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!

“And you aren’t brainwashed? 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.”

Sayaka Murata is known for her interesting explorations of societal norms, and Vanishing World is a speculative book that dives into shifting norms pertaining to family, intimacy, love, and sex. Our protagonist lives in a world where spouses are almost akin to siblings, and cohabitation to form a family unit is strictly platonic. Copulation is considered to be taboo, and the ideas of love and sex have been shaken up and reimagined. Normalized intimacy happens with fictional characters, and it is rare for humans to form physical attachments to other real people.

We experience these shifts in perspective from the eyes of the protagonist, Amane, who prides herself with being normal while also having interests and desires often found outside the current norm. As time progresses, we feel the discomfort of this society’s ideals as well as Amane’s tendency to manipulate and coerce her lovers as she further detaches from reality.

There is so much commentary to ponder in this book, and a lot of it involves sitting in the uncomfortable. Some heavy topics are discussed that include physical intimacy, ideas about using others for one’s self gratification, family structures and familial bonds, taboos and how they evolve over time, and how technology can be useful but how it can also lead us away from community and toward isolation.

At times the writing was so visceral that I felt a bit queasy, and other scenes were incredibly eerie to think about. I did feel like the ending was quite abrupt. I don’t want to give away spoilers, but some very unhinged choices were made that gave me the ick but somehow also felt in line with Amane’s character. While I obviously don’t condone her behavior, I wish we’d had a bit…more… leading up to those decisions so the conclusion didn’t feel quite so hasty.

This book is bizarre. It has some great social commentary, and it feels dystopian without having that gnawing sense of doom and destruction dystopian books often have. But it also has very visceral descriptions of body parts and bodily functions that seem to be there for the sake of discomfort. Also, I’d suggest checking out the content warnings, but know those content warnings may contain spoilers.

Thanks to Netgalley and Grove Atlantic for the advanced ebook!

Bizarre and creative, Sayaka Murata created a world wearing an utopian façade, rooted deep in the slimy darkness of a dystopian society that lost its traces of humanity from it, sucking the individualism out of people, molding them into copies of one prototype- THE MOTHER.

Occurring in a parallel reality Japan, due to the lack of civilian men during WW2, artificial insemination became a norm, and science grew up refining this technique and, on the way, redefining the concept of sex, family, love, and the philosophy of belonging. brainwashed into extremity, the new society believes love and sex are unnecessary and the traditions practice of copulation is primitive and gross. the definition of incest has turned around, now making it impossible for a husband and wife to have sexual intercourse, because by law, they are FAMILY.

My brain was on a perpetual state of dilemma when i read this book and at the same time, i thoroughly enjoyed it too. throwing in such a fascinating theory where married couple live like siblings and people having explicit relationships with anime characters was indeed a new thing to me. This grotesque nature of the novel is the catch, i should believe. Though creating a new world that has no attributions to the current society, Murata definitely added quaint societal norms existing within the Japanese community into this book, making it a pseudo-realistic society that i would never wish to live in!

As Amane, the protagonist, first resisted the psychotic charm of the 'collective oneness' of the new society, her slowly falling into the rabbit hole and getting sucked up into the whirlpool never made me doubt that this cannot happen in real life. The author had done a great job at crafting the novel to be convincing, even when it questions the morality of the reader. As she, her husband, and the entire population slowly descends into the utopian madness, the reader and Amane's mother exist as helpless audience.

"Normality is the creepiest madness there is. This was all insane, yet it was so right", said Amane. She became the transient line, the border between individuality and oneness, she became the question mark aimed at the reader- to choose their side. whether to live on the "OTHER SIDE" or to pet the "KODOMO-CHANS".

And obviously the explicit scenes were a bit too gross but yeah, it's the trademark of Japanese literature, can't say anything about it-

Thanks to GROVE ATLANTIC and NetGalley for sending me the Advance Reader Copy!!!

”Normality is the creepiest madness there is.”

