Review of Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata

*Vanishing World* by Sayaka Murata (2025). Published by Grove Press.

If you’re new here and found this blog through the mysterious powers of the Internet, welcome! My name is Ashley, and I’m a dedicated reader and movie watcher who thought to turn this website into a little digital archive of sorts.

I was watching and reading so much that I wanted to keep track of it all, so I began blogging as a way to keep these books as memories somewhat forever.

That said, I recently fell into a period of unemployment, and this blog was a solace for me. Not only was it a way to make a little bit of money when there was nothing else coming my way really, but I found, after getting my finances in order, that I enjoyed sitting down to write blog posts when I had nothing else to do in my day.

I’ve been dubbing this period as funemployment while I look for a job, but the job market isn’t looking too great right now. Regardless, I spend a lot of time in my local library, and because I am such a big fan of simple living, I enjoy the little moments where I can find a book for free here or there, while also supporting such a critical aspect of my community.

While I do love going to the library, I have a massive list of advance copies to get through. At the time of typing this, in March, I still have quite a few to get through, but I’ve made a decent dent through my list. A lot of blog posts are scheduled of some of these books, including this one!

Anyways, I was very excited to be accepted for Sayaka Murata’s newest novel on NetGalley a while ago. Murata’s work happens to be one of the more popular ones online, and while my main focus is East Asian literature, I avoided reading her novels for a hot minute. When I read one of the first time, I could see why people loved her work.

This novel took a bit for me to get through, which is fine. I was having a lot going on in my personal life and professionally, so some books I stretched out over the course of weeks rather than sitting down and reading them over the course of a day or two.

Let’s get into the review! I don’t want to ramble too much in the introduction, as I know the review part is what people come for.

In a world where people no longer have sex, the protagonist enters a colony where the rules are further bent.

The world of this novel is an inverse of sorts compared to the world we actually live in. Married couples no longer have sex, and it considered to be incest and sinful if they do end up having some form of sex. This is the main driving force behind the plot, and if you’re not interested in such topics, this is not the book for you.

These stigmas cast a cloud of the protagonist, Amane, who grows up with these beliefs because of the world she is surrounded by. She’s unable to understand why her mother has all of these old movies, books, and songs depicting the old fashioned world where people still had sex, and much to her horror, she learns her parents had her through the way that is seen as normal to us as the readers.

As she grows up in the system, she thinks her mother is trying to change her to fit the molds of her beliefs, as her mother still believes in the power of love and connecting with another human being intimately. At the same time, Amane is obsessed with anime boys to the point where she herself is sexualizing them, and she bonds with a classmate over their mutual love for an anime character.

It’s with that classmate Amane decides to experiment with sex, and they have their own sessions where they imagine said anime character. We follow Amane through her coming of age, how she deals with these feelings, and how she eventually goes off to college and gets married.

Her marriage isn’t a typical one (to us) either. Her husband and she are kind of just a partnership together. They both have other lovers and are open about it. They literally discuss their lovers with each other, even when they’re having problems with said lovers. They also have sex with these lovers, even though Amane’s newest fling is uncomfortable at the thought of doing it.

Towards the middle section of the novel Amane and her husband make a decision. The shadow of her parents and upbringing is still holding a shadow over her, especially when she goes to visit her mother and has to be exposed to those strange ideas of love and desire again.

There’s a colony that’s been built where people come to gather. Men are now able to get pregnant themselves, everyone in that colony is considered a Mother, and they raise the kids together.

To add onto that, the kids are all called by the same name: Kodomo-chan. It’s a bit of a utopia situation now, which adds to the critiques of modern Japan and its expectations in a more compelling way than just the sexless component of people’s lives. I will say this is also where the novel began losing me a bit more though.

Overall Thoughts

I think this was a novel I’m glad to read, but I’m not sure I would return to it. I was very invested in the nvel during the first portion, but then once we started going deeper into Amane’s adult life I found the writing was repetitive and it was beginning to lose my attention. And sometimes that’s a death spiral for novels when it comes to my reading habits, but I was determined to finish this one.

Murata’s work is a hit or miss for me; I can appreciate the themes and symbolism she’s trying to get across, but I find that the work doesn’t resonate with me specifically. Murata is a talented writer for sure, and I’d love to support her work in the future and keep picking up her books, but I’m iffy about how it appeals to my taste.

That doesn’t mean it doesn’t appeal to you! Taste is so incredibly subjective, so take a step back from what reviewers say on the Internet, pick the book up for yourself, and see what you think on your own.

Give it a chance if you’re interested!

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