Endling, Maria Reva
Endling by Maria Reva is an incredibly unique, thought-provoking ode to love, loss, and identity. Set in Ukraine in 2022, Maria Reva’s debut novel is astounding in more ways than one. It plays with form and structure so intricately, weaving together unique structural techniques amongst the simmering prose. Battling between the notion of dream and reality, Endling navigates so many incredibly important themes that are at the forefront of Ukraine’s past and present.
An endling: the last creature of a species; the stage before extinction. Yeva, a scientist, has dedicated her life’s work to snails. Determined that her beloved shelled friends will not reach their end, she travels over land and lake throughout Ukraine. Yeva grapples with expectations from society and from her family to leave the snails to their shells and forge a home of her own, unaware of Yeva’s other line of work: ‘romance tours’, which are designed to attract foreign men desiring Ukrainian brides. As two sisters join Yeva, determined to break centuries of the misogyny of these tours, an unexpected collision between science and love occurs. The women launch a passionate mission, entering a battle in favour of feminism yet also entering the warzone of rural Ukraine, leading everyone around them to question whether they will become their society’s endling.
Watching as the women, and the snails, enter an immense journey for freedom - for women, for science, and for their country - the reading experience too feels like such a journey. Crescendoing steadily over the course of the novel into a powerful ending, this stunning debut novel is so considerate with every word and so captivating. A novel reflective of the political state of Ukraine, and the rest of the world, Endling is nothing like anything I have ever read before, and simply spectacular.
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