeks to be “normal”, or at least what is considered socially acceptable in this alternative Japan. The first section of the book was pretty funny, as we find out that marriage happens, but marriage is not about love, but more about growing a “family”, and the definition of family is not as most people would define it. In one incident, Amane, recently married, flees her husband’s sexual advances and claims that he was assaulting her. She refers to his attempts to copulate as incest, since he has become part of her family. In other conversations with her friends, they frequently express the desire to marry people of the same sex, saying how great it would be to share an apartment and bank account with someone like Amane. Conversely, they express skepticism about living with a stranger and expecting strangers to share in responsibilities and finances. In this society, marriages are more like arranged partnerships, where spouses are expected to have extramarital partners who satisfy their other needs. Amane eventually divorces her first husband and finds a new husband with whom she can share interests and other events in her life, along with sharing the details of her lovers. This was another humorous and hyperbolic element of the story. Both Amane and her husband, Saku, go out on dates and are often surprised to find one another at home. Both ask about their lovers, wondering why they aren’t seeing them and how things are going. Saku, in particular, struggles with falling in love with every woman he dates, but seems to treat Amane as something like a pet. This was another interesting element as many of the supposedly romantic interactions between characters are described like petting an animal. Amane does meet a neighbor who shares the love of reading with her, and they eventually become lovers. She teaches him how to copulate (something she’s done with other men), but due to the mandatory birth control implants, neither is capable of reproducing. Although Amane derives pleasure from her relationship, the man also struggles with his feelings. Ginny Tapley Takemori, the translator of the book, does an admirable job rendering his explanation as both strange and endearing. However, it is Amane’s other lovers, the anime characters she keeps in a purse, that provide her with additional companionship and feelings of infatuation. We learn about them in the early part of the book, but they always remain with her and seem to emerge when she feels lonely and is not with her husband. I loved the descriptions of these characters, who all seem like they were from different children’s programs, but for Amane, they are real companions. It seemed like this was a kind of criticism of the attachment that some adults may feel in fan culture, where they believe these characters or even real people are for them and that they have relationships with them. It seemed highly critical of that kind of online belief and connection that people experience, willing to forgo real human relationships for those that are safer but less fulfilling or realistic. While Krom, a policeman from the future who travels through time, is Amane’s go-to lover, here are some of the other descriptions that I found hilariously absurd
“the seven-thousand-year-old immortal boy warrior, the boy detective who received secret orders from the police, the UFO pilot, the newborn android who couldn’t control his own strength, the prince who rode a dragon into battle”
She keeps these 40 or so characters in her purse and attaches them to a key chain when she wants to “go on a date” with them. I can see how Murata is critical of this kind of fan culture, and it made me think of other examples in America, like with incels and other groups who largely live life online, but don’t really interact with others IRL. They take comfort in these kind of safe and predictable relationships, but really don’t progress or have opportunities to grow and develop. They live in a kind of fantasy world.
Amane and her husband eventually move to Experiment City, formerly known as Chiba. This city is a kind of community where women are inseminated at the same time and the births are planned to happen around the same time as well. Amane and her husband needed to divorce in order to move their together, since married couples are not allowed. This last part of the book is both more science fiction like- somewhat dystopian- and darker. The children, called Kodomo-chan, all look alike, and it is unclear whether they are boys or girls. They all wear the same clothes, have the same hairstyles, and even seem to grimace rather than smile in the same manner. People also treat them like animals or pets, feeding them in the park and playing with them in public spaces when they are allowed out. Amane doesn’t seem as interested as her husband, who eventually decides to try out an experiment with a male womb to eventually give birth. Amane’s own questions about her womb are some of the more interesting parts of the book. Like her conversations with her friends about the role of a spouse, whether this person is a stranger who shares highly personal information and knowledge or a family member, challenges readers’ conceptions of marriage and partnerships, Amane also questions the intentions of Experiment City and what allowing men to give birth will mean for her own purpose and role within her marriage. She seems to question whether her womb belongs to her, her husband, or even the society. In Experiment City, it’s clear that her body is no longer her own, but