What an imagination! Yeva is a scientist studying snails. Her lab is a trailer in the Ukraine. She becomes involved with two sisters who work for a romance company. Men from the west book their services to find a Russian wife. The sisters’ plan to kidnap a dozen of these men as an act of protest. And so the zany adventure begins.

#10 of the Booker 2025 longlist for me to have read.

Although this currently sits #3 in my personal ranking of this year's longlist, I DO think it's the one to beat and would be shocked if it were NOT to make the shortlist. I say this as it is by far the most original and quirky of the novels I've read so far and also has the advantage of being about something au courant and politically important, i.e., the invasion of Ukraine by Russia - but done in a very accessible manner.

For the most part I found it quite entertaining and often humorous, as well as thought-provoking, but where I quibble is that a lot of the time, I felt a bit adrift and like I wasn't sure exactly where I was or what was going on. I realize in retrospect such was entirely intentional, but that - and some of the metafictional elements, just did not work that well for me.

Did not finish book. Stopped at 6%.
I know this book is going to be good. It also feels as though it's going to absolutely emotionally devastate me, especially with what is currently going on in our world. I've hit a standstill with it, unfortunately, which I am taking as a reason to leave it as a 'not for now' book (not a real DNF). When I have a bit more time to face something I know is going to be poignant enough to shake me to my core (aka when I have time off of school), I am definitely coming back to this.

Current rating: 3.75 stars

This book was not for me and I did not like it at all.
I enjoyed the beginning part about finding the snails but everything after that didn’t work for me. The many fragmented pieces of the story didn’t come together. The story felt disjointed and discombobulated. The autobiographical parts came out of nowhere and pulled me out of the story. I just didn’t understand or connect with any part of this. I felt like the author had a lot to say but it didn’t come across in this story.

"Genre-defying" is an overused term in literary reviews but that might be the best way to describe this book.

Endling opens with Yeva, rogue biologist (really,a malacologist, or snail researcher, but who asking?) who funds her research in a mobile lab by working for Ukrainian romance tours. She roams the country looking for endlings, the last known individuals of a species, and tries to find ways to preserve the species. Meanwhile, another prospective bride in the tours, Nastia, hopes to catch the attention of her feminist mother by kidnapping Western clients with the help of Yeva's RV (ahem—I mean, mobile lab). Does it count as a road-trip book if the passengers are hostages?

SPOILER
The plans of everyone involved, including the author herself, are interrupted by Russia's invasion at the Ukrainian border. The book adds on another dimension as the author tries to meet the publisher's expectations for a story that forces Ukrainian life into Westernized tropes. Even the macabre humor is on the chopping block as the book's editors question the author's reaction to the war.
SPOILER END

The themes of the book emulate the title itself—the last days of a person during the last days of a country during the last days of a planet. Because why would a single snail's final days matter in the backdrop of species dying every day due to climate change? And why would the end of our characters themselves matter in the backdrop of a ceaseless and pointless war? In a greater sense, the book seems rather heavy, but the prose itself is so engaging and the voices of each perspective so cleverly constructed, it's only a delight to read.

This is a unique and interesting book with some moments of dark humor set in Ukraine on the brink/start of war. The narrator alternates between a few main characters throughout, and some others interspersed intermittently. I loved the interactions between the sisters and Yeva, and got very invested in Yeva's snail quest. I'm not sure this book is for everyone, but I'm very glad I read it.

WOW! Endling is a wild ride through the life of a young female snail conservationist, two sisters missing their activist mom, the Ukranian "bride for sale" business, and the nascent Russia/Ukraine war. The structure of the book (and the story!) is unique, and confusing at times, as Maria Reva inserts her personal struggles with writing the book into the actual story, somehow. Each chapter was fascinating - I had no idea where this story was going. I feel like I should probably read it a couple of times to pick up on nuances I probably missed. This is not a casual read - not one for vacation or beach reading. Endling is thought provoking on so many levels. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to read to it and would recommend it to readers looking for something completely different!

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review Endling.

Endling defies categorization, and that’s exactly what makes it so extraordinary. Set in a collapsing Ukraine, Maria Reva’s novel follows a snail biologist who moonlights as a mail-order bride to fund her research. I had no idea what to expect going into it, but the premise is as delightfully absurd as it sounds. Nevertheless, Reva makes it feel inevitable, even necessary.

What unfolds is a kaleidoscopic narrative that blends war, science, identity, love, and survival into an entirely original and unique story. I have never read a book that experimented in so many ways. Through letters, epistolary fragments, shifting narrators, and what appear to be the author's actual grant applications/correspondence, Reva seamlessly interweaves the personal with the political, the surreal with the intimate. The novel even plays with structure—at one point offering multiple chapter 44s—and yet it never feels gimmicky. Initially, I felt lost, or maybe thought there was a mistake with my ARC, but the intentionality became clear within minutes. Each choice deepens the narrative.