Amane spent her early childhood in a house full of red things, full of books about princesses meeting princes, and her mother always saying ”Amane, you too will one day fall in love, get married, and have children, just like Mommy and Daddy.” The author makes it sound chilling.
This is because we are in a world where sexuality is being slowly taken away from people. Children are only conceived by artificial insemination. Some people still have sex, but the done thing is to be in love with anime and manga characters.

Let’s imagine how such a society would function, how people would think, talk, act. There is so much weirdness that the effect is almost comical… but in a disturbing way. We are looking at deeper questions, of course.
Who controls your sexuality? You? The society? Totalitarian societies love to control people’s sexuality, don’t they? Aren’t we all brainwashed, one way or another, no matter what society we live in?

As the book progresses, and Amane’s world changes yet again, madness creeps in more and more. In the end, it seems that there is nothing but madness left.

”The very idea of a married couple having sex, it’s horrifying!”

”You are the only family I have in this world. You are the one person I can never fall in love with.”

”We humans were always changing. Whichever world we were brainwashed by, we didn’t have the right to judge others based on the ideas we had been inculcated with.”

This book might not appeal to every reader, but I like what Sayaka Murata does to literature.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc!

Sayaka Murata's "Vanishing World" offers a fascinating look into a possible future where sex is obsolete, romance and family take on new meanings, and pregnancy/the birth rate is--more than ever--everyone's business. I enjoyed the novel's fast pace, effective worldbuilding without info-dumping, and the themes and dilemmas raised, the latter of which are ever more relevant considering the climate of today's world. However, I think the execution could be more impactful by exploring more nuances and topics, as the book's scope is currently quite narrow and one-toned, shoehorning only certain aspects of childbirth, sex and love repeatedly without delving into more depth. Overall, this is an interesting book but no doubt not everyone will enjoy it.

Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata is wacky, weird, wild. So basically, everything I was expecting from a book by Murata.

Vanishing World follows Amane as she muddles through life - in a world where sex between husband and wife is incest, and babies are conceived via IVF. Murata's critical and exaggerated observance of one of life's "natural" aspects is always well thought out and considered, while having the uncanny ability to gross you out.

I found the points a little repetitive and the writing was perhaps a bit slow in parts of the book, but overall I enjoyed this more than Earthlings
(but not as much as Convenience Store Woman).

Thanks NetGalley for the eArc of this book. All opinions are my own.

I read Convenience Store Woman by the same author a few years back, but nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to delve into in this book. We follow a dystopian world where our understanding of family is that of the old. Without spoiling too much, we see the main character struggle to adapt her instincts to the new normal that is taking shape in society. I found the discussions surrounding character/anime idolization to be quite interesting. I would say this book is not for the weak - it's wacky, weirder than you would think and I've honestly never read anything like this. I see myself comparing it to certain scenes we see in 1Q84 by Murakami (ifykyk) but everything seems magnified and exaggerated (not necessarily in a bad way) in this book. Although I was kind of put off in the beginning, I started getting more and more fascinated by this world the author has created and was fully invested by the end. A rollercoaster of a book if I ever saw (or well... read) one.

Sayaka Murata, you’ve done it again! Ever since my first read of Life Ceremony (one of my favorite short story collections of all time), I have an eye out for anything she’s written that is translated to English. This is certainly not for everyone, not for the faint of heart but if you love freaky dystopian novels with strange unconventional characters, I urge you to get your hands on a copy when it releases. Easily gonna be one of my favorite releases this year. Highly enjoyed highly recommended!

Massive thank you to Grove Press and Netgalley for the e-ARC!

I feel that Sayaka Murata goes deeper into the same themes with each book. However, much like Earthlings, I found the final pages particularly gross and unnecessary. I liked most of this story, her writing style is compulsive and makes for a quick read, with interesting thoughts about normality, society and technological advancements. I just wish she hadn't gone there with those final pages, literally why?

With thanks to the publisher for a NetGalley ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Book Review Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata

Publication Date: April 15, 2025

Imagine a world completely flipped upside down and then turned inside out. That’s the reality you enter in this imaginative speculative fiction novel. In this strange world, sex between married couples is considered incest, sex activity between people is becoming rare and is primarily a solo sport, children are conceived through artificial insemination, and sexual attraction has shifted primarily to anime and manga characters. As if this isn’t strange enough, an experimental city is established, where randomly selected men and women are artificially inseminated. The children, referred to as Kodomochans, are raised collectively in a centre, with all the inhabitants of the city considered their mothers. The children are expected to be more stable and intelligent when raised by a community that loves them rather than the instability of a family.