rather is part of the community and its attempts to regrow the population. Reading these questions and the kind of strange society that Experiment City created made me think about the more recent pushes America to promote natalism and encourage large families with lots of children. There’s been much handwringing about America’s population decline, and although it is not as steep as Japan’s, natalists are pushing forth the need to repopulate America. Beyond the strange desire to regulate people’s choices for families and sex, deeming it solely for reproduction, Amane’s experiences and questions about her body resonated with me with all that is happening in America today. I hadn’t thought too much about the consequences of this kind of thinking, but when we look at Experiment City, all the children are taken from their families to be raised in community centers. All adults are referred to as “mother”, and the children, the Kodomo-chans, all look the same. Some die early in the nursery, only to be have more brought out to replace them. Thus we see that families and children become more like tools or accessories; Amane’s husband frequently talks about his own child, and while they make a plan to steal their children from Experiment City to raise it on their own, her never follows through. The parts where Saku details his pregnancy and has Amane look at his baby moving in his womb are also pretty funny. Since his womb is much different from a woman’s (it’s like attached to his stomach and hangs over), he requires special large clothing to wear. Again, these scenarios and descriptions are biting and satirical, but also relevant to current issues in Japan and the US.
I won’t get into the ending in this review so as not to spoil it for any readers, but I will say that it is somewhat of an absurdist ending, more akin to Earthlings in that it is shocking and meant to challenge taboos. However, I also think that Murata continues to push these ideas and standards to their logical conclusions. In this new world, our old ideas of love, companionship and family are Vanishing, only to be replaced by technology, innovation, and efficiency. We no longer have to worry about messy emotions or interactions. These can be taken care of outside the marriage or in the “Clean Room”, a place for people to pleasure themselves outside of the home. Even here, we see that pleasure and enjoyment is separate from personal relationships, where family belongs more to the community or state, and reproduction is done with the larger community in mind, not for anything personal. In fact, clean rooms, which suggest that there is some kind of shame or need to hide these pleasurable acts present the idea that pleasure is simply selfish and not to be shared or enjoyed with others. As Amane mentions, she appreciates the clean rooms as a way to not dirty the sanctity of her own apartment. Yet by giving way to efficiency, convenience and ease, we also lose our connections, our sense of love becomes distorted, and eventually, as Murata writes, our sexuality adapts and changes to meet the times. While we often see changes in patterns as a result of evolution, the changes that happen in Experiment City are more socially prescribed. Those like Amane who begin to question these new ways of connection, reproduction, and love are looked at differently and ultimately left alone. It’s no wonder she also takes solace in her 40 anime lovers she keeps in her Prada bag.
Vanishing World is a really important book to read. While it is not as funny as Convenience Store Woman, I feel like the criticisms and issues it raises are even more urgent and far-reaching than Murata’s other books. I can see so much relevance in this book as more pro-natalist forces look to impose their ideas about birthrates and incentivizing children in America. While it seems like Murata’s story serves as a kind of allegory and satire on the current concerns of declining birthrates in Japan, there are important messages to take away, especially as Murata ingeniously follows the implications of increasing births to their logical (or maybe illogical) ends. We find that women and men no longer will hold sovereignty over their bodies, that sex is divorced from any kind of love or companionship, and that as technology and efficiency increase, there is no longer a need for intimacy. Rather, entertainment will create diversions for us, substituting our personal relationships with those that are safe and predictable. Furthermore, children and families will now be state property, since increasing births and growing families are not individual decisions made by couples, but are for the greater good of society. There is no individuality, only clearly defined roles and scripts. In this way, Murata’s book follows books like Brave New World, where we see what we give up for efficiency and technological advances. While I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will probably revisit it, the only criticism I have is that there were some awkward transitions between action in the book. During some sections, Amane would be at home with her husband, and suddenly, she might show up at a café with her friends. There were a few points where the action transitioned from one setting to another without any clear transitions or breaks. I found that a little hard to follow, and I wish there were some clearer indications of the changing scene or setting; however, this was only a minor issue with an important and biting social criticism. Highly recommended.

