As always, Sayaka Murata delivers on another unhinged story that challenges social norms, "rules", and expectations. This time with a much more prominent focus on sex and the traditional family unit, Sayaka Murata does an incredible job creating a world that feels dystopian yet upon further reflection, is scarily similar to our own. The book is split into three parts and I feel the first two parts were written to set us up conceptually for Part 3, which is where things really take off. Watching our main character lose her direction and sense of self was really a wake-up call to the way society works, and although the ending was a bit too taboo/grotesque for my liking, I thought the meat of the novel was still really fascinating and thought-provoking.

I enjoy Sayaka Murata's books because they always have interesting storylines. This one was no different. However, as this was an ARC, I noticed that the editing was a little unfinished, and the story felt very choppy at times. I'd be interested to see if the final translations and printed copy filled in some of the time jumps and gaps that left me with questions. Also, while the whole story is dystopian, the end was disturbing and not in a way that was written well. I'll have to get a hard copy of this book to determine if I feel differently after rereading it.

I loved this book a lot! Sayaka Murata is an author I’ve been wanting to read for a while, so I’m glad I was able to reas this book. This book was very insightful yet very absurd, I found myself laughing and then my mood would switch immediately the next page. Sayaka’s perspective on social norms, family, and relationships were very eye opening. I love it when books have an outlandish plot that have heavy underlying themes. And that ending!! I thought it couldn’t get any more wild until I got to the last few pages! I’m very happy I enjoyed this book and will definitely check out Sayaka’s other works!

I wasn't sure how Sayaka Murata would ever top the glorious wild chaos of EARTHLINGS but she has done it. The oddness of the main character's narrative voice here reminded me of Earthlings and to a lesser extent of Convenience Store Woman, as well, but also, different--the way a favorite author can sound familiar and new both at once. It hit this mark perfectly. I like Vanishing World better and felt it was a more outstanding book than the previous two translated works because in addition to being absurd and remarkable and surprising it also made me think about the absurdity of the nuclear family, of the supremacy we afford a setup that hasn't changed much since the Middle Ages, and how absurd it is that we slot ourselves into these roles of parent and child and live apart from all other influences in our own little orbit of humanity...Vanishing World, however absurd, gave me a new perspective on things I hadn't thought about in a considered way before now.

Sayaka Murata’s writing is always guaranteed to be unsettling, a little stressful, and challenging to societal norms. In Vanishing World, she pulls the readers into a world where artificial insemination is the norm and the meaning of family is constantly evolving. I’ve really enjoyed some of her other stories and while I wouldn’t say I necessarily enjoyed this one, it did keep me engaged and has me thinking over what we consider normal in society. Overall I wouldn’t say this is my favorite of her books, but if her goal is to get the reader thinking, that’s really successful. This one was borderline too unsettling for me but it definitely will stick with me. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

In Vanishing World, Sayaka Murata explores sex, love, and family in a world in which artificial insemination has become the norm.

I liked discovering this world, where "normal" has become so much more different : very few people are having sex, being in love with fictional characters is widespread, and sleeping with your husband is incest. I don't really know where our protagonist, Amane, fits in in all of this : in some aspects she's considered abnormal (like sleeping with her lovers) but in others she likes to conform (very much so in the last part of the novel). It wasn't really clear how she's supposed to fit (or not fit) in this society.

Then we get to the really weird part of the novel with Experiment City, where people (men and women) are randomly selected to get inseminated and their offspring are raised collectively. I loved the uncanniness of this section, you can trust Murata to with her weird and unusual stuff that's for sure.
Also, just like my experience with her other novel Earthlings, the ending really left me there like : what did I just read ? How do I feel about it ? No idea, but it was certainly something (though the thing with her mother kinda came from left field, I feel it could have been left out).

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Press for providing me with an ARC.

This was a wild ride! And I loved every second of it. The craziness and absurdity of the plot made it feel humorous at times and then Sayaka Murata comes along with criticism of societal norms and changes. It was just really good. And the writing style was lovely to read.

This was a typical Sayaka Murata book. Interesting and uncomfortable, while somehow managing to feel cozy.

The writing style was what we’ve come to expect of Murata, as well as themes that are provocative, bordering inflammatory. Murata always takes it just a little too far and that usually works for me. Here, I was kind of indifferent.

But overall I enjoyed the story enough to keep reading. However, this is not my favorite Murata novel.

Thank you to Grove Atlantic for the e-arc.

I didn’t expect anything less from Murata!! What a wild ride exploring today’s societies views on childbirth, parenthood, and expectations on relationships…albeit in a dystopian world that reminded me of the Hunger Games Capitol. Yes it got very weird and wild at the end, but do you really expect anything less from Murata?

