In true Murata fashion, this book sent me spiralling into an existential crisis. A speculative fiction discussing a scarily believable dystopian reality, where artificial insemination has become the norm for all. The author poses questions of family, gender roles when reproduction is taken out of the picture, and the necessity for emotional connection and media literacy in a time of high political manipulation. In this sense, there is no better time to read this book.

The ending did not sit well with me at all, which is why I delayed writing this review. But after considering the book’s themes of dystopia and brainwashing, it made me think about who created the definitions, laws and regulations by which my own life is governed, and why I’ve always followed some of them so blindly. This book made me feel disgust, disbelief, and utter horror over our own future.

We all think of each other as so high and might — we all know what’s best and have separate opinions we don’t want to budge on. But Murata poses some of the most important questions of the decade: Which narrative is actually true? What is really normal? Who sets that standard? Is there a human in the world that hasn’t been brainwashed?

Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori
⭐⭐ 2.75 stars
Publication date: 24th April 2025

Thank you to Granta Publications and Netgalley for providing me with an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

As a girl, Amane realizes with horror that her parents “copulated” in order to bring her into the world, rather than using artificial insemination, which became the norm in the mid-twentieth century. Amane strives to get away from what she considers an indoctrination in this strange “system” by her mother.


This book is ever so unhinged, which is great - we love weird. But, I didn't really like this, and no-one is sadder about it than I am because the premise of this book really hooked me. I really appreciated Murata’s take on love, attraction, sex, family, normality and conformity, and the discussion around parasocial relationships was so interesting. The social commentary was great, although I wasn't always quite sure which side of the argument I was supposed to fall on, or even if there was a good side to fall on to start with.
I think I simply didn't click with the writing style. This book is only 240 pages long; this should have taken me a day to read, two at most. It took me five days! I really wasn't motivated to read it, and even found it a bit repetitive and boring in places.
It can also be quite disturbing, which I was fine with, but I'd recommend checking content warnings if you need to because yikes!

I’m still reeling from this book. Sayaka Murata has this way of writing that makes you feel like you’ve slipped into a parallel universe, one that’s eerily quiet, emotionally detached, yet totally absorbing. I read it in almost one sitting because I couldn’t look away. Every sentence is so sparse and precise, but the emotional weight behind it creeps up on you.

The world in this story is crumbling, but it’s the calmness of it all that’s so disturbing. There’s no drama, no resistance, just quiet acceptance, and somehow that makes it even more haunting. I couldn’t stop thinking about what it means to be human when everything familiar vanishes. It reminded me a bit of I Who Have Never Known Men in how it lingers and unsettles.

Murata does alienation and detachment better than anyone, and this might be my favourite of hers yet. If you’re drawn to strange, quiet dystopias that make you question absolutely everything, please read this. It’s short but devastating in the best way.

I am always drawn to dystopic novels of this style where the dystopia could, in theory, happen at some point although I desperately hope it won't. Murata seems to have a similar curiosity for exploring what would happen if humanity decided to follow one singular tangent through to an entirely bizarre and yet not inconceivable conclusion.

The novel is split into 3 parts which split the life of the protagonist into 3 clear periods of childhood, early adulthood and finally middling to late thirties. Throughout Amane's life reality as we know it is pushed further beyond the boundaries of what we as a society would currently consider normal or acceptable. The simplistic description in Murata's writing lull the reader into a false sense of familiarity and as with previous works of hers it is only when I came up for air that I realised how utterly horrific the world Murata has built would be as a prediction of our own future.

“Amane, thank you for eating me.”
.
This is not my first Murata rodeo, the only other book I’ve read from her collection is ‘convenience store woman’ an excellent portrayal of contemporary Japan. A country I find myself living in.
.
Similarly, this book rings a lot of bells for me. Cultural nuances that I’ve observed in friends and relatives around sex and dating. Combined with a work environment that often demands much in time and energy, leaves many of my friends less interested in romance, and more interested in finding a partner to share the load of a capitalist society. Although Murata takes this concept to the uncomfortable extreme, at times the conversation doesn’t feel all that different to what I’ve experienced and encountered.
.
That being said, I found the dialogue to be really rather repetitive, with much of it varying around physical sex and open relationships constantly making the characters almost seem robotic. I did find at times some of the scenes to be darkly funny - but I’m not entirely sure that was intentional.
.
Ultimately though I found this a rather interesting but shallow read. Like the clear fluid that emits from the characters during sex, it has little substance.

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

‘Vanishing World’ is a wonderfully weird and unique experience. It is the kind of book that will challenge your perspective, make you think, and ultimately leave you questioning everything. What are social norms? Where do they come from? How are they any less crazy than the alternative?