We meet Lefty, a rare left-spiraled snail in search of a mate, who becomes a kind of emblem for the novel’s themes of otherness and longing, especially the biologist herself. We follow a cast of women—brides, protestors, sisters—who are all navigating impossible circumstances with resilience and a flicker of hope. There are absurd meet-cutes, hostage situations, and even an “escape room,” yet the emotional current is deeply grounded and sincere. In Endling, Reva’s prose is sharp, lyrical, and often funny in that sly, understated way. Her voice is feels capable as it moves from satire to heartbreak in a single breath. I was especially struck by the autobiographical elements and metafictional flourishes, which gave the novel an added urgency and vulnerability. I would love to revisit this book in a few years and see what new layers emerge.

It’s a rare thing to read a book and think: "there is nothing else like this." Endling is that kind of novel—bold, unconventional, and unforgettable. It deserves to be on every bookstore table as soon as you walk in, and in the hands of every reader looking for something truly original.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the gifted ARC!

Reva’s astonishingly imaginative tale is unlike anything I’ve ever read. Readers open to surprise and a superb (and superbly absurd) meta tale will relish this wickedly sharp tale of loss, absence, and reality crashing our carefully constructed plans.

“Ukies have border collies; they are just like you. And, just like you, they once thought disaster only befell other people.”

Kidnapping American men, Ukrainian war and bridal service, a bizarre frame narrative, countless snail facts, this has it all. Gripping, stylish, inventive, and moving, I never knew where Reva was going to take me, but I was there for the ride.

Endling is so unusual, absurd, beguiling, true. In the audio version, the author reads a particular portion and I found that whole element to be captivating. How to describe this book? We have a bewitching discourse on snails and the future of the species; a singular storyline featuring the bride industry for tourists in Ukraine; heart-rending accounts of the escalation of conflict and how that affects Ukrainians both in-country and abroad. Throw in a rather wacky hostage situation in an RV and some brilliant meta-fiction and you have an inkling of those utterly unprecedented, highly discussable book. I absolutely loved it!

3.5, rounded down. I know that this breakthrough novel has been getting rave reviews here and elsewhere, but problems with tone prevented me from connecting to it emotionally.

<i>Endling</i> begins as a whimsical character study of Yeva, a solitary conservation biologist in the Ukraine who's obsessed with preserving rare specimens of soon-to-be-extinct tree snails. Yeva finances her research by moonlighting at marriage-agency events with Western bachelors seeking Ukrainian brides, where she meets the sisters Nastia and Solo, who are also participating in the events as a potential bride and her English translator. But they're really searching for their activist mother, who had long been campaigning against the marriage market before her mysterious disappearance, and they rope Yeva into a cockamamie scheme to kidnap a dozen bachelors as an attention-grabbing protest.

The escalating level of quirkiness soon became overwhelming and even off-putting, even before the Russian invasion of February 2022 violently crashed into the narrative. Reva lurchingly shifts the novel into metafictional mode, and the novel becomes a novel about a Ukrainian-Canadian novelist named Maria Reva who's writing a novel about barbaric horrors and indiscriminate violence, as she anxiously worries about the survival of her elderly grandfather, who's chosen to stay behind in war-ravaged Kherson. But despite the deadly bleakness of the situation, and the extreme danger that our heroines have knowingly exposed themselves (and a van stuffed with kidnapped dudes) to, the novel's tone remained incongruously playful, in ways that I found grating rather than ingratiating.

The thematic elements were cleverly engineered: endangered snail, perhaps the last of its species, seeking a mate is analogous to aging American bachelors seeking Ukrainian wives. If your tolerance for self-aware kookiness is higher than mine, you will enjoy <i>Endling</i> more than I did.

i just missed an author talk regarding this book in squamish by a week and i wish i could have been there! this was a very unique story and i was fascinated by the story line we were following (thought I found myself by far more interested in the two female povs). then things got meta and i found myself confused as to the direction the story was taking as it was entirely disrupted (this is the point- war’s total distraction and derailment of the preconceived plot). this book is experimental in its nature and I desperately need to seek out more of what the author was getting at and would love to hear more about the challenges of writing as a ukrainian during this time - re the convo that happened with an editor/publisher that was included.
overall provoked a lot of thoughts, quite entertaining in its plot of men taken captive, and niche snail facts. didn’t quite come together for me, but i will certainly still keep reading more from reva.

Here’s the thing, I’m going to call this reader error. I think I’m too stupid for this book because I respect all the praise for this book (it’s why I read it). I see all the individual parts of this book but I have not pieced them together yet at as a cohesive story. I would like to hear someone else deconstruct the story.

Thanks to Doubleday and NetGalley for the Arc.

