May Book of the Month | Frankie recommends... Vanishing World - Sayaka Murata

Frankie recommends... Vanishing World chronicles a singular woman, Amane, on her quest for sexual identity and selfhood in a world that ostracises sex, physicality, and child birth. I wanted to scream into the book with how much I related to Amane's internal conflicts and yearning for bodily "normality", navigating turmoil through real and fictional relationships. Murata is the continual spokesperson for all of us who feel/felt at odds with femininity, sex, and intimacy, and who continue to feel in a bubble in a (albeit wonderful!) world of body liberation and sensuality.

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"Normality is the creepiest madness there is..."

In our near-future world, children are solely conceived by artificial insemination. Even sex between married couples is viewed as taboo. Amane's family is irregular. Her parents copulated to create her and hope that she too will find love and have a child with the person she marries. But Amane falls in line with society's way of thinking and wants a regular 'clean' marriage. Then she hears of a place that is the subject of a social experiment.

Everyone in Paradise-Eden will act as one big family. Could this be the perfect third way?