“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.”

It feels like a thought experiment and a social commentary, and yet it never tells the reader precisely what to take from it—instead leaving it entirely to the reader’s individual interpretation—and it never sacrifices story. This enables the reader to engage with the book at whatever level suits them: as a simple glimpse into a character’s world, or as a springboard into an exploration of the underlying ideas/theories. (For anyone in the latter category, Elif Batuman’s profile piece on Sayaka Murata in The New Yorker is a good place to start.)

Personally, I loved this book and will be thinking about it for a long time, but enjoying this book definitely requires a certain appreciation for the unhinged and will perhaps be too much for some readers. The frank discussion of sex and biological processes might also be off-putting. However, if you are comfortable with being challenged, this is undoubtedly a worthwhile read!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Sayaka Murata and Granta Publications for the ARC. My review will be posted on Instagram, Amazon UK, GoodReads and The StoryGraph nearer to the publishing date.

This was, well, bizarre. I have read Muraka before and so I knew it wasn't going to be straightforward, but with every book she writes she seems to explore the endlessly weird possibilities of our lives in the future. It seems to be one of the trends in more recent Japanese fiction to write about the kind of dystopian future that is a little too close for comfort. There has been a considerable drop in childbirth in Japan and South Korea and maybe this is an attempt to broach this subject with a wider audience. As I don't read Japanese I had to rely on the translation and I sometimes wonder how the language contributes to the atmosphere of the story, but I assume the translater did a good job. It's food for thought and in spite of its weirdness remains believable throughout. Give it a go if you like this kind of thing.

I’m still struggling to understand what I just read.
That ending was very full circle but also very extreme in a way.

This book tackles issues that I wasn’t aware of until reading this book.

After reading any sci-fi / dystopian story I am left wondering how close are we to this kind of thing happening in the real world & I feel like this one is a definite possibility. Which makes it a scary read almost!

It is translated well but I do feel like the original would read better in certain areas!

Another great read from Sayaka Murata which will have me thinking for a while for sure!

3.5

3.75 stars

After loving 'Convenience Store Woman' by the same author, I was really looking forward to reading Sayaka Murata’s newest novel. 'Vanishing World' definitely grabbed my attention from the start (I loved the premise and the cover). The concept of this book is super intriguing: in a future Japan, sex is considered abnormal and babies are created artificially - even men can get pregnant. We follow the main character from childhood into adulthood as she tries to figure out her own relationship with intimacy in a world where it’s basically a taboo.

I found the concept fascinating and actually enjoyed most of my reading experience. But I have to say, the ending made me really uncomfortable and I'm still not sure how to feel.

If you're thinking about picking this one up, definitely look into trigger warnings first.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Sayaka Murata has once again pushed the boundaries of fiction with Vanishing World, a book that is as unsettling as it is thought-provoking. Known for her unique exploration of societal oddities, Murata takes us on a wild ride through a speculative version of Japan where attitudes towards sex, reproduction and gender are vastly different from our own. This is a dystopian world, or perhaps a utopian one, depending on your perspective – and Murata masterfully invites readers to examine both.

At the heart of Vanishing World is Amane, a woman who grew up repulsed by the idea that her parents "copulated" to bring her into the world, as the concept of artificial insemination had become the norm by the mid-twentieth century. From a young age, Amane struggles with her own sexual identity and desires, fixating on both anime characters and real people in a way that society deems unacceptable. Her journey as an adult is marked by an awkward and sterile marriage to Saku, where sex has become so taboo it is considered akin to incest.

The real twist in the book comes when Amane and Saku move to a town called Experiment City, or Paradise-Eden, a place where children are raised communally and all individuals are considered mothers to all. In this world, men begin to carry babies in artificial wombs and children are nameless, referred to only as "Kodomo-chan." The question is whether this new society will rid Amane of her perceived "strangeness" and provide her with the freedom and acceptance she longs for.

Murata’s writing is provocative and layered. On the surface, it is a critique of contemporary Japan’s approach to gender, family and societal expectations. But beneath that, it is a deeper exploration of the ways in which non-conforming individuals are shaped – or stifled – by the systems imposed on them. The speculative nature of the book allows Murata to take risks, and though the world she builds is bizarre and challenging, it is also fascinating and eerily plausible.

The themes of Vanishing World are uncomfortable at times, particularly in how they force the reader to confront deeply ingrained societal norms. It is a bold critique of how systems of control, especially around reproduction and sexuality, shape individual identity. Amane’s search for a place where she can truly belong resonates deeply, and the ending leaves you with more questions than answers, which is exactly what makes Murata’s work so compelling.

