3.5/5! ⭐⭐⭐

This book has one of the most wild concepts I have ever read.

🧬 Synopsis/Plot:

Think about it like this. A world where reproducing through intimacy with your partner is considered incest and no longer a thing. Babies are made through artificial insemination. People have multiple love interests alongside their husband and wives, and get their sexual gratification through means of fictional characters. Got that? Okay cool.

So we have Amane, a girl whose mother used our more familiar means of creating children, to have her. She wants to get away from that, but as someone who grew up falling in love and have intense sexual desires for fictional characters and real people, she struggles. After she gets married, her and her husband decide to move to a new town called Paradise-Eden, where children are raised communally, and everyone there is considered a 'mother' to all. Men now are able to carry babies outside their womb in a 'balloon', and all children are nameless.

🧬 Thoughts:

This was unhinged. Highly disturbing. One of those books you keep reading because you have no idea what to think or how to process it. I don't think I can say much else except, you just have to read it. You will probably question reality. Was it bad? No. I really enjoyed the writing. I enjoyed following Amane on her sexually frustrated, scientific, insane journey.

I have heard this author has many other unhinged books, and now I'm curious.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

The cover for this book is so unique and gorgeous and the concept is fascinating.

Unfortunately the file formatting was not accessible for me on my ereader so I was unable to properly sample this book. From what I was able to read, I am excited to add it to by to be read list and purchase it once it is available.

Thank you immensely for the opportunity to gain early access to this story! I am bummed technology and formatting issues got in the way.

weird and interesting and very similar in style to earthlings, but a little weaker I feel, because the escalation feels a little too fast near the end to me. 4.5 stasr, rounded up. tysm for the arc, i was shrieking when i saw i got it

I liked the allusions to Brave New World and the author’s unique and quirky style. I did not enjoy it as much as Convenience Store Woman and would not recommend it to my high school students.

Sayaka Murata is a weird author, and I eat up all of her books. I think she's so weird and strange and her writing is so bizarre but I also think she's saying interesting things that border on taboo. I can't say I liked this book, because it was so disturbing and weird, but I think it was a good read and worth it!