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Terrifying. Prophetic. Thoughtful.
The End of Men, amazingly, was finished approximately one year before the 2020 COVID pandemic struck. This novel tells the tale of a fictional global pandemic in the year 2025, which is eerily similar in many ways to COVID with its sudden onset, horrifying sweep across victims, and devastating societal, economic and psychological impact. This pandemic, (or “plague” as it is referred to in the book) however, has one major difference – the disease is hosted or incubated in women and only attacks and kills men. Pretty much all of them.
The pace of this story is quick, the tension relentless, as the weight of the impact becomes heart-sickeningly stunning (given what we’ve seen lately, however, maybe not really all that impossible to believe?) (It’s such a kick to think the author wrote this well before our first “real” global pandemic.)
The story is written from the POV of several characters, including Catherine, a social anthropologist with a husband and young son, as well as several women who work in and around the medical profession. Catherine is probably the most relatable character – you feel for her so deeply that her life and its inconceivable progression become our own chilling descent into the (almost “deja-vu”-like, for us ) madness of this sudden and horrifying deluge.
And oh, what an ingenious premise for a book – the sex-specific nature of the onslaught gives the author a wonderful opportunity, (which she fully leverages ) to play with powerful themes and fascinating imaginings of a world forever transformed – one which women must take the reigns to salvage and rebuild. Childbirth, heterosexual love and marriage, power, war, weaponry, democracy, politics, greed, friendship, and of course, gender and women’s “place” in society – all are brought to the forefront in this terrific read, in a world in which may be about to end.
No spoilers here, you will have to read this fantastic book to find out where this story takes us.
A great big thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author, for an advance review copy of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.