If you're drawn to books that challenge societal norms and explore non-conformity in bold, unsettling ways, Vanishing World is a must-read. It is a strange and powerful book, full of intriguing ideas and a compelling, albeit uncomfortable, narrative that stays with you long after you've finished it.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

What did I just read? I am still full of shock and horror in all honesty. Did I enjoy it? I’m not entirely sure. Many trigger warnings for this one, do go in with caution. I love the writing style and will likely read anything by this author. The content was interesting, the haunting exploration of society, relationships and sex is definitely thought provoking, if nothing else. I’m not sure the ideas were fully developed for me personally. A book that will definitely be divisive and prompt discussion.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

Having read Earthlings back in early 2021 and Convenience Store Woman shortly after that, I have known for a long while that Murata will consistently write some of the most excellently disgusting prose of the modern era. She is exacting and brutal and willing to step into the freakish and broken in order to reflect on the world we live in. I absolutely love her writing because of the things that make most recoil. She delves into the most controversial and taboo of topics, with this one having a particular focus on incest and cheating. Murata creates such a cacophony that I can't help but see the potentiality of the world she describes as being one that could quickly come to fruition. I particularly enjoyed her decision to have our narrator end the book in such a position of inversion - Murata has spent the book setting up our narrator's fluid and ever-yielding sense of self and morals, but in reality her actions remain the same with the only changes being who her energy is directed towards, and with slight changes in direction. Her mum is the real MVP of this book, or should I say, her Mothers.

Vanishing World
by Sayaka Murata
Translated from Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori
Genre: Speculative, Literary
Pages: 240
Rating: 4/5

In Vanishing World, the world that we know as of today is vanishing; there, artificial insemination is the 'natural' mode of reproduction, and sex between husband and wife is incest. With this premise at its crux, the author deftly explores the essence of institutions like marriage and family, sexual desires, love, loneliness and the need to belong and conform.

Vanishing World is supposed to be dystopian but I do not agree. In fact, it carries within it the seed of an utopian society where nothing is forced; it's the people who have chosen a particular way of life. Of course those choices are shocking for us in today's world, but have we never sighed and said: the future generation will never marry, or it's unfair that only females bears the responsibility of birth. The author has followed those sighs and materialised them into the futuristic Japan in which Vanishing World is set.

How can a society where every child has equal opportunity to thrive and be loved, and where every mother has equal opportunity to parent and shower affection, be a dystopian society.

But something still doesn't sit perfectly right—to people like us with our current world sensibility of course, but also to many characters in the novel itself. For all such people and characters, may be this novel can seem dystopian even without oppression or suffering.

Amane, the protagonist of the novel says,"... there's always a set number of people who don't really fit into society, whatever system is in place, and that percentage is always about the same."

Does Amane fit into society?

Though the novel's focus rarely ever deviates from its themes, forever forcing readers to question our current definitions and imagine a future with a different set of sensibility, Amane too hold centre stage in the story. The author has developed her character arc with brilliance, and with her, step by step, we test the water of this speculative world, often her questions mirroring our own. I would love my fellow readers to read Vanishing World because I want to discuss Amane's character arc so much, but cannot do it here without giving spoilers.

I was especially impressed by the author's analysis of people's relationship with non-human characters (anime characters). With effortless expertise she slices open this relationship, laying bare in front of readers the consumerism and economy at play in these 'pseudo-romantic' relationships.

Sayaka Murata's Convenience Store Woman is a book with great depth of exploration, and my expectations when picking up Vanishing World was already high. But with Vanishing World, the author has surpassed all my expectations. I enjoyed almost everything in this book: the effortless world building, the story telling, the exploration of its themes and the characters. I especially loved how the book made me think so much.

I do not like how the novel ends, but that's personal. I understand why it ends so, but I am not happy about it. Of course, this doesn't affect the rating of the book.

My thanks to Netgalley and Granta Publications for granting me a free copy of this book in lieu of a honest review.

Q: Do I recommend Vanishing World to my fellow readers?

A: Absolutely Yes ❤️

Of course this didn’t disappoint, I have read all of Murata’s other works and this one is just as mind boggling as the others. I love her weird and wonderful storytelling and this left me thinking for days, highly recommend this and her other works

This book made me think, qnd I love that. While the world we were in wasn't my favourite, it was impossible to ignore it, or stop reading for that matter. Exploring sexuality, meaning of procreation, family as a both biological need and a societal norm was as much interesting as it was an uncomfortable read for me. And in this case uncomfortable is definitely a good thing, it made me reflect on my own ideas and biases.

What I didn't enjoy is that occasionally story felt purposefully hollow and gross for the shock effect of it. And I wish I didn't read that ending at all. While it serves well as a culmination of this bizarre read and our main characters journey, I still wish I didn't read those last 5% of the book.

