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.

An unusual, engaging and thoughtful page turner of a novel about snails and Ukraine. That's simplistic and the novel is quite complex. This sees Yeva, who studies snails, take a job at a marriage bureau to fund her research. It's the same place Nastia and Solo have gone to work to keep themselves fed and in the hope of finding their mother. And it's the same place Pasha has gone to find a Ukrainian wife. Nastia and Solo persuade Yeva to go along with their unlikely plan to kidnap 12 bachelors but none of them fully understood that war, and the Russian army, are on the doorstep. This moves back and forth between their stories in Ukraine and Canada. And halfway through, well, it's not over. It's the finest of metafiction. It's funny, it's tragic, it's topical, and it will pull you in. Who knew you could get so attached a snail named Lefty? Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I've done a poor job of synopsis but know that this is a gem that I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend.

I received this book for free from Netgalley. That did not influence this review.

Endling by Maria Reva is a startling novel that examines extinction (of a species, of a life, of one’s hopes and dreams) and left me stricken with awe (at the author’s creativity and skill) and sadness (because it grew darker and more hopeless as it progressed.)

It begins as a quirky, literary, contemporary novel, set in Ukraine, that twines together three lives.

Yeva is a conservation scientist obsessed with snails and the rapidity of the rate of extinction of various species. She is a one-woman crusader, determined to save as many Ukrainian snail species as she can. Yeva owns a trailer fitted up as a mobile lab.The information provided about snails is honestly fascinating and surprisingly poignant.

Nastia and Sol are sisters. Nastia is very young and very beautiful. Sol is two years older and plain. They never knew their father and were abandoned by their mother who was a performative activist against the marriage business (matchmaking services that bring foreign bride-seeking men into Ukraine to find beautiful, young, docile mates.) It sounds a lot like legal human trafficking. Angered and despondent over their mother’s disappearance, the sisters have joined a marriage-brokering business in rebellion and to earn a living. Nastia poses as one of the “brides” and Sol follows as her translator.

Nastia has a plan to get their mother’s attention. She wants to abduct a group of the bride-seeking bachelors and briefly hold them hostage as a publicity stunt. If they make the bridal business appear dangerous, it might shut the practice down. Sol follows along. Nastia manages to persuade Yeva to join them so that they can use her trailer to contain the bachelors.

There are pitfalls aplenty, and yet, the plan seems to be working. They kidnap thirteen bachelors and set off. However, here the story screeches to a halt. The Russian invasion of Ukraine begins.

In a meta-twist, the author (a Ukrainian expat, living in Canada) now intrudes on the story. How can she continue writing this quirky tale given what is going on back in Ukraine?

When the author returns to the storyline, it incorporates this new reality. Events grow darker and quirky turns to surreal. The book barrels along to its ambiguous conclusion.

It’s a fascinating, heart-wrenching book, full of surprises, somewhat reminiscent of If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English, which I also loved.

Thank you to Netgalley and Doubleday Books for this ARC!

This is my first time reading anything metafiction and it was quite the ride, to the point where I’m struggling to put together my thoughts on this book! Endling is a darkly funny, meandering trip through Ukraine on the eve of Russia’s invasion and the aftermath. Our main character is a scientist who will do anything, including faking her way through the Easter European bride industry, to support her mission to collect and breed nearly extinct snails.

I genuinely enjoyed this ride and particularly reading about our narrator’s search for snail species.

Rating: 3.75 rounded up