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.

It took me so long to get to this book and I wished I'd picked it up sooner in the end. Maybe a more compelling summary would do it? I really enjoyed the audiobook, it brought the book to life in a way reading it might not have. I didn't love all the characters but sometimes I love that in a book! Really interesting premise.

Okay, Reva. I see you and your genre-bending debut that cogently delivers on the concept of genre-bending in a way that makes sense to me. Of course the author occasionally punctuates the narrative with personal anecdotes about publishers not wanting to accept her violent material about an occupied zone and, on other occasions, requiring her work to contain less humane joy during Russian attacks to match the tone of war and witnessing one’s home invaded by the military.

Reva successfully delivers on the meta because the writing on both fronts engages readers; the fiction and non-fiction are strong on their own, and bringing the two together synergistically strengthens the bigger project. In the fictitious story, the Endling’s main plot, Yeva lives and works in her mobile lab and trailer. Her modus operandi as a molluskologist is to save and stabilize the snail population in Southeastern Ukraine. The odds are against her conservation rescue mission: she lacks funding and can’t control the collapsing ecosystem. To supplement her income, she picks up work with a romance tour company. She meets bachelors at the agency’s parties. The men travel internationally to date these “brides” in the hopes that they’ll find the love of their life. Through the company, two sisters, Nastia and Sol, convince Yeva to kidnap 13 bachelors to send a message to her mother (who abandoned them) and the world: Stop the bridal industry machine in Ukraine. Starry-eyed Pasha/Paul/Pavlo secretly travels from Van to his home country with nothing but his whole heart to give. He becomes a hostage, initially timid and out of place. But when the mobile lab encounters Russian soldiers who have invaded Ukraine, Pavlo musters the courage to stand up against the attackers.

Reva’s writing is captivating. Chen’s Clam Down may have prepped me for another mollusk-related book. The story moves: the expedition to save the endling snail absorbs the mission to change the parameters of the marriage agencies, evacuate the invaded areas, and convince an 86-year-old grandfather to leave the only home he’s known—a home he built with his hands from the ground up. And, “Was it so wrong? Looking for love in the time of war?”

My thanks to Doubleday and NetGalley for an ARC. I shared this review on GoodReads on June 18, 2025 (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7608665125).

This book is such a unique reading experience! Such serious issues considered (i.e., war in Ukraine), but the story embraces the absurd in its quest to save snail species, western men desperately seeking Ukrainian wives (then being kidnapped), a film crew showing up just as the snail species has a chance at a future and ... and ... and! The auto-fiction aspects of the book really worked, and the writing throughout is masterful. This will definitely be a pick for our bookstore's book club, and I know the discussion will be rich and rewarding!

Thanks to Maria Reva’s debut, 𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗚, I now know more than I’d ever imagined about snails.🐌 I almost feel guilty about being so disgusted by them and their ilk for most of my life, but back to the book! This is a tough one to describe because there’s A LOT going on and most of the different things don’t really go together, but somehow Reva manages to find a fit.⁣⁣
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In this story, set in the opening days of the war in Ukraine, we have an increasingly depressed biologist, traveling the country in her mobile lab in hopes of saving endangered snail species. With legitimate funds no longer coming in Yeva makes money by working the bridal tours common in Ukraine. Other workers include two sisters whose mom has long been an activist against that very industry. Then there are men on the bridal tour who get swept up in things, a road trip, bombings, and so much more. ⁣⁣
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In addition to all of that, Reva also added some short sections that were of a more personal nature. These mainly had to do with the invasion and its effects on an individual level. So, all that together truly was a mixed bag for me. While I really liked all the parts individually, together I often felt pulled out of the different storylines just as I was settling in. I found 𝘌𝘯𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 to be an incredibly creative story, as well as one that was brave, honest, and raw. I very much appreciated reading it for those reasons and for the characters, who I won’t soon forget. But, did I love it? Sometimes, but mostly I feel weirdly indifferent about it and that’s not something that happens often. Because of that, it’s just too difficult for me to rate, so I’m going to skip it on this one!⁣⁣
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Thanks to @doubledaybooks for an electronic copy of #Endling.

Endling was a wild ride!! I really enjoyed the central story/novel, it was exciting but also very thoughtful. I appreciated the contemplation of leaving a place and still feeling tied to it. Also the Ukraine war made it very modern. I did not care for the autofiction element and it wasn't explored enough to pack a punch, it just felt odd.

