The End of Men by Christina Sweeney-Baird

Book Review

Wow, talk about an incredible debut novel 🤩🤩🤩.

Thank you Putnam Books for sending me a gifted copy of The End of Men. This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021 and it did not disappoint!

In this dystopian novel, Christina Sweeney-Baird explores how the world would change if 90% of men succumbed to a deadly virus. While the book was written prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the content felt eerily similar. As the Man Plague spreads across the world and humanity faces the threat of extinction, governments fall, cities descend into chaos and the world’s economy grids to a halt.

What I enjoyed most about this book was seeing how the author reimagined the world as “a woman’s world.” In a world run by women, warring factions stage bloodless coups, automobiles are redesigned for the safety of female passengers and every workplace offers daycare (along with extensive maternity leave). Told from the perspective of many different women across the world, each short chapter offers the reader a glimpse at how various women cope with the tragic pandemic as well as how they contribute to the relief effort and the rebuilding of society.

TW: pandemic, death of a loved one, suicide, murder

Assuming you can stomach reading about a pandemic in the current climate, I highly recommend this one for book clubs, as there is so much to discuss! Also, apparently the book has already been picked up by a major US studio and is being adapted into a TV series 🤩.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5