A short, punchy and characteristically weird addition to the body of Murata’s translated works. Questioning the nature of motherhood, relationships and identity, the novel retains a deceptively playful quality, but without trivialising the nature of its enquiry.

Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata is an incredibly strange and unsettling novel. Set in a dystopian future where children are conceived exclusively through artificial insemination and traditional ideas of love, family, relationships, and sex are fading into obsolescence, the book pushes the reader to question what “normal” really means - a theme that runs through much of Murata’s work. I also loved the way Murata challenges deeply ingrained social conventions, making the familiar feel alien and forcing you to reconsider assumptions you didn’t even realize you held.

That being said, I did find myself increasingly disoriented by the strangeness of the narrative and the abrupt shifts in the plot. There were moments when I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening, which added to the unsettling atmosphere but also made the reading experience a little disjointed at times. Still, Murata’s writing is, as always, a joy - her prose is deceptively simple yet filled with sharp observations and an almost clinical detachment that makes the surreal feel eerily plausible. Vanishing World is disturbing, thought-provoking, and undeniably Murata.

This book is brilliant, even despite the disconcerting ending. I read it with great pleasure and loved the references to the Bible.

Although Murata typically writes about characters who are strange in both our and fictional world, this time she managed to create a heroine who could be perceived as more or less "normal" in our reality. She experiences a sexual desire, happily marries and dreams of having children.

In the story, the heroine struggled to fit into society, primarily because, unlike all other children, she was conceived through sexual intercourse. However, that's no longer considered "normal", and IVF has become the typical way to conceive a child. But also, the heroine liked to have sex, unlike the other characters in this world.

However, as the world evolves and technology advances, the heroine adapts to the new reality quickly and almost without any questions asked.

It could seem like the book was just about sex, but it's much deeper than that. Through the lens of sexual and child-conceiving norms, we explore the society and its expectations of a person who is part of this society. It makes the readers reflect on the meaning of family and marriage concepts and how different we perceive the world in comparison to the previous generations. There's a cool take on how we lose a lot of human things with the advancement of technology and how happily we welcome automation into our lives.

I had a great time with this book particularly because of a lot of subtext and a bunch of comical situations. Sayaka Murata is one of my favourite authors, and I highly recommend this book, but with caution, because such a concept may be shocking and not for everyone.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

A book about an alternative world, where social norms are evolving in such a way that our current understanding of love, family, sex, and parenthood is quickly atrophying. We follow our protagonist as she navigates these changes and being somewhat stuck in the middle - between her more traditionalist mother, on the one hand, and the modern more "sterile" world, on the other.

The story comes across as an allegory of contemporary Japan, where the more traditional interpretations of sex, relationships etc are also superseded by more "technological" mechanisms. On the one hand, it is a lament to the ways things were, and, potentially, should be. On the other hand, it is also a reluctant acceptance of the need for change, and the fact that societies must change over time. The nuanced nature of the argument presented in the book, as well as the gentleness with which it is handled (vs a potentially alternative more warlike manner) make this book stand out.

That being said, I found the book to be less than well executed. While the meta narrative and the purpose are great (despite borrowing a lot from e.g., We, Brave New World), the characters and the plot evolution felt shallow. Compared to the books it borrows from, this one feels less mature and more like a sketch. I wanted to see more drama, more emotion, and more tension. I would have loved to get more excited about what was happening. It felt a bit like the author wanted to make some intellectually important points so much that she forgot to write a good story supporting them.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

2.5 stars. Vanishing World has such an interesting and bizarre concept - a world where most people are conceived through artificial insemination, sex between married couples is considered incest, and society is moving towards collective child-rearing. Men even have artificial wombs.

I was really looking forward to this after loving Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings. The premise has so much potential, and while there are moments of interesting commentary on humanity, relationships, societal expectations of women and motherhood, and what happens when you strip away our most basic instincts, it never really goes beyond the surface. Many of the ideas are repeated without much development, and I found myself wanting more from the characters and their relationships. Amane’s fixation on anime characters could have been an interesting opportunity to explore otaku culture and the commodification of human connection in more depth, but it doesn’t really go anywhere.

The third section picks up a bit and paints a picture of a utilitarian dystopia, where everyone is a mother and the traditional family unit is dismantled. I found this to be one of the more intriguing parts of the book, and I wish it had been explored more throughout. As for the ending - it’s incredibly uncomfortable, but it lacks the impact of a typical Murata conclusion and just feels rushed and unsettling for the sake of it.

This book should be anything but underwhelming. The concept is fascinating, and I usually love Murata’s work, but ultimately I was left disappointed.