Amane, who was raised by her single parent mother, was conceived the “old fashioned” way, and was taught to believe in the value love within marriage. However, when she reaches school age, she comes to the painful realization that her conception is considered wrong in this society. This discovery challenges everything her mother taught her, leaving her feeling disconnected and unsure of what is truly “normal”. As she grapples with her identity, Amane rejects her mother and her beliefs, but remains uncertain about her own desires and sexuality.

An evocative examination of family, motherhood, parenting and marriage. Through Amane and her friends we gain insight into their diverse lifestyles, and their discussions delve into the roles of marriage, same sex marriage, friendship, connection, intimacy, sexuality and desire. The novel raises thought provoking and profound questions about what it means to be human and the human need for connection: Is it an inherent part of our nature or is it a societal construct? Have we been brainwashed to believe this? Is a meaningful life merely the result of societal programming shaped by changing norms rather than our personal values and beliefs?

Thoroughly imaginative, thought provoking and highly entertaining. A great book for fans of weird, dystopian and speculative fiction.

Thank you to Net Galley and Grove Atlantic for the early copy of this book and the opportunity to provide honest feedback.

First published in 2015, Vanishing World feels more relevant now than ever. Amane navigates a world where copulation is a dying act, replaced by artificial insemination, where marriage isn't tied to romance, and where being in a relationship with fictional characters is as common, if not more popular, than being with a real person.

Tackling Japan's (and surprise, the entire world's) declining birthrate, isolation, and unhealthy parasocial relationships, Murata deconstructs the most basic unit of society: family, questioning what truly binds it - love.

What is the point of interacting with each other when you can have the same result - sexual gratification, the feeling of community - from something so planned it could not go wrong? Why attach feelings to a natural bodily function?

Murata's prose is simple, clinical, but that detachment adds weight to the emptiness the book portrays, tearing apart our notion of what makes a person human, a couple, and a family what it is, picking it apart and labeling it unclean like medical waste. In its lack of inflection, I felt more - because how dare you present something so hollow when it demands more heart?

Vanishing World is an off-kilter tale about an era in decline, a shifting paradigm, a return to paradise-where we shed everything that came with eating the forbidden fruit: knowledge, desire, individuality, pain. As the gates of Eden open once more, it asks only one thing of you: your sense of self. Are you willing to give it up?

Thanks to Grove Atlantic and Netgalley for the review copy.

I didn’t enjoy this one. I loved the concept, hated the execution.
We didn’t even get to Experiment City until 46% of the book, which is the part I was most interested in.
We were in the MC's head, getting her thoughts a lot and I wanted to be out in the world more.
It was repetitive, the characters kept saying the same things over and over again!!
The ending was absolutely disgusting. I'm all for shock value, even if its disgusting. But this was unnecessary to the story and just appalling. And with the rest of the book not being that great for me, it made the ending even worse for me. 2 stars because I loved the concept and it did have some cool dystopian moments. But overall, it was a no from me dawg. DISAPPOINTING!!!

This was interesting but not as good as Convenience Store Woman. I like that the author comes up with such different ideas. This book is bizarre in that people do not have sex and it is seen as incest. Babies are made by IVF. The main character struggles with the way things are. If you like strange weird books that make you think this one's for you.

This was interesting. The translation wasn’t as great and the format could use some work. The story of this dystopian world…. Sexless marriage and concern with how the relationships are.

Vanishing World is an immersive work of speculative fiction set in a dystopian version of a world very similar to ours, where humanity lacks sexual desire, and reproduction is controlled by a central government.

I've always admired how Sayaka Murata challenges the concepts of family and society's basic structures. Her brand of horror isn't about gore or violence; it's about the bizarre and unthinkable, like how flimsy the foundations of our sense of morality can be. I highly recommend this book. Big thanks for the ARC access.

