Endling by Maria Reva

 

Endling / Maria Reva
Toronto, ON : Alfred A. Knopf Canada, c2025.
338 p.

From old to new - I have moved on from reading older novels to picking a recent release. This one was on my list as soon as I heard about it, though - it's by Maria Reva, whose first book I enjoyed, and it's set in contemporary Ukraine. All reasons to read it. And now of course it is on the Booker Longlist - for once I've read a book on an awards list! 

The story starts out with Yeva, a single woman and scientist devoted to her mobile lab in which she chases down snail endlings - the last of their species - in an effort to find a mate and stave off extinction. When she finds that she really needs money, when a grant is refused, she crosses paths with sisters Nastia and Solomiya, who work with a 'Romance Tours' group bringing Western men to meet Ukrainian women. 

The plot thickens as Nastia comes up with a plan to kidnap some of these men, to draw attention to this industry (and really to get the attention of their activist mother, who had abandoned them). She sees Yeva's mobile lab as an opportunity. 

This story rolls along, until the author interrupts it. The full-scale Russian invasion began as Reva was writing this, and in her uncertainty about how to proceed with fiction in the light of reality, she begins including these thoughts and worries into a metafictional insert in this book. I found it clever, meaningful in light of events, and relatable. But I'm still not sure if I really liked it or not, as part of the novel. 

In any case, she does continue the novel, but the direction has shifted. Yeva, Nastia and Solomiya's plan to kidnap some Western bachelors goes awry as they have to drive through the night in unexpected directions and ways, as they face the night of February 24, 2022. And Yeva makes the fateful decision to drive into the warzone to rescue the one potential remaining snail that she's been looking for.  

This was a fantastic read, edgy, timely, with an unusual focus and narrative. I loved the scientific bits, and Yeva's world-weary voice. She has seen the stereotypes of Ukrainians through the eyes of her scientific compatriots in the west, and is over it. Nastia and Solomiya have seen the fetishization of Ukrainian women from another angle, and they are also over it. This brings in so many questions of identity, belonging, what home means, what decisions you might make under a crisis situation, what is worth living for, and so much more. 

This is worth reading for many reasons, but I feel it really does capture this moment in the world in a way I haven't seen often in contemporary American fiction. It really made me think.