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.

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.