The works of Sayaka Murata never fail to surprise, boldly shattering the conventional boundaries of society norms. Through her writing infused with irony, sarcasm, and social critique, she compels me to reflect deeply. She forces me to see and understand the world from strange, extreme perspectives, where limits are blurred.

This time, she explores the themes of love, marriage, and sex. In this sterilized world, everything we once knew about these three concepts has shifted. We can love anyone, form romantic and sexual relationships with them—even with virtual idols or fictional characters. Normal sexual intercourse is considered incestuous, while marriage is reduced to a contractual partnership devoid of romance.

Through the hesitations of Amane Sakaguchi’s point of view, the author invites us to explore all possible outcomes when we blindly accept what is deemed "normal." Should we remain critical, willing to experiment, and brave enough to question the rules—even break through boundaries?

Thank you Netgalley and Grove Atlantic from Grove Press for providing copy of this ebook. I have voluntarily read and reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Expecting release date : 15 April 2025

I was not ready for this one lol I've read one other book by this author (Earthlings) and I enjoyed it enough, it was definitely shocking. I'm still not really sure how I feel about this one, especially the ending. I think I understand the commentary the author was trying to get at, I'm just not sure that it was actually achieved.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC.

Unfortunately I don't think this book was it for me. I have heard so many things about Murata so when I got this book I was excited because this would be the first book of theirs I would read and I was disappointed. There were so many things that didn't sit right with me in this story.

Although I will still be picking up another book by Murata because I was intrigued by the way she tells story. This particular book just wasn't for me.

Sayaka Murata’s "Vanishing World" reads like a whisper from the future—one that startles, unsettles, and strangely seduces. In this eerie, sterilized version of Japan, love has been rewritten, sex is a memory few dare mention, and babies are born from tubes, not touch. Enter Amane Sakaguchi, a young woman conceived the old-fashioned way—a glitch in the system, an echo of a fading humanity.

From the sterile streets of her childhood to the bizarre social laboratory of “Experiment City,” Amane’s world unfolds like a dream half-remembered and half-feared. Here, parental roles are redesigned like Ikea furniture, romantic affection is outsourced to digital avatars, and AI companions soothe the ache of solitude better than humans ever could. Murata doesn’t just craft a dystopia—she holds up a mirror, fogged with our own fingerprints.

The prose is cold and clinical, almost surgical—fitting for a world where biology has become an inconvenience. Yet within that emotional frost, Amane's confusion, yearning, and quiet rebellion pulse like a stubborn heartbeat. Her existence becomes a question mark drawn in ink across sterile glass: What does it mean to be human when humanity is inconvenient?

Yes, the narrative sometimes strays into surreal side streets, and yes, the ending might rattle even the most seasoned speculative fiction reader—but that’s part of the spell. "Vanishing World" isn’t here to comfort. It’s here to provoke, to prod at the boundaries of what we think is “normal,” and to ask: If technology can meet all our needs, do we still need each other?

Murata doesn’t deal in sci-fi clichés—she deals in quiet horror, philosophical disarray, and the beautifully broken mosaic of human identity. This isn’t a future we’re marching toward. It’s one we may already be sleepwalking into.

So read carefully. And when you put it down, ask yourself—are we vanishing too?

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

Vanishing World (仮題, Kieteyuku Sekai) is an upcoming novel by Sayaka Murata, the internationally acclaimed Japanese author of Convenience Store Woman (2016) and Earthlings (2018). While details remain scarce as of 2025 (no official English title or release date confirmed), Murata has hinted in interviews that this work will continue her exploration of societal alienation, unconventional lives, and the fragility of human connections in a hyper-structured world.

Expected Themes (Based on Previews & Interviews):
Disappearing Communities: The novel may focus on marginalized groups—elderly, misfits, or rural populations—fading away due to urbanization and societal neglect.

Eccentric Survival: Like her previous protagonists (Keiko in Convenience Store Woman, Natsuki in Earthlings), the central characters likely navigate life by creating their own rules.

Climate Anxiety: Murata has mentioned an interest in "quiet apocalypses," where collapse happens through erosion rather than spectacle.

Queer & Nonconformist Lives: Expect nuanced portrayals of characters defying gender/relationship norms.

Anticipated Style:
Deadpan Surrealism: Murata’s signature blend of mundane details with unsettling twists.

Dark Humor: Sharp, ironic observations about modern alienation.

