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dcms's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.25
vickalicious_thickalicious's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
nderiley's review against another edition
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
I enjoyed this read, even more so after learning the author wrote it before our pandemic. I love speculative dystopian and would encourage any one else interested in this genre to read it!
halthemonarch's review against another edition
5.0
This book would be great for people who enjoyed The Power by Naomi Alderman or Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler or The Handmaid’s Tale by Margret Atwood, or If I had Your Face by Frances Cha. This book is a multi-pov before, (mostly)during, and briefly after a mysterious virus targets and kills men with the efficiency of leukemia. Like the other books I mentioned (except If I had Your Face, that book is just about complex womanhood), this book deals with the end of the world and how that affects some people and empowers others, emboldens people to look out for themselves in some cases and for one another in others. In this book, we follow those who die, and those the dead have left behind. We see a status quo shift and an attitude of minority sweep over the remaining men. We see the effects of grief on a whole society as they-- as we-- go through a pandemic.
We follow Amanda, the doctor who caught it first and tried to warn people to no avail, and still, she loses her husband and sons. Catherine who loses her husband and newborn baby, who roils with anguish at the thought of her friend with her immune husband and her family of all daughters. Lisa, a scientist bent on finding and monetizing the vaccine for her own gain, a lesbian who comes out the other side completely intact and in fact, better than before the apocalypse began. Elizabeth, another scientist also fighting for the cure, whose team is instrumental in curating the eventual vaccine, who miraculously finds love in a careful and healthy man. Helen, a woman with daughters whose husband decided one day to leave, who realizes the strength of her own two feet; whose husband was immune and spent three years away thinking his family would welcome him back like a hero and not a coward. Rosamie, a Filipino nanny in Singapore who witnesses the death of her charge and is motivated to steal money from her employer and go home. Frances, a man stuck on a boat with dwindling numbers, and his wife on land trying her best to get him aid. Social workers taking boy children from infected mothers, a mother on an isolated farm hosting seventy unsick boys by mandate of the government under penalty of imprisonment, when she’d got a son of her own to keep safe, a woman with an abusive immune husband who seizes her chance to be rid of him-- on and on. This book is a marvel, a study in humanity, of what is acceptable in society, and what becomes acceptable once that society collapses. The shift in perspectives once the majority or power cells have shifted. The effort to rebuild.
I’m for sure going to have to read it again, I think I gobbled it up too quickly. Catherine was introspecting something in one of the chapters-- about how it’s hard to read romance novels when her life was falling apart, she could relate more to horror and sadness. I think this book is perfect for the post-(still currently happening, covid variant coming to you this fall!)pandemic blues people who feel weird reading books about sunshine and rainbows.
We follow Amanda, the doctor who caught it first and tried to warn people to no avail, and still, she loses her husband and sons. Catherine who loses her husband and newborn baby, who roils with anguish at the thought of her friend with her immune husband and her family of all daughters. Lisa, a scientist bent on finding and monetizing the vaccine for her own gain, a lesbian who comes out the other side completely intact and in fact, better than before the apocalypse began. Elizabeth, another scientist also fighting for the cure, whose team is instrumental in curating the eventual vaccine, who miraculously finds love in a careful and healthy man. Helen, a woman with daughters whose husband decided one day to leave, who realizes the strength of her own two feet; whose husband was immune and spent three years away thinking his family would welcome him back like a hero and not a coward. Rosamie, a Filipino nanny in Singapore who witnesses the death of her charge and is motivated to steal money from her employer and go home. Frances, a man stuck on a boat with dwindling numbers, and his wife on land trying her best to get him aid. Social workers taking boy children from infected mothers, a mother on an isolated farm hosting seventy unsick boys by mandate of the government under penalty of imprisonment, when she’d got a son of her own to keep safe, a woman with an abusive immune husband who seizes her chance to be rid of him-- on and on. This book is a marvel, a study in humanity, of what is acceptable in society, and what becomes acceptable once that society collapses. The shift in perspectives once the majority or power cells have shifted. The effort to rebuild.
I’m for sure going to have to read it again, I think I gobbled it up too quickly. Catherine was introspecting something in one of the chapters-- about how it’s hard to read romance novels when her life was falling apart, she could relate more to horror and sadness. I think this book is perfect for the post-(still currently happening, covid variant coming to you this fall!)pandemic blues people who feel weird reading books about sunshine and rainbows.
jessuh27's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
4.5
sim_4520's review against another edition
5.0
I am speechless, I have a lot to express but there are no words. This book is a ride. Almost all of you would have experienced covid-19 and its aftermath. Some of you would still be recovering from the losses.
This book takes you on a similar ride but the plague is only affecting men and they are dying, nothing can save them. The book contains POVs of different men and women in different fields and what they faced and how they are coping with them as well as this book highlights the political and economical changes in our society, nothing in this book seems fiction, it is like you are seeing all this happening in front of you.
Coming to characters, I find all the characters interesting and an important part of the story.
>Catherine: A loving wife and mother, who has a perfect husband and married life. But the plague took everything from her, her husband and son. she is left alone to deal with the loss, she tried her best to keep her husband and son safe but not everything is in the hand of humans. I like the way she recovered, she lost a lot but she started her new life again alone but powerful. Her story made me cry, and will always make me cry if I think of it.
>Amanda: She is the doctor who treated patient zero and who did her best to warn everyone of the plague but in a male dominating society she got ignored. She tried her best to save her husband and sons from the plague but failed. but she didn't stop she worked to find the origins of it and she kept working as a doctor saving lives. she tried to stay strong and the way she managed all this is amazing.