"Sex and love will soon disappear altogether. Now that babies are all made by artificial insemination, there's no need to go to all that trouble."

"Normality is the creepiest madness there is. This was all insane, yet it was so right."

Wouldn't it be convenient if we lived in a world where love and sex were just dusty institutions of the old days? Where we don't have to be burdened by dating and copulation and all the dirty, messy things that love requires?

"...the family system is an unsuitable method of reproduction for highly intelligent animals. In Paradise-Eden everyone is the child of all humankind, and everyone the mother of all humankind...By controlling their lifestyle, each child can be raised to be an outstanding, capable human resource."

Amane is the only person she knows who was conceived by parents indoctrinated by the cult of love and copulation, rather than by artificial insemination. She is humiliated to be a child of what is now considered incest - sex between married partners. Committed to ridding herself of the curse of her desire for real people, she focuses on her acceptable anime lovers and her appropriately sexless marriage.

Soon, Amane and her husband move to the tidy city of Paradise-Eden, where children are raised nameless by the collective Mother, and where men AND women have the freedom to make babies without the old-fashioned weight of family, marriage, sex, or individualized children. Despite the voice in her head that tells her it's all very strange and unnatural, Amane learns to embody a good, doting Mother to the adorable Kodomo-chans who are raised meticulously in this ever-evolving new world, and rid herself of her old ways.

"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."

What if our desire to be "normal", to fit in to the evolving society around us, could supersede our human instincts? What pieces of humanity are we willing to let vanish, for comfort and convenience?

Filing this book under "What....the fuck??", "Dystopian No-No's" and "Uncomfortably Unhinged".

"Cute! Cute! Cute! Cute! Cute! Cute! we Mothers all said, and the Kodomo-chan in my arms smiled."

3 ⭐️. idk if it was the translation or story, but this read very clunky. I overall enjoyed the concept of the story but felt like the characters were forced and distant.

ty to Grove Press and NetGalley for an advance reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata has got to be one of the most weirdest takes of nature vs nuture I have ever witnessed. In Murata fashion, this book is short, it's strange, it's wild, and full of tabboo subjects (please check trigger warning).

As always, I love her writing style and this book wasn't terrible. It sadly is my least favorite of her's so far. There was some pacing issues (specifically part 2) and lots of talking, I wanted more action. It also was very repetitive. But it was short and still readable as Murata's books always are.

This book is all it into 3 parts and all were a wild ride.
Part 1 was strange but intriguing.
Part 2 was boring and cringey.
Part 3 was all WTF and made my head spin (it was great).

I recommend only if you like strange books and are perhaps are familiar with Murata's writing.

Thank you NetGalley and Grove Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest feedback. I am honored to be able to get the chance to read a Sayaka Murata book early. It means a lot.

Sayaka Murata always proposes interesting ideas in her novels and Vanishing World is no exception. In a world where societal norms around sex and conception have completely changed, our narrator provides a glimpse into how she copes with accepting these new norms when her mother taught her the old ways of having a family ever since childhood. While I thought the concept of this novel was interesting, overall I found the text to be repetitive, flat, and never fully fleshed out.

Thank you NetGalley & Grove Atlantic for the digital ARC! 🫶🏽

We follow Aname, a young woman living in Tokyo. Her mother had her ‘the old way’ – through sex instead of artificial insemination – which has always made her feel like the odd one out in a world where sex and love-marriages are disappearing.

We explore the world Murata creates through the lens of a young woman, and it reads a bit like Convenience Store Woman. My experience reading it got an extra dimension, as I was travelling through Japan while reading it, and its people and culture have been topic of discussion a lot lately.

As we know (and love) Sayaka Murata, there is a clear tone of critique on Japan’s society throughout the book, which is felt by the exploration of the topics of family, the family system, sex and asexuality and going against the grain. I love Murata’s writing style and I blew through this, so would definitely recommend if you’re up for a read that will leave you thinking about it afterwards. It’s not as absurd as Earthlings or Life Ceremony, so perhaps for the Murata-explorers who don’t vibe with the absurdity all too well.