Short, Punchy Chapters: Likely episodic, echoing Convenience Store Woman’s structure.

Speculative Comparisons:
If Convenience Store Woman met The Memory Police (Yoko Ogawa)’s vanishing-world dystopia.

Or a more grounded, quirky version of The End of the World News (Anthony Burgess).

2 stars

**Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.**

⚠️NOTE: THIS BOOK ENDS WITH THE MC RAPING A CHILD.⚠️

<b> Basics </b>

Author: she/her (Japan)
Genre: speculative fiction, SF
Setting: world where sex is taboo and artificial insemination is the norm
Themes: sex/procreation, love, family
Vibes: f*cked up

<b> Characters </b>
🩵 Amane (fMC) - school girl who is in love with Lapis, a male character

<b> Quotes </b>

"Our sexuality developed in a sterile space."

[About loving anime/characters] "Some people say it's escaping reality, but I don't agree. Rather, it's nourishing my soul so that I can live in reality."

"I too opened my mouth a little, to show my teeth, and made a cavity in my face to look like I was smiling."

"Normality is the creepiest madness there is."

<b> Pros </b>
+ mc's first childhood love was a fictional character (who among us?)
+ falling in love with characters from anime & manga is the norm, to the point of school kids confessing about their first loves and sharing the same first love with other kids who also love the character (very interesting concept!)
+ for mass prevention, girls are implanted with contraceptive devices as soon as they get their first period
+ since most have a "pure" love of characters, gender matters less
+ LGBTQIA rep: gay (boy likes male character)
+ falling in and out of love with many people at the same time, while single or married, brings about interesting integrations of polyamory
+ the MC carries 40 shards of her lovers in her black Prada bag (kind of iconic, no?) 💅
+ Since marriage is loveless, more of a business agreement, the MC and her best friend wonder why they couldn't have gotten married (same-sex marriage still isn't allowed). Very interesting take that they'd be okay marrying eachother because of trust but not because of love. They're so close to figuring out LGBTQIA rights 🤏
+ Chiba Experiment City = utopian mass insemination controlled by data, with kids raised by center, all adults are Mother (what could go wrong?)
+ creepy, smiling kids
+ trialing pregnant men, with sacs outside of their bodies (no successes yet, but mc's husband is up for the challenge)
+ sandpit made from bones
+ didn't see that mom plot twist coming, but I like it (deliciously unhinged 🤌)

<b> Neutral </b>
/ A young girl (5th grade) who doesn't understand about her body well calls arousal/orgasm her "uterus throbbing" and that it is in her belly. Not sure if this is due to her youth, the anti-sex society, or Japanese turn of phrase.
/ sleeping with your husband = incest (Murata really said buckle up cuz I'm going all in on this no-sex world)

<b> Cons </b>
- THE RAPE OF A CHILD BY THE MC IN THE LAST CHAPTER!!!! 🤢🤮 UNNECESSARY & VILE
- clinical sex scenes and sex talk between 5th-graders then a high school kid & her teacher
- topics/exact situations are gone over again and again in different scenes (redundant)
- This is a very dialogue-heavy book. Some of the dialogue is very clearly just exposition/info dumping.
- the entire book is a thought experiment laid-out by dialogue, instead of mostly through plot/actions
- a huge contrived coincidence to further the plot (her first real lover ~just happened to be~ the exact person they randomly meet and the one who can help them get what they want...sure)
- I cannot state how much this needed a good editor to remove repetitions and actually cut out plot loops we've already just explored (same talking points, same situation, and/or same phrasing)

<b> TW </b>

self-harm (cutting), genital talk, miscarriage, infant death, stillborn talk, rape of a child/kodomo-chan

The concept had me in a chokehold. So Murata. A world where sex is outdated and babies are made through artificial insemination, and Amane, born the “natural” way, feels like an outsider because of it.

There’s a lot here about what’s considered “normal” in society and how much of that is just made up, which I loved. But the writing felt repetitive, too explain-y, and didn’t always hold my attention.

Not her best for me, but still intriguing if you’re already a fan. If not, there's always Convenience Store Woman.

I love Sayaka Murata. Her books always fascinate me with their bizarre, unsettling takes on society, and life ceremony completely won me over. She has such a distinct voice and way of peeling back the layers of what we consider "normal", it’s always thought-provoking.

That said, Vanishing World just didn’t hold my interest the way I hoped it would. The concept is wildly imaginative (as expected from Murata), but I found myself feeling more disconnected than intrigued while reading. I’m honestly chalking it up to a “me” problem, maybe I just wasn’t in the right headspace for this kind of story.

