Endling
By Maria Reva
Review by Renata
What begins as a relatively straightforward plot takes a startling meta-fictional turn when the war in Ukraine erupts – not only into the lives of the characters, but also that of the author. Reva, who is Ukrainian born and Canadian raised, interrogates the value of writing fiction at a time when the strange and terrifying reality surrounding us so urgently demands attention. Her solution – to combine the real and the invented – results in a blackly comic story of survival in extremis. An “endling” is the name given to the last remaining members of an endangered species. Where the novel’s most obvious contender for this title is a snail called “Lefty”, humanity’s self-destructive impulses are also in Reva’s sights. While there is grief and despair in this novel, her vital and fiercely determined characters push against this darkness by continuing, against very long odds, to reach for hope.
