The End of Men by Christina Sweeney-Baird

 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Title: The End of Men
Author: Christina Sweeney-Baird
Release Date: 4.27.21
Publisher: Doubleday


Publisher's Summary

Set in a world where a virus stalks our male population, The End of Men is an electrifying and unforgettable debut from a remarkable new talent that asks: what would our world truly look like without men?

Only men are affected by the virus; only women have the power to save us all.

The year is 2025, and a mysterious virus has broken out in Scotland--a lethal illness that seems to affect only men. When Dr. Amanda MacLean reports this phenomenon, she is dismissed as hysterical. By the time her warning is heeded, it is too late. The virus becomes a global pandemic--and a political one. The victims are all men. The world becomes alien--a women's world.

What follows is the immersive account of the women who have been left to deal with the virus's consequences, told through first-person narratives. Dr. MacLean; Catherine, a social historian determined to document the human stories behind the male plague; intelligence analyst Dawn, tasked with helping the government forge a new society; and Elizabeth, one of many scientists desperately working to develop a vaccine. Through these women and others, we see the uncountable ways the absence of men has changed society, from the personal--the loss of husbands and sons--to the political--the changes in the workforce, fertility and the meaning of family.

In The End of Men, Christina Sweeney-Baird creates an unforgettable tale of loss, resilience and hope.


My Review

I am always interested in a feminist dystopia: The Handmaid's Tale, Afterland, Vox, Blue Ticket, The Grace Year, Red Clocks, The Mother Code (I could go on and on) and while I loved most of those, I often felt like something was forced or "gimmicky." This always left me wanting more--a smarter, more fully flushed out story with a broad range of detailed repercussions. The End of Men by Christina Sweeney-Baird filled that void and is exactly the book I have been waiting for! I'll cut to the chase and say this is currently my favorite 2021 release. It shocked me, ripped my heart out, made me gasp...and I loved every minute of it! The depth of details and levels of intelligence layered throughout the chapters is magnificent. My mind reels that this is Sweeney-Baird's debut novel. Writing her first draft of the novel between September 2018 and June 2019, Sweeney-Baird had no idea that a pandemic would soon ravage our world. She simply asked herself "How far could I take my imagination? How would a global pandemic with an enormous death rate change the world?" and she delivered a story that forced me to ask myself what I would do in about a hundred different situations. The politics, the vaccine race, the breakdown of the economy, the shift of entire governments, and the devastating loss faced by most families was familiar yet intensified from what we have all experienced over the last year. An absolutely amazing novel that I cannot recommend enough!