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brynalexa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Graphic: Miscarriage, Child death, Violence, Abandonment, Death of parent, Infertility, Death, Grief, Terminal illness, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexism, Misogyny, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, War, and Pregnancy
Minor: Cancer, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Mass/school shootings, Deportation, Gun violence, Alcohol, Genocide, and Fatphobia
nanirump's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Death of parent, Infertility, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Sexism, Transphobia, Suicide, War, Violence, and Pregnancy
marshiereads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
I didn’t like most of the characters you saw a decent amount of (Lisa and Katherine in particular), but found other people much more fascinating yet they were talked about for only a moment (the Russian woman and Rosamie). Amanda and Dawn were probably my favorite perspectives, with the southern standford researcher being the most forgettable.
I think, if you’re going to do that large of a cast of characters, don’t make most of them from the UK or working in the UK, it’s literally most of them and they’re mostly sad and grieving which makes sense but doesn’t add to the overall narrative that a multi-perspective story generally does.
It’s worth a read but only just.
Graphic: War, Gun violence, Suicide, Violence, Body horror, Blood, Death, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Child death, Sexism, Terminal illness, Miscarriage, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, Police brutality, and Vomit
liesthemoontells's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
I was also disappointed at how straight the book was - the one lesbian character who doesn't enter into a relationship with a woman out of necessity is an arrogant sociopath, and the stories of women who fall in love with women after most men have died out are kept at a distance from the reader through news articles and interviews. None of our first person characters enter into a WLW relationship other than the aforementioned sociopath.
It also isn't until 354 pages into a 403 page book that the author spends a moment considering what traumatic impact the Plague would have had on the trans community, treating them like the afterthought that the sole trans character in the book ironically calls out the medical establishment for doing.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Infertility, Medical trauma, Violence, Grief, Terminal illness, and Medical content
Moderate: Suicide, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic friendship, and Suicidal thoughts
auteaandtales's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Racism, Gun violence, War, Cancer, Car accident, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Trafficking, and Transphobia
shelbsleanne's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Graphic: Death and Grief
Moderate: Child death and Death of parent
Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Violence
luelle_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Infertility, Pregnancy, and Grief
Moderate: Miscarriage
Minor: Cancer, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Terminal illness, Suicide, and Murder
azrah786's review against another edition
3.0
CW: virus/pandemic, (mass) death, infertility, mention of suicide, starvation, violence
A well-written debut that I think has both benefited and been hindered by its time of publication.
Through the accounts of various, predominantly women characters The End of Men is an account of a pandemic that wipes most of the male population off of the planet, spanning from a few days before to a couple of years after.
Having been written from 2018 it was quite scary to see just how the fictional events in the book mirrored what has been occurring with the coronavirus in reality. I feel like if this book had been published at a different time it would have perhaps been a hard-hitting read however, it would not have had as much of an impact emotionally as it does now.
That being said with the speed that events were occurring in the book, having real world experience of very similar happenings I couldn’t help but feel they sometimes felt a little unrealistic. One thing I do wish though was that the government in the real world had starting dealing with our pandemic a lot faster like the one in the book.
I really liked the narrative choice of the author to tell the story through various points of view from around the world and the short snappy chapters were great for the pacing.
What I had a problem with though was that I felt most of the characters didn’t have a distinctive voice. Other than all having different circumstances and relationships a lot of them felt the same which made it a little confusing to keep track of all the storylines. Even when the point of view jumped to a character in a different country the characterisation felt very surface level.
Also despite a handful of medical terms there weren’t that many elements of science so I personally wouldn’t class this book as a sci-fi but more a contemporary novel with a dystopian-esque setting. Though maybe this comes down to how the setting felt so close to reality that I can’t see it as a dystopian.
Nevertheless this was a thought-provoking read and I look forward to seeing what Christina Sweeney-Baird writes next.
Final Rating - 3/5 Stars
Moderate: Child death, Death, Infertility, Suicide, and Violence