Sayaka has a way of approaching topics in her books that most authors wouldn't even attempt because of backlash or judgement. I continue to respect and admire her for the way she goes about telling stories without holding anything back, and going places no one expects. This was disturbing, but also extremely funny. I love it!

Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata is a strange sci-fi dystopian novel. The world we read about has sex fad out of culture and replaces it with artificial insemination. Once you are married, your partner has become your family and sex with them is considered incest. There is an experimental city where this technology and cultural shift is occurring and we follow our protagonist, Amane, all the way there.

I, always, think that Murata’s writing is a fascinating window into her thoughts on the sociopolitical landscape of Japan and western expectations of sex, love, and femininity. Vanishing World feels like and exploration of how women’s sexual desires are so largely ignored, how pleasure is rendered obsolete, how women are just vehicles for children… that society figures out a way to completely eradicate the purpose of a woman’s body. Isn’t that scary? Amane is terrified that the world around her is constantly changing and that if she can’t have sex, what is even the point? It feels dramatic but a central plot point is that her husband uses an artificial womb to have a child. Murata’s thoughts convey so much confusion, anguish, and horror as she details a world that becomes sexless and homogenized.

In the wake of the current landscape of love, sex, and romance dwindling, new explorations of love are discovered. Amane considers her crushes to fictional characters as a true and beautiful type of love. Certainly this serves as a commentary on folks parasocial relationships to fictional characters crafted purely through stan culture. I found it fascinating to wade through as Murata introduces perhaps one of the best explorations of polyamory in fiction I’ve ever read. As someone who is, it’s horrifying that this type of relationship structure is only seen as valid in this dystopian world. The relationship dynamics between married couples and their actual sexual partners was phenomenal and interesting. With sex between married couples being taboo, the romantic and sexual lives between with their second partners is a topic that is encouraged, welcomed, and shared. Essentially, full blown kitchen table polyamory or even relationship anarchy becomes a valid relationship structure that our current social structure doesn’t facilitate or fully endorse. Warm, safe, and filled with compersion, this future could be so wonderful if not for the ever changing existential threat of technology and sex.

Like all Murata novels I’ve read, the end ramps up into something quite disgusting and vile. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it is always mine. A story like this concludes with carnal desire at its purest and that can be absolutely ugly, in this case it is. As Amane is driven towards extremes by a world so confusing and devoid of human interaction and sex, she needs to prove that she can still feel things, still have agency over her body, can still exist — it’s perverse. The last few chapters had me shocked and uncomfortable as I took in how shameless that desire can make a character.

A truly stunning feat of commentary, Vanishing World is a cautionary tale about succumbing to the world as it changes and how much are we willing to lose of our ourselves to it.

Will be pitching to other outlets for a bigger exploration of this novel if accepted and I will be posting to both my Instagram and TikTok my thoughts on this.

Sayaka Murata writes weird books. I knew that going in, and usually I love them... but this one missed the mark a bit for me.

Overall, this was an interesting read but it was quite heavy at some points. It's a slower read with a lot of commentary on social issues and the state of society.

There are a lot of interesting topics covered in this and I like the general idea of the novel and the world in it. A lot of the points made throughout the novel feel somewhat lacking. After some research, I found out this was her first book (it's being translated to English now but was originally published in 2015). I think a lot of the issues I have with this stem from the fact that this was a debut novel and isn't quite as developed as her later works! This book feels like Murata was still finding her voice. It's still very interesting but feels less nuanced than her later novels.

I will say that the last few pages made me wildly uncomfortable - which is the point - but I don't feel like I understand what the author was going for with that scene.

Full disclosure, I am a nut for Murata's books so I'll admit I'm writing from a place of enormous bias. Her newest book, as with the others, alternated between making me laugh and making me think. I found her exploration on gender roles in Japanese society fascinating, and I adore the boldness with which she questions readily accepted norms. Highly, highly recommend

Sayaka Murata asks difficult and uncomfortable questions through her quirky imagination and daring writing. Vanishing World is her fourth book translated into English by Ginny Tapley Takemori. It is a speculative dystopian fiction that explores the traditional concepts of family, love, and sexual desire/practices, which have been radically altered.

The novella follows Amane from childhood to adulthood as she grapples with her identity in a fast-changing post-World War II Japanese society, where a large portion of the male population died, triggering societal reforms that favoured artificial reproduction and condemned sex. While the premise is intriguing, the execution ultimately fell short for me. The premise is similar to Under the Eye of the Big Bird longlisted for the International Booker 2025, a more realised book, yet flawed.

From a young age, she is confronted with the "abnormality" of her conception. This confusion results from the adoption of fictional characters to explore love. Murata explores the potential consequences of a world where biological reproduction is independent of personal relationships. The repetition of words and concepts became tiresome and ultimately spoiled my reading experience – the word "husband" is mentioned 228 times in a 240 pages book. Amane's internal monologues, while intended to be thought-provoking, lacked the emotional depth and impact expected from her previous works. Although the premise was interesting, it wasn't mature enough. The ending felt as though it was written only to shock and prove the irony of her mother's words. The translation also felt clunky at times, with A.I.-generated dialogue and phrasing, even with the same translator; it made me wonder if the book was rushed or lacked adequate editing.

While the book's premise is intriguing, I found it lacked depth. Vanishing World may appeal to readers interested in exploring speculative themes and unconventional social structures, but it ultimately failed to resonate with me on a deeper level.

**ARC Review **

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Sayaka Murata does it again! If you’ve read Convenience Store Woman or Earthlings, you know to expect something deeply unconventional, and Vanishing World delivers just that. This book is a mind-bending exploration of love, intimacy, and family in a future Japan where artificial insemination is the norm and even men can become pregnant thanks to advances in science.

Murata dissects societal expectations, and makes us question what’s "natural" when it comes to relationships and reproduction. The detached, matter-of-fact prose adds to the eeriness, and as always, her main characters exist on the fringes of what most would consider a “normal” life. It’s unsettling, fascinating, and oddly tender all at once.
It is a wild ride—sometimes disturbing, sometimes deeply moving—but always thought-provoking.

The premise of Vanishing World was intriguing, but unfortunately, the execution fell flat for me.

This novel is described as a critique of modern Japanese society, and I can see why much of its messaging felt deeply tied to cultural perspectives I may not fully understand. Because of this, I struggled to connect with or fully appreciate the story.

Murata explores themes of family, love, sex, loneliness, morality, and a rapidly changing world, but I had a hard time suspending disbelief—even within the realm of speculative fiction. Some concepts, like men willingly seeking pregnancy through artificial wombs or individuals falling in love with fictional (anime) characters, felt too far-fetched for me to engage with meaningfully.

I also found the characters difficult to connect with. Their shifting intentions and perspectives made them feel inconsistent, and the main character, in particular, swung wildly in ways that made it hard to understand their motivations.

Overall, the book was… strange. I struggled to find a clear message, and by the end, I was mostly left confused.

The intimacy descriptions? Absolutely awful. If anything, this book made me like s*x less. And as for the ending? I despised it with every fiber of my being.

⚠ Trigger warnings: rape, abortion (referred to in a dehumanizing way), miscarriage, IVF/artificial insemination, suicide, and one particular scene that was extremely uncomfortable for me. Definitely check content warnings before reading.

I’ve loved other Japanese-translated novels, like Before the Coffee Gets Cold, and I still dream of visiting Japan someday… despite this book. 😂

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic/Press for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is divided into three parts. The first two focus on Amane’s adolescence, her struggles with love, sex, and the relationship with her mother. While these themes are interesting, the book repeats the same statements, questions, and discussions. This repetition becomes noticeable but remains bearable given the book’s relatively short length.

The third part is the most unique. It introduces a strange and unsettling society where men can get pregnant, and all children are raised the same, almost like clones. The way this world is described felt eerie and bizarre, making it one of the most memorable parts of the book.

The climax is both shocking and confusing, leaving more questions than answers. Rather than providing clarity, it makes it difficult to determine what exactly is being criticized or satirized. While the novel presents fascinating ideas, its execution leaves some of its deeper messages feeling unclear.

Sayaka Murata is the queen of weird girl lit fic. I can’t even comprehend what I just read, but my goodness, I loved every second of it.

“Is there 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.”

Murata created such a unique world—one that feels both very close and yet extremely distant from the world we live in. She plays with societal norms and the illusion of choice.
You follow Amane as she struggles to find her way in this new sort of world, which is constantly changing.
The worldbuilding and character development were done so incredibly well.

After reading both Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings, I found this one start off quite mild. The story felt pretty ‘normal’ (for Sayaka Murata standards) at first, but the ending had me staring at my Kindle with my mouth wide open, thinking, What the hell did I just read?! And honestly, that’s all I ever want from a book like this.

Reading this really confirmed that she is an auto-buy author for me. I will read anything she writes.
Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher, for the e-arc!

I love this author and all the other books I have read by this author. With that being said, I had to read this book and was so excited for it. I loved how unique and out of this world this book was. I truly have never read anything like it and the writing is purely amazing. I was so pleased with this book and I’ve been telling everyone they need to add it to their tbr. I can’t wait for the author to put out another book.

I’m typically a fan of Murata’s weirdness but this is sadly a DNF. I’m incredibly grateful for arc, but I’m filing this away as «not for me». I’ve read several glowing reviews and I hope I’m in the minority.