A friend lent me this book, saying they thought I'd enjoy it. It's something I probably would have picked up myself if I'd seen it, just because of the tite - I consider it aspirational - but I hadn't come across it. And boy did I enjoy it!
It was written pre-pandemic, yet so many things that happened, especially early in the book, resonated so much because of what we went through in 2020. This is actually the second book written pre-2020 I've read since the pandemic that eerily echo the reality we lived through.
In this book, a deadly new virus first come to light in Scotland. One doctor identifies the salient feature of this particular illness is that it only affects men. But when she tries to alert the authorities, the scientific and medical community, the world at large, she's dismissed and being an hysterical woman. And by the time the world catches up with what she'd been trying to tell them, it's too late. The virus has spread too far to contain easily and men around the world are dying in droves.
The book uses the perspectives of a shifting group of women who are left to deal with the consequences. These are all very different women with very different skills and interests and come from all walks of life. Through these various different eyes, we get a very good idea just what challenges the world might face if all the men - well, most... 10% of men in this world are immune - disappeared.
There are the initial stages of the plague where women are forced to face the fact their husbands, brothers and sons are likely to die, then the grieving that comes when they inevitably do. But what's more interesting is the society that develops in the wake of the pandemic, a society where all the roles usually taken by men are filled by women.
There are so many fascinating things this book delves into - global politics where all the world's leaders are now women, the workforce where suddenly all the heavy manual jobs men traditionally do have to be done by women, what happens to love and sex when there are so many more women than men. Even little things, like redesigning seatbelts in cars so they are more effective for female bodies and re-thinking what families might look like.
I really enjoyed this book and found it incredibly thought provoking. Especially with having a real-world version of this scenario in the very recent past. It made everything hit home that much harder than it probably did when people read it back in 2018.
So I'd recommend it. My 13-year-old niece heard me talking about it when I was reading it and decided she wanted to read it too.
But don't just listen to me. Here's the blurb:
Set in a world where a virus stalks our male population, The End of Men is an electrifying and unforgettable debut from a remarkable new talent that what would life truly look like without men?Only men are affected by the virus; only women have the power to save us all. The year is 2025, and a mysterious virus has broken out in Scotland--a lethal illness that seems to affect only men. When Dr. Amanda MacLean reports this phenomenon, she is dismissed as hysterical. By the time her warning is heeded, it is too late. The virus becomes a global pandemic--and a political one. The victims are all men. The world becomes alien--a women's world.What follows is the immersive account of the women who have been left to deal with the virus's consequences, told through first-person narratives. Dr. MacLean; Catherine, a social historian determined to document the human stories behind the "male plague;" intelligence analyst Dawn, tasked with helping the government forge a new society; and Elizabeth, one of many scientists desperately working to develop a vaccine. Through these women and others, we see the uncountable ways the absence of men has changed society, from the personal--the loss of husbands and sons--to the political--the changes in the workforce, fertility and the meaning of family.In The End of Men, Christina Sweeney-Baird creates an unforgettable tale of loss, resilience and hope.