I still plan on giving it another chance, because I know her books can hit differently on a second read, and I really do want to understand the vision she’s exploring here. If nothing else, it’s definitely one of the most original concepts I’ve come across in a while.

I’ve read Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings so I was excited to read this one. It’s just as far-fetched as you can imagine. I am a big Murata fan and reading these books sort of reminds me of reading Chuck Palahniuk. You either love them or hate them and I happen to love them. This story is futuristic, bizarre, and set in Japan. It really is interesting and gets you to think about sex, relationships and the world in a different way. I loved this one and plan to continue reading Sayaka Murata over and over again!

If you’ve read Sayaka Murata before, then this book won’t be a surprise to you. If you haven’t… it will be a wild ride. This was exactly as odd as I expected - but I enjoyed it.

A social commentary on Japan - specifically feelings of relationships, loneliness, and the love of anime, surrounded with the human need for procreation. I can’t really explain it more than that, you’ll have to read it for yourself.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC. This review is honest and freely given.

As usual, weird but enjoyable. Vanishing World has exceed my expectation. I read Sayaka Murata's from the start and I love how she's consistently writes something unusual but it makes sense in my head. So, when Vanishing World's ARC is out there, I am ready for another adventure.

I love this author’s unique characters, plots, and writing. Even about mundane things such as jobs, normal things such as marriage and reproduction, they can create a whole fantastically bizarre narrative.

Where I struggled was with the concept that sex within a marriage was considered abhorrent (between husband and wife), yet self pleasure and taking lovers (real or otherwise) outside the marriage was normal. I just didn’t understand the point of this or why it even mattered. I think the story was just a little too weird and far fetched for me to immerse myself in, and parts of it did not make any sense to me, even when I tried to put myself in the shoes of the characters.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Grove Atlantic/ Grove Press for a copy!

Sayaka Murata did it again. I love how curious and strange her stories are and Vanishing World felt like a combination of her previous novels. The book was strange, terrifying yet once more incredible. And though this book is a translaton, one can tell how incredible Murata's writing style and way with words in general is.

Thank you to Net Galley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Well. I am sorry to say that this got knocked down a star for the ending, alone.

Full disclaimer: Sayaka Murata is forever doing her own thing and I will forever respect it. But I can't say I'll always like it. This one leaned more heavily towards the Earthlings end of things than Convenience Store Woman, so I was not necessarily having a great time, but I was (at the very least) intrigued. But by the end? She lost me.

Vanishing World is set in a futuristic Japanese society that has created a stigma around having sex. Marriage has become detached from both love and attraction with the focus, instead, residing on partnership and companionship. To me, it felt like commentary surrounding the idea of "checking boxes" for oneself, rather than a reflection of true love and commitment. Sex with your husband or wife is considered taboo, referred to as an act of incest, given the wholly platonic nature of the relationship. Amane, the main character, is somewhat haunted throughout by stories of the old world, primarily relayed to her by her mother; a world in which men and women would have sex with their romantic partners for pleasure. Identifying that same urge within herself, she is pressured into repressing it and, ultimately, assimilating into a society that treats sex as something unclean and unsanitary.

All of that was relatively interesting to read about. It's the last third of the book, specifically the last 20 pages or so, that becomes a bit too disturbing for words. If you're so inclined, read it. But I can't see myself revisiting this one anytime soon (or ever).

I will, however, keep tuning in to see what other bizarre tales Sayaka Murata goes on to share with us. Because as traumatic and repulsive as some of her work can be, it always makes you think.

Loving all of sayaka’s books I knew I wanted to read this one! It’s a dystopian world I would not like to live in but I loved the premise and it’s something that could actually happen in the future which is scary!
As all of her books the ending was weird but I felt like I wanted a little more from it, although it was still a good read and I would recommend it

“Love and sexual desire were like waste material, something to be disposed of outside the home.”

And so we enter Murata’s dystopian future where s*x between married couples in considered inc*st and you create a ‘family’ strictly through artificial insemination. Amane navigates this world as new developments in an experimental town allows for both men and women to use artificial wombs and turn their babies over to be raised by the Center.

I think I will forever be chasing the absolutely unhinged ending Murata concocted for Earthlings so anything that doesn’t quite reach that level of unhinged feels like it falls flat. While the ending for Vanishing World was very much out there, it felt like it was something out of character for Amane, who felt very one dimensional most moments.

