Reviews

Songs for the End of the World by Saleema Nawaz

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kirky_dee's review against another edition

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4.0

If you're okay with books set in a pandemic during a pandemic, this is great. If not, steer clear.

mrsthrift's review against another edition

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I finished Songs for the End of the World, by Saleema Nawaz. This book came out in 2020, but it was written between 2013 and 2019. I mention this because it's is about a pandemic caused by a novel coronavirus. It is unbelievable how much of our covid-19 pandemic was predicted by Nawaz through her pandemic research. The descriptions of quarantine, mask wearing, of intimacy and loneliness, working from home, family dynamics, being pregnant/parenting during the pandemic, how the pandemic affected people's outlook on their lives and changed their relationships and behavior, how it exacerbated hardship for people and how much wealth and privilege protected other people... she even describes the anti-Asian racism that accompanied our covid-19 pandemic. She does this with literary fiction and linked stories and makes it seem easy. I admired how Nawaz was able to explore through fiction the impacts of a coronavirus pandemic in a way that was so authentic, although I also felt disappointed that we are so freaking predictable. It is a book that is hopeful, and optimistic, despite everything I am describing here. It is not a bleak or depressing book.

NOTE: this is the only novel I have encountered that had multiple families who were impacted by conception using donor gametes, for anyone with a special interest in that topic.

segreene111's review against another edition

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5.0

Wow. Incredible read. So very timely. Eerily accurate how we'll Nawaz's well-researched book parallels our own coronavirus pandemic. Probably my book of the year. Needs to be made widely available for US publication! Right now it's only available to purchase from Canada.

melhara's review against another edition

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2.0

The book started off pretty interesting but I slowly lost interest as the story progressed. I'm not a fan of stories with multiple POVs, which is probably why I didn't particularly enjoy this book. This was also a very character-driven story in which I didn't really care about any of the characters... Edith / ARAMIS girl (the person who is suspected to have caused the outbreak by being at the first infection zone) and Owen (the author who wrote a prescient novel about a worldwide pandemic, only to have it come true) were probably the most interesting characters. As interesting as they were, my interest in them waned by the end of the book... The best parts of this book were definitely the premise and the author's interview at the end.