Review of Endling by Maria Reva

Set in 2022 Ukraine as war begins to break out, this oddball, zigzagging story explores broad themes of interconnectedness as well as revenge fantasies made real and renegade ecology preservation. With dark humor and sobering truths, Reva presents it all through the lens of the scruffy Ukrainian marriage industry.

It's 2022, and roving, passionate scientist Yeva is only dating in the Ukrainian marriage industry to earn money to rescue and preserve her precious snails. After all, dates with the desperate Westerners hoping to find docile Ukrainian wives to take home will fund her efforts more efficiently than her endless grant-writing and constant vying for just enough to get by.

When Yeva runs across sisters posing as participants of the marriage industry in order to find their mother, a disappeared activist who always fought against the practice of matching Ukrainian women with outsiders, the three become entwined in a surprising journey across the country. Their connection involves attempts at revenge, a major kidnapping, and a last-ditch attempt to save a single snail. But when Russia invades Ukraine as they're traveling, it changes everything.

Endling holds dark humor, sobering truths, and lots of gray area within a strange story. Reva layers mother-daughter yearning and broken bonds; desperate men with facile idealism and romantic hope; attempts at showy activism, the impact of which goes awry; the power in apparent feminine wiles--which mask other intentions; ecology and environmental destruction; and unlikely heroism in forms small and large.

The extended kidnapping situation begins to feel interminable, but the stretching out of time and close quarters lead to unexpected realizations for the men. This was not the kidnappers' intention, but in yet another turn, an oddball series of heroes emerge, the men rethink life paths, and they form trauma bonds with each other.

As it did in real life, a war breaks out in Ukraine within the novel as the Russians invade. In Reva's version of the situation, we see just the bare beginnings of the invasion, and much of it at a distance. In the war's single "close-up," a story-within-a-story pits propaganda-producing playacting against the actual victims and invaders in a meta swirl of confusion, creating life-and-death stakes for protagonists wondering what's real and what's for show.

I was intrigued by Endling, even as it felt difficult to pin down the tone and the multiple stories being told, and I felt off kilter much of the time I was reading. Ultimately it felt as though so many elements were, rightfully, in play, that zigzagging through their messy interconnectedness felt appropriate.

More about This Author

Reva is a Ukrainian expat who has spent years keeping track of her family from outside the country.

She is also the author of Good Citizens Need Not Fear: Stories.