When thinking about the overall concept of the novel, this dissolving of the family and government supported breeding programs it feels like nothing new. But when I realized this was originally published in 2015 (10 years ago!?) it felt like Murata had her finger one something we are only now starting to see come to life. The modern dating world is a hellscape (sorry gen z) and with the rise of AI, s*x robots and a decline in birthing rates it seems like we aren’t that far from this reality.

I managed to finish this one within a day, it was quick paced and Amane is still an interesting character even though we only get to know her through her sexual urges & desires. I wish there had been a bit more to her but it made sense as she grapples with her changing worlds.

*Vanishing World* by Sayaka Murata is a quirky and thought-provoking read that takes you into a unique and sometimes surreal world. Murata’s storytelling is offbeat, blending the strange with the deeply human, and this book is no exception. The protagonist’s journey through an ever-changing world makes you think about the nature of reality and the pressure to conform. With Murata’s signature humor and oddball charm, the book explores themes of identity, isolation, and the passage of time. It’s a delightful, unpredictable ride that keeps you guessing, all while reflecting on life's more mysterious aspects. If you’re looking for something fresh and a little different, *Vanishing World* is a fascinating pick!

One thing you can always say about Sayaka Murata is that she creates truly original work, stories that are bound to provoke, but never just for the sake of provocation. There’s always a deeper reflection on what it means to be human, particularly how strange and contradictory our existence can be. In this story, she writes into themes of gender, sexuality, and reproduction in a society where sex has nearly vanished and artificial insemination is the norm. Amane, the protagonist, is an outsider, born the “old-fashioned” way, she feels both burdened and haunted by what now seems like an obsolete mode of existence. As she grows and begins to explore her own sexuality, she wrestles with the tension between her internal desires and the expectations placed on her by her family, friends, and lovers in a world that no longer knows what to do with people like her.

If it’s a Sayaka Murata book, you know that it is going to be bizarre. Case in point, her latest novel Vanishing World, about a future society that deems sex, especially with one’s partner, obscene.

In this world, marriage is akin to family, and therefore a husband and wife are looked at as basically being siblings. Sex between them would be considered incest, so all babies are created through artificial insemination. However, can you completely eliminate the desire for physical intimacy in humans? Of course not. That’s why “affairs” are encouraged - many married people have a sexual partner on the side with approval from their spouse.

Murata’s protagonist Amane was created the old-fashioned way. That is, her parents had sex to have her, which has not only caused there to be stigma surrounding Amane, but made her incredibly curious about sex her entire life. She becomes obsessed with sex, pulling various men into her deviant orbit and educating them on the ways of old. Surely, anyone who knew what Amane was doing would find something wrong with her, but she just can’t help being this way.

As an adult, Amane enters an appropriately sexless marriage, but she can’t shake off her sex obsession. Wanting to have a child with her husband Saku, but not in agreement with the current societal norms, they decide to move to an experimental, cult-like city where children are created en masse and raised communally. Men can even become “pregnant,” carrying fetuses in artificial wombs. The experience of living in Experiment City will change Amane and Saku’s lives forever - but will it bring them closer together or tear them apart?

Vanishing World is SO weird, but I am here for it. It is refreshing to read a book that goes off the deep end, diving into unusual and strange topics and ideas. This book is unsettling and graphic - there are lots of descriptive and clinical talk about sex and bodily fluids in here - but also intriguing and eye-opening. You can definitely expect to walk away from any Murata book with a new view of the world!

However, the ending of this story is not going to be for everyone. It concludes in such a way that I had to go back and re-read to make sure I fully understood what happened. While I am open to the fact that not everyone is going to fit a proper mold and that people do completely unhinged and unacceptable things all of the time, other readers may want to burn this book after reading that ending. Proceed with an open mind or not at all.

If you’ve read Convenience Store Woman or Earthlings you will have some idea of what I mean when I say that her latest book is totally weird, bizarre and off-kilter. A dystopian Japan where the concept of having sex to conceive a baby is considered old-fashioned, unhygienic and a form of abuse akin to incest. Instead the preferred way to make babies is by using artificial insemination. Although the story contains some annoying repetitions and didn’t always seem to know in which direction it was heading, it didn’t matter. This is one story that pulls you along for the whole ride, crazy as it is. Not for the faint-hearted, but let’s get together sometime to talk about THAT ending!