>Lisa: the virologist working on the vaccine, I got to say I didn't like her character much in the later stage after she developed the vaccine, she was changed.
>Elizabeth: her story in the times of this plague is like a hope she worked hard for the cure and meanwhile she met someone she can spend her life with. she lost her dad as well but she still found hope in her life.
>Helen: her story is a short story, after her husband left she worked and raised her daughters alone and well. she showed women can manage well without men.
>Frances and Toby: the couple who stayed away from each other but still survived, Frances worked hard to save her husband and Toby lived for his wife.
There are other characters and stories to explore in this book.
Now coming to the parts I like in the book.
>The race between Elizabeth and Lisa to find the vaccine and how disappointed Elizabeth felt that they couldn't be the first but she is still happy that now men could be saved, it shows that in times of sorrow, we even support our rivals.
>Another thing that changed is that now they got a dating app only for women which is interesting and the same way the sexuality of society is changing. and medical science has developed a way to get women pregnant but again they're too they have some preferences that would benefit society. How Catherine wants to be a mother again and all the effects the plague has on countries and societies are intriguing to read.
>The other thing that interests me is how men are feeling inferior to women and when some women approach a guy he feels insecure just like in today's society we women feel the same way.
The most heart-touching story for me is Catherine's, her words her emotions were so raw and real, she is not portrayed perfectly but she is realistic and emotional. She is coping with the loss but still finding a way to remember her husband and son, she knows her husband would be proud of her, and she knows she was loved by her husband. she doesn't wanna move on with any guy, and she knows that her husband is the only one for her as in the end she says "We will not be together in this life but I am glad you have been mine".
This book takes us through the emotional and practical aspects of an epidemic and its aftermath in a very interesting way. it shows us that we cannot control everything but what we all can do is live in the present not forgetting the good in the past.
Another thing this book conveys well is that we women do not need financial support from the men in our lives, we do not depend on them financially. we want their emotional and moral support.
You should surely try this book once.
This book takes you on a similar ride but the plague is only affecting men and they are dying, nothing can save them. The book contains POVs of different men and women in different fields and what they faced and how they are coping with them as well as this book highlights the political and economical changes in our society, nothing in this book seems fiction, it is like you are seeing all this happening in front of you.
Coming to characters, I find all the characters interesting and an important part of the story.
>Catherine: A loving wife and mother, who has a perfect husband and married life. But the plague took everything from her, her husband and son. she is left alone to deal with the loss, she tried her best to keep her husband and son safe but not everything is in the hand of humans. I like the way she recovered, she lost a lot but she started her new life again alone but powerful. Her story made me cry, and will always make me cry if I think of it.
>Amanda: She is the doctor who treated patient zero and who did her best to warn everyone of the plague but in a male dominating society she got ignored. She tried her best to save her husband and sons from the plague but failed. but she didn't stop she worked to find the origins of it and she kept working as a doctor saving lives. she tried to stay strong and the way she managed all this is amazing.
>Lisa: the virologist working on the vaccine, I got to say I didn't like her character much in the later stage after she developed the vaccine, she was changed.
>Elizabeth: her story in the times of this plague is like a hope she worked hard for the cure and meanwhile she met someone she can spend her life with. she lost her dad as well but she still found hope in her life.
>Helen: her story is a short story, after her husband left she worked and raised her daughters alone and well. she showed women can manage well without men.
>Frances and Toby: the couple who stayed away from each other but still survived, Frances worked hard to save her husband and Toby lived for his wife.
There are other characters and stories to explore in this book.
Now coming to the parts I like in the book.
>The race between Elizabeth and Lisa to find the vaccine and how disappointed Elizabeth felt that they couldn't be the first but she is still happy that now men could be saved, it shows that in times of sorrow, we even support our rivals.
>Another thing that changed is that now they got a dating app only for women which is interesting and the same way the sexuality of society is changing. and medical science has developed a way to get women pregnant but again they're too they have some preferences that would benefit society. How Catherine wants to be a mother again and all the effects the plague has on countries and societies are intriguing to read.
>The other thing that interests me is how men are feeling inferior to women and when some women approach a guy he feels insecure just like in today's society we women feel the same way.
The most heart-touching story for me is Catherine's, her words her emotions were so raw and real, she is not portrayed perfectly but she is realistic and emotional. She is coping with the loss but still finding a way to remember her husband and son, she knows her husband would be proud of her, and she knows she was loved by her husband. she doesn't wanna move on with any guy, and she knows that her husband is the only one for her as in the end she says "We will not be together in this life but I am glad you have been mine".
This book takes us through the emotional and practical aspects of an epidemic and its aftermath in a very interesting way. it shows us that we cannot control everything but what we all can do is live in the present not forgetting the good in the past.
Another thing this book conveys well is that we women do not need financial support from the men in our lives, we do not depend on them financially. we want their emotional and moral support.
You should surely try this book once.
bubblegirl858's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
This book was hard to read in a lot of ways, but necessary. It was genuinely enjoyable to read about all the diverse points of views and stories. Especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, reading about the panic and uncertainty was slightly panic inducing, but after a brief rest from the book, it was easy to pick up again and finish. The world has changed in real life as it did in the book.
bitsyreads_'s review against another edition
Just not in the mood for something so sad and depressing. Didn’t enjoy having so many POVs that never came together in any way
amypendlebury's review against another edition
2.0
there were a couple interesting parts but for the most part I was so bored
vanessakins's review against another edition
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
Crazy wicked that this book about a plague was written before the pandemic. Similar parallels but still very different to what we experienced. Not much of a science fantasy reader, but I enjoyed this very much. Lots of twists and turns.