Description
By (author) Reva, Maria
Short /annotation:
The debut novel by ”one of the leading post-Soviet writers of her generation” (The Nation), about the journey of three women and one extremely endangered snail through contemporary Ukraine.
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An unforgettable debut novel about the journey of three women and one extremely endangered snail through contemporary Ukraine
”A fierce and funny road-trip novel ” GUARDIAN, the 50 hottest books to read right now
”A thrilling ride” FINANCIAL TIMES
”Brilliant and heart-stopping” LOS ANGELES TIMES
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Startling and ambitious”
NEW YORK TIMES
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Animated by dark humor and cool fury” NEW YORKER
”Virtuosic” NPR
”Dexterous and formally inventive” MARCEL THEROUX, GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE DAY
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Remarkable” WASHINGTON POST
Ukraine, 2022. Yeva is a maverick scientist who scours the country”s forests and valleys, trying and failing to breed rare snails while her relatives urge her to settle down and start a family of her own. What they don”t know: Yeva already dates plenty of men-not for love, but to fund her work-entertaining Westerners who come to Ukraine on guided romance tours believing they”ll find docile brides untainted by feminism.
Nastia and her sister, Solomiya, are also entangled in the booming marriage industry, posing as a hopeful bride and her translator while secretly searching for their missing mother, who vanished after years of fierce activism against the romance tours.
So begins a journey of a lifetime across a country on the brink of war: three angry women, a truckful of kidnapped bachelors, and Lefty, a last-of-his-kind snail with one final shot at perpetuating his species.
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Maria Reva has made
a fantastic novel. It”s about so much and yet is laser focused. A scientist who funds her research with sex work, a wild and, at the same time, sensible and normal move. T
his novel turns corners and tables. I love works that are smarter than I am and this is one
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In Maria Reva”s all-around brilliant novel Endling, the fate of some snails serves as a harbinger for the fate of Ukraine. The book is
funny and smart, full of science, longing and adventure, all the while reminding us what the world stands to lose, and what it has already lost.
This is essential reading
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Heartbreaking, hilarious, profound, and vital, Endling is a brilliant, visceral journey that pulses with a powerful sense of urgency and relevance to our times
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A fierce and funny road-trip novel which is – literally – interrupted by Russia”s invasion
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Inventive and powerful. The reminders that these characters are fiction emphasises that the horror and the violence are real
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A thrilling ride . . .
Tender but never mawkish . . . Reva is breaking down the molecules of fiction to get at a ”broader, truer truth” through her combination of drama, self-examination and, notably, humour
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A
dexterous and formally inventive debut novel … Reva shares with us personal details about her connection with Ukraine, as well as her awareness of the war and the artistic challenge she faces: can anyone in good conscience make fiction out of these tragic events? The answer to that question is resoundingly affirmative.
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Suspenseful and powered by a rare urgency
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Startling and ambitious
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Brilliant and heart-stopping
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