Sayaka Murata owns ✨prime real estate✨ in my brain, and Earthlings will forever have a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ penthouse suite. That book? UNHINGED. Unforgettable. Living rent-free in my mind forever.

Naturally I ran to Vanishing World… but…. Maybe it was the ARC formatting, maybe it was me, but I struggled with this one. The weirdness was there (Murata never misses on that front 🤘), but it just didn’t hit the same. I think I’ll retry again when the book comes out 🗓️April 15th 2025🗓️ with @groveatlantic

Regardless, I will show up for her bizarre, unsettling feminist scifi worlds—because Earthlings proved she’s capable of absolute 🌀chaos perfection🌀.

I don’t usually connect with Japanese fiction—it often feels a bit distant to me—but Vanishing World totally pulled me in. Sayaka Murata’s bizarre, offbeat universe is strangely addictive, and while some parts had me going “Wait, what?”, I couldn’t stop reading. The translation was a little clunky here and there—some dialogue felt stiff—but honestly, it still worked. It got the weirdness across, which is what really matters. Overall, it’s surreal, unsettling, and oddly fun. Not what I expected, and I kind of loved that.

Sayaka Murata is one of very few authors I want to read anything from, no matter the genre! Usually I just read horror, but from Murata I will read anything… Vanishing World was yet another amazing novel!

Here's my full review in norwegian:
Sayaka Murata er en av få forfattere som jeg må lese ALT av, uavhengig av sjanger hun skriver i! Derfor har jeg gleda meg lenge til å få lest hennes nyeste roman, 𝘝𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥, og ble veldig glad når jeg fikk tilgang til denne via NetGalley.

I 𝘝𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 får vi høre om et fremtidig Japan der sex blandt mennesker så og si har dødt ut. All graviditet blir gjennomført via kunstig inseminasjon, og seksuell omgang mellom giftede par blir ansett som incest, ettersom at det er sex mellom familiemedlemer… en bissarr og skremmende fremtid altså.

Murata har igjen skrevet en fantastisk roman om utenforskap, annerledeshet og samfunnets forventninger til kvinner i det japanske samfunnet. Denne gangen satt i en steril og skremmende fremtid, der kjærligheten er døende og blir satt på prøve.

Mye av boken fortelles gjennom dialoger, noe som gjør boken engasjerende og lettlest. Derimot blir det litt vel repetitivt, og det tok litt lang tid før det skjedde noe nytt og spennende før siste tredjedel av handlingen.

Jeg elsker Sayaka Murata, og er litt trist for at jeg igjen må vente på mer! Har du ikke lest noe av Murata, er det bare å sette igang altså. Og er du ute etter skrekklitteratur fra Murata, er 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 (eller 𝘑𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘣𝘰𝘦𝘳𝘦 som boken heter på norsk) boka for deg! 𝘝𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 får av meg TERNINGKAST 5!

Sayaka Murata has done it again. Vanishing World is a quietly unsettling and deeply thought-provoking exploration of life, identity, and societal expectations. As with her previous works, Murata has this incredible ability to blend the strange with the ordinary, and the result is a book that lingers with you long after you’ve finished it.

The story follows [insert protagonist’s name if you want], who finds themselves navigating a world that feels increasingly disconnected from what they once understood. It’s not a plot-heavy book, but rather an exploration of mood and perspective, allowing us to see the world through the eyes of someone who is just… out of step with it. Murata’s prose is sharp and subtle, and she captures the feeling of alienation in such an honest way that it’s almost uncomfortable.

What I really appreciated about Vanishing World is how it examines the tension between individual desires and societal pressure in a way that feels so relevant and relatable. Murata doesn’t hold back when it comes to addressing uncomfortable truths about the roles we’re expected to play in life. The protagonist’s struggle to find a sense of belonging is something that will resonate with anyone who’s ever felt like they don’t quite fit in.

The pacing is slow, but it’s deliberate, and the quiet unease that builds is worth every moment. This book isn’t for everyone—if you’re looking for fast-paced action or clear-cut resolutions, this isn’t it—but if you love books that dig into the complexities of human nature and the strangeness of the world around us, Vanishing World is a must-read.

Saying that I am obsessed with Sayaka Murata's work would be an understatement. Shocking absolutely nobody, I loved this book as well. The questions posed in this short novel are big and require you to question your self and your own life. The world and the characters are vivid and strange, and the plot is compelling. Through each of the three parts, the reader is left uncomfortable and challenged, in a way that Sayaka Murata does best. I cannot wait for more from this author, and I absolutely cannot wait to get our physical copies in at my branch!

Every Sayaka Murata book I’ve read has left me with a mix of wtf, omg and wow.

"These days, you don't have to fall in love with someone in order to breed," Juri went on calmly, "so all sorts of anime characters have been created for our sexual gratification. They're just consumables to help us process our desire.”

In Vanishing world sex has become obsolete, it’s even considered dirty. Husbands and wives are considered family and therefore sex between them is seen as incest.
Children are only created through artificial insemination and there is research ongoing where males can carry children as well.

Divided into three parts, this little book of only 240 pages raises some big questions and provokes the life we know, the way only Murata can. She possesses a vivid and complex imagination that builds worlds so effortlessly and it’s always very weird.
What I like most about her stories is how she forces the reader outside of the box and it’s always very uncomfortable there.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc