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.

The concept initially had me pretty hooked, but moving from part one into part two and sometimes part three, the dialogue and story itself got repetitive. Part three had a lot of potential that was kind of squandered by a rushed ending that left me disturbed.

I do like Murata’s work but this isn’t really my favorite. Thank you to the publisher for an ARC!

"...If my husband had a womb, would he still have chosen to live with me? Was the fact I had the womb the only reason he called me family?"

This is my first Sayaka Murata and I enjoyed every page of it!!!
'Vanishing world' is as weird and wild as it is smart and addictive. The depiction of societal expectations and norms was a bit out of this world, but they were actually quite correct and current if you think of it. Some people will always judge those who seem and act differently than most, some people always adapt wherever the situation is, some people will go through life following a dream (their or someone else's) only to erase everything in a second.

The ending literally broke me. I sat staring at the screen for maybe 15 minutes not knowing what to do with myself. I did scream "NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" though.

4.5 stars from me
Thank you NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for this ARC.

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

I reread *Earthlings* a couple of weeks ago and I was just desperate to read more Murata, so many thanks to Grove Press and Netgalley for sending me this ARC even though I haven’t written a proper review in over a year.

*Vanishing World* reiterates Murata’s usual themes—what is normal and why we consider it normal, people who fit societal expectations and people who don’t, weird sex stuff, unconventional relationships, and so on. This book takes place in the near future, or an alternate reality, where children are conceived via artificial insemination, sex is becoming increasingly uncommon between lovers, people fall in love more frequently with fictional characters, and marital relationships are seen as sibling-like bonds, making sex between man and wife incestuous.

Unlike her other novels translated into English, *Vanishing World* confronts our ideas of normalcy not by following characters swimming against the current, but rather by creating a society with very different conventions than our own, and a main character who finds it easiest to fit in with them. As the book goes on, normality strays ever further from our own, and we get to see exactly how far our humanity can be pushed for the sake of fitting in. I found it more topical than ever as the norms of our own society seem to be descending into madness.

I am biased, of course, since Sayaka Murata is one of my favorite authors, but I loved this new entry into her catalog. It is a bit slower paced than her other books, especially for the first two thirds (actually I’d compare that section of the book to *Convenience Store Woman*, but longer, so that may be where the pacing issues come in). I have no doubt that the ending will be controversial, since—like all Murata—it deals with some pretty tabboo subjects. But hey, tabboo sticks in your brain and makes you really think about things, which is why I love this author.

“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.”

She’s done it again folks. Murata has engrossed me with her wild and weird words. Vanishing World is a bizarre novel that dives into the depths of loneliness, family, sex, and parasocial relationships.

In a dystopian Japan where sex is old fashioned and spouses who copulate are branded ‘incestuous’ and ‘perverted,’ both men and women give birth thanks to post-war advances in artificial insemination. Our protagonist Amane enjoys the company of her fictional lovers – anime characters she carries photos of in a Prada pouch – and believes she is cursed because her parents had her naturally rather than by insemination, which herself and her peers are disgusted to learn.

Amane and her husband eventually move to Experiment City, where children are being raised in a new system. All children are born through artificial insemination, and every man and woman in the city is a Mother to all the children. “I was connected to the world by my womb. And I found that reassuring.”

Murata grapples with the meaning of marriage and the family unit in Vanishing World by challenging societal norms; does family mean more if we’re all family, or does it mean nothing at all? I was also fascinated by her deconstruction of parasocial relationships, posing questions of the validity of our love for fictional characters or celebrities and what that means for our own real life relationships.

It felt impossible to put down, and Murata’s usual matter-of-fact prose is easy to melt into. The story felt sometimes a little too on-the-nose or farcical (“I can’t believe you tried to have sex with your wife!”) and the ending I am yet to feel completely certain about… but Murata’s style and ideas remain original and exciting. I will always read anything she writes.

Thank you NetGalley and GroveAtlantic for the e-arc!

Although Vanishing World centers around an incredibly interesting core concept, I felt the narrative was very repetitive and that a lot of the time characters were explaining the plot of the story through dialogue. The story definitely picked up in the last part, however, the ending (which I did like) felt in conflict to the rest of the narratives aim and I was left unsure what the overall message of the novel was. Stylistically, the novel is written well and held my attention enough for me to see it through to the end, but I did feel it dragging and ultimately was left feeling disurbed and somewhat confused.

having enjoyed “convenience store woman”, i was so excited to read this and was convinced it’d be right up my street, but unfortunately this really wasn’t for me. the dystopian premise seemed very promising at first, but the first half of the book simply goes on and on, with characters having similar conversations over and over again with very little development (both in terms of chester and plot). the plot twists that do occur often seem to come out of nowhere and don’t feel quite plausible. i did appreciate the ending and found it quite haunting and effective, but i’d already lost interest at this stage because the pacing felt so off and the writing didn’t really bring the characters alive for me (might be partly due to the translation). this might have been a good short story, but really didn’t wort for me in this format.

thank you to the publishers for the ARC! this was a dystopian story involving sexuality and human reproduction. this was disturbing, and gave me cold shivers. the only thing is i felt a bit disconnected from the writing and dialogue. but that ending!!! omg

I have to be honest and say I only made it abut 50 pages into this before putting it down, but i don’t think it’s the books fault at all so I still felt like I should review it.
I thought the premise was SO interesting and was talking to all my friend about how weird and whacky this book is… but i just lost interest at marriage two for some reason, the novelty of the concept just kind of lost it’s appeal because i wasn’t attached to the main character herself but just the idea of the world building. However I recognise that this is probably a me problem and most people would find this book delightful I’m sure! I will absolutely still recommend this in the shop when it comes out and might even pick it up again one day if I’m in the right mood.

Wow! Okay! For sure!
This is my first Sayaka Murata, but it definitely won't be my last. If you're squeamish about pregnancy, definitely beware! This is about a world where children are born through ivf, sex with your husband/wife is seen as incest, and the two sexualities are towards real people and fictional characters. If you even want to have sex, you have to look outside of your marriage and find yourself a girlfriend/boyfriend. This was super weird and I'm excited to read more from Murata.

Now that I’ve collected myself and stopped staring at a wall;
Sayaka Murata is an absolute genius. This is her dystopian take on marriage, family, babies and artificial insemenination. It’s was beautiful and shocking true to her style.

The ending was so deeply disturbing and triggering I don’t think I could recommend this book to anyone. Disappointing because I had high expectations, but most of the book was also dull and repetitive, and most of the interesting concepts and commentary on the ongoing issues in Japan with virtual companions and otaku etc is lost in the blandness of it all.

Thank you to Grove Press and NetGalley for the ARC, this is a review of the English translation

Set in an alternate version of Japan where couples no longer have sex, all babies are born via artificial insemination and even men can carry children, this follows one woman who experiences desires outside of societal norms and what happens when the idea of a “family” as we know it comes into question. One of the weirdest books I’ve read in a long time and I completely devoured it. Gonna be a controversial one for sure.

Thank you NetGalley and GroveAtlantic for the e-arc of this flabbergasting book.

It is unhinged and disturbing. This dystopian world perfectly depicts how my brain takes one idea to the extremes sometimes, and it was so satisfying to read.

A lot of theme to reflect on: family, sexuality, humanity and so on. And I wish I had someone to talk to about it.

It was my first read by Sayaka Murata, but one thing’s for sure, I’ll be binging all her works now.

Oh and my jaw on the floor, feet kicking, had to stand up from my sitting position when I reached the end.

This is a wild read. I was interested because there seemed to be parallels between Experiment City and the titular nation in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's early twentieth-century novel, Herland. I was surprised that we don't get to Experiment City until part 3, though, and had trouble entering the dystopian world of the first two sections.

This book is kinda bonkers. It’s also her weakest novel in my opinion but that’s beside the point. I wanted to love this book, for it to be this reflective novel of exploring why family and society exist the way that they do, the evolutionary benefit of said structures, whether we would do better as a society if “the village” raised the kids etc. But instead it felt like nothing happened. A 200 page novel felt like it was 400 pages. As a lesbian, it also bothered me how straight this book was, so much so that it had me looking up the evolutionary benefits of homosexuality. The ending was also pretty weird but at this point we all know Murata can get away with anything apparently. Do I recommend it? No, read her other books instead.

In a not-so-distant future Japan, romantic connections with anime characters are a standard, sex is antiquated and taboo, and your spouse is merely a friend to have a child with via artificial insemination. Unless you live in Experiment City, which says f all that and creates an even more bizarre society if you can believe it. There's big nature vs. nurture vibes - Amane's inherit urges and personal values are challenged by societal norms, and you watch that conflict ramp up as the norms move further and further away from humanity as we know it.

Marital woes are actually my favorite topic to read about, so naturally a novel that flips marriage and romance on its head is my bat signal. And it lived up to expectations! It was hilarious and mortifying and the end was distressing. To say the least. I definitely made faces on the subway. I bothered my coworkers about it. Trying to make sense of the tone was an experience in itself. That being said, I'm excited to make my way through Murata's backlist - that's how you know a new release was good.

TLDR: this book is so unhinged lol.

Thank you to Grove Atlantic for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Vanishing World is a thought-provoking dystopian novel set in an alternative Japan, where societal norms around love, marriage, and procreation have radically changed. The story follows Amane, navigating a sexless marriage in a world where men can become pregnant, offering a unique and bold narrative that challenges identity and societal expectations.

I have been wanting to read one of these Japanese authors that are so popular right now for a good while but I’ve been somewhat nervous and unsure where to start. I finally decided to start with this one, as that blurb sounded appealing, and the book was not especially long, so it would not be some thing that I had to spend an excessive amount of time reading if I wound up, not liking it.

In the end, I finally settled on a three star rating, but I think my enjoyment was more like a 2.5. There was a lot here that I did enjoy, things like certain concepts and issues that I find particularly interesting, and I thought the way The author chose to leave these larger issues into a somewhat smaller and sillier style of book wise at times very interesting and readable. But there were other times that the juxtaposition between the weirdness of the book, and the seriousness of the matter, felt a bit too jarring and it was hard to take anything that was going on seriously, which is sad When there are real issues being discussed, that mean a lot to people. This is one of the books biggest failings, I think, as there was a lot of room or developing something meaningful, instead of just silly. The thing that I think ruined my overall feelings of the book, is that the silliness often felt pointless, and was now meaning attached to the silly things going on, and it was just being silly and outlandish for the sake of being silly and outlandish. It’s like as if an author like Terry Pratchett tried to bring very serious matters into his book. It would seem very ions with the style of the book. Kerry Patchett actually manages to write absurdism in a way that still tackles a larger issue but it does so by making fun of it rather than putting serious matters alongside bizarrely outlandish nonsensical weirdness.

I wanted to like this why don’t need to add and whenever that happens I tend to find myself wondering if maybe I am not smart enough for that book but just didn’t give me the feeling that there was a lot going on and I’m actually but rather the opposite that there was a bunch of stuff going on for absolutely no reason at all. I’m bummed that this was my first foray into this style and genre of writing, but I plan to try other books and authors before giving up all together..

In Vanishing World, we follow Amane from childhood to adulthood as she navigates a world that is rapidly changing. Sex is disappearing from the world, as sex between married couples is considered incest, artificial insemination is the only way to have kids, and anime characters only exist for people to project their sexual desires onto.

It took me a while to get invested in the story because the writing is a little sterile, and the book can get uncomfortable at times, but once I got used to it, I was hooked. I enjoyed the commentary on sexuality, parasocial relationships, capitalism, and nature vs. nurture. And I liked how absurdly funny it got at times. It did get repetitive occasionally, and I do wish we had delved deeper into some of the topics discussed, but overall, this book was a quick, easy read that still gave me a lot to think about.