Sayaka Murata is a genius. Depraved, but a genius. I wish I could peek inside her brain to find out where she gets her ideas, but the thought of doing that also lowkey terrifies me. I love everything she has written, and her newest novel breaks down the concepts of family, relationships, and sex like no other book has before. I love dystopian novels, and this was a very peculiar take on the genre. It was disgusting one second and weirdly wholesome the next. I’d expect nothing less from Murata. Can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.

Perhaps the authors most provocative novel yet. Vanishing World touches on so many topics from the necessity of marriage and motherhood to sexual desires. The clinical-ness with which she writes about love and sex is done brilliantly and feels almost disturbing.

The novel can be perceived as a look ahead into our future. The character’s obsession with ‘non real’ people felt like a mirroring of our plunge into social isolation through our obsession with social media and public figures. As Amane’s mother says to her daughter, she is only shutting herself up in a pleasant world that is comfortable and clean.

I do feel, however, that this book could have been longer which would have allowed for the plot to develop more. At times some of the actions of the characters felt very rushed and it was difficult to grasp Amane’s flip flopping thought process.

Overall, Murata remains one of the most exciting authors we have seen.

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!