A review by documentno_is
Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata

adventurous dark funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Whether I enjoy them or not, Murata's novels never fail to provoke me to interrogate societal norms surrounding sex and the nuclear family structure. That said, this one didn't quite hit as much as Convenience Store Woman for me and was more in line of how I felt about Earthlings (although I thought the actual science fiction element felt more natural.)

There was something strangely bio-essentialist in the messaging here, especially surrounding her disturbed feelings in relation to the pregnancies and sex. I appreciated the interrogation of a proposed capitalist closed city where society breeds convenient people but the line from that directly to tools that make pregnancy (or IVF) possible seemed less cogent. Maybe there is something interesting here in regards to society becoming more prudish and losing the "need" for regular sex. I didn't think I was supposed to be completely sympathetic to the old guard either given her treatment of her mother and then as is typical with Murata it really devolved into absurdity by the end. I enjoyed ehr interrogating the idea of adults having children and then pawning them off onto others to raise so they can continue as cogs in the machine but wasn't as sold on the larger critique of community structures and individuality when it comes to child rearing. Entertaining, but not as immediately gripping to me as some of her other works.