I featured Endling in my June 2025 new releases video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q31xhbo1tE, and though I have not read it yet, I am so excited to and expect 5 stars! I will update here when I post a follow up review or vlog.

I felt that while the premise was good and the themes relevant, the book felt somewhat disjointed internally. It's metafiction, but that wasn't an excuse for it not to be cohesive.

I usually don't get along well with meta fiction, however Maria Reva managed to find just the right balance to make it work. I really enjoyed the surreal repetition of certain scenes knowing that the neat and tidy ending is not the one that we are going to end up with.

Even with the fourth wall breakdown interjections, the characters all felt fully realized and in particular I think Yeva's relationship with Lefty the snail was beautifully done.

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Wowowowow. I haven’t read anything like this since maybe Anthony Doerr’s novel All the Light We Cannot See. The ability the author had to be so precise, ironic, honest, and earnest all at the same time? While the plot seemed absurd when I first read it, the follow through and execution was spectacular. Maria Reva did Ukraine proud in my very humble opinion.

I found my book love-match with this bizarrely wonderful novel by Ukrainian-Canadian Maria Reva. At first, I thought, WTF? Who is this snail-rescuing, RV-driving protagonist? But I was hooked early and wanted nothing more than to keep reading this wacky escapade. Reva manages to weave two very serious storylines (the mail-order bride industry and the Russian invasion of Ukraine) into a twisty, poignant, yet absurd plot. Sometimes, a book comes along that defies description, and this is one. Every time I begin trying to describe the plot to someone, I start laughing because it is, well, indescribable. How did Reva come up with this? And what will she come up with next? I'll be looking, that's for sure.
This book will be in my top few for the year, I can already declare. I'll be recommending it to all my book-loving friends. If you are on an around-the-world reading journey, this is an excellent pick for Ukraine.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an electronic copy of the book in exchange for a review.

Yeva, Nastia, and Sol are who I yearn to know more about. I wish we were friends. Yeva who stands her ground ever after being laughed at and bullied by her family to settle down. Nastia and Sol trying their best to stay afloat, falling into the marriage industry and looking for their mother. After learning more about their history I felt that the story just fell into chaos, as it was devolving. I started to get confused, having a hard time to follow the story, what was really happening with the characters.

I have a feeling that it was the point of the book which was mentioned with one of the characters. Having the book feel more realistic and dramatic, instead of having a happy and peaceful ending. Even with its confusion I ate the book up, I could not stop reading and figure out what else they would get into. I love the writing and the characters way of thinking, I have such a need to read other works from this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday books I received a ARC for an honest review !

Oftentimes as I’m reading, I’ll connect my current book to others I’ve read or authors it reminds me of in general. That was not the case with this book. Protagonist: suicidal snail biologist. Complication: the romance tourism industry. Setting: Russian occupation of Ukraine. It’s definitely one of a kind! Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for the ARC!

Endling by Maria Reva is truly one of the most original books I have ever read.

Yeva lives in Ukraine, studying snails, and fending off her family's urgency for her to find a husband. Nastia and Solomiya are sisters whose mother has disappeared and they have a plan to try to find her. Meandering and complicated with a meta twist, Endling has a lot to say about a lot of things, especially mail order brides and the phenomenon of extinction. I'm not sure I fully tracked the whole thing but it was an original story nevertheless and I was left thinking about it long after I finished reading.

Apparently I am not a fan of metafiction. The author is talented and I appreciate what she was doing but not the type of book I care for.

Kind of struggling to put together my thoughts on this!! So much of any review here would be a spoiler so what I’ll say on the surface is that this book is fairly absurd in structure and has a lot going on. The author quite literally pokes fun at her own experience of writing this novel and will also make you question your own sanity in the process.

Endling by Maria Reva is a brilliantly sharp and unsettlingly timely novel—equal parts inventive, emotional, and impossible to put down. Reva’s bold blend of metafiction, absurdist humor, and political reality creates an unforgettable reading experience that is somehow both intimate and expansive. The plot unfolds with urgency and heart, exploring extinction, war, identity, and survival through characters that feel at once surreal and deeply real. It’s easier to absorb on the page than in audio, and I was completely captivated by Reva’s fearless storytelling and astonishing insight.