This novel is...different. It starts out about a scientist who studies snails that are going extinct, then switches to two sisters who participate in the Ukraine bride industry, to a Canadian who comes back to find love or a bride in his native country, to the start of the war with Russia...and on and on. I personally found it to be disjointed and when the author started adding in her personal experiences, I was just done with it.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Endling by Maria Reva follows Yeva, a malacologist who funds her snail research by participating in Ukraine's romance tour industry, entertaining Western men seeking "traditional" brides. When she teams up with sisters Nastia and Solomiya to kidnap a group of bachelors as a protest stunt, their plans are shattered by Russia's invasion in early 2022. At first, this setup feels almost absurd - a scientist obsessed with endangered snails, romance tourism, a kidnapping scheme involving a mobile lab - but it quickly becomes clear this isn't some quirky romp at all. The connection between the three women felt genuine and compelling, watching how they were transformed by this brief but intense shared experience gave the story real emotional weight, and I found myself completely absorbed by Yeva's passion for saving endangered snail species. The sections where Reva breaks the fourth wall and inserts herself as author pulled me out of the fictional world, though I realize how spoiled and selfish that sounds when she's grappling with how to tell a story while real war unfolds around her relatives and homeland. While I wished those meta elements could have been handled differently - perhaps as an afterword or in a separate section - I also recognize this as essential reading that forces us to confront our own ignorance about what's happening in the world. This review feels intimidating to write because the work is several layers smarter than me in every regard, and I'm sure there were nuances and historical context I simply don't grasp, but if nothing else, I appreciated how Reva forces readers into a necessary reckoning with our own limited understanding of the world.

Remarkable Accomplishment

Maria Reva's "Endling" is a book so captivating, it demands a second reading. There's a masterful complexity at play, inviting a closer look at how the author weaves everything together. There are comparisons to the work of George Saunders and Percival Everett– and this is a clue to the journey we are in for.

Set in 2022 Ukraine, there are multiple plotlines unfolding. Yeva, a struggling scientist, is on a mission to save snail species from extinction. To fund her research, she works in a “romance tour” industry where bachelors seek to meet “traditional” Ukrainian women. It is here she meets two sisters who conspire with her to kidnap thirteen of these bachelors as a protest, a way of drawing attention to the romance tours.

We are aware of what turn history is going to take, but the characters all seem to be in denial, even with the threat of Putin’s troops amassing at the border. The narrative is abruptly shattered by the onset of air strikes. The author, Maria Reva, breaks the fourth wall and inserts herself as a character. She questions the feasibility of continuing the story, expressing deep concern for her family, especially her grandfather, who she knows will refuse to evacuate.

“I need to keep fact and fiction straight, but they keep blurring together.”

Like the best novels and movies, this is an experience worth revisiting. So many facets are skillfully interwoven. There is the “Romeo Meets Yulia” pairing of desperate men seeking to expedite relationships. Yeva is looking to find a mate for Lefty, her snail who may be the end of his species (an “endling"). The kidnapping caper is fraught with almost slapstick missteps...

…and then these components are suddenly reshuffled by the carnage of war. A remarkable accomplishment, this blending of humor and tragedy.

"This novel turns corners and tables. I love works that are smarter than I am, and this is one.”– Percival Everett, author of Pulitzer Prize winner James

Trigger warning: #SnailSensuality.

Thank you to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #Endling #NetGalley

I really wanted to love this but it just didnt work for me. I didn't like the mixing of fiction an nonfiction. I think part of her musing about writing about Ukraine was important but could've been a preface.

Endling is a unique and thought-provoking read, filled with striking language and imaginative concepts. Maria Reva explores identity, mortality, and what it means to be human with originality and depth. While I appreciated the ambition of the story and some truly haunting moments, I found the pacing uneven and occasionally felt distanced from the characters. There were sections that gripped me and others that left me wanting more clarity or connection. Overall, it’s an intriguing novel with powerful themes, but it didn’t fully land for me. Still worth reading if you enjoy literary fiction with a speculative edge.

Endling is, without a doubt, one of the strangest novels I’ve ever read. It begins as a book about the bride industry in Ukraine, but both the narrative and the author writing it are derailed when Russia attacks. Thus, what began as a story about a snail rescuer, romance tours, and a half-baked kidnapping plot becomes a metafictional meditation on the disastrous effects of war, on the largest and smallest scales.

I read Endling quite a while ago, and immediately after finishing it, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. But the book hasn’t left my mind since, and the more I think about it, the more I’ve come to appreciate everything Maria Reva is doing with this book. By inserting herself into the story, she gives us not only a glimpse into her writing process and the publishing industry, but also a deeply personal, intimate portrait of the war’s impact on her family. There are aspects of this format that feel disjointed and unfinished – but this, given the current state of Ukraine’s war with Russia, is likely the entire point.

There’s also something incredibly poignant about the idea of saving snails – those tiny, vulnerable creatures – from extinction while all-out war is raging. The determination of it, despite the futility of it, is so tenderly, beautifully human. The way Reva explores relationships and the expectations placed upon us – by our parents, by our romantic partners – is thought-provoking and only adds to the human aspects of a brutal, war-torn narrative. It’s quite a delicate balance to strike, and Reva strikes it skillfully.

By the end of Endling, what began as something absurdist and darkly funny has evolved into a thoughtful, affecting exploration of war, relationships, and the foundations of what it means to be human. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever read before and a book I will never forget. Thank you to Doubleday for the complimentary reading opportunity.