“The End of Men is a fiercely intelligent page-turner, an eerily prescient novel, at once thoughtful and highly emotive.” –Paula Hawkins, #1 internationally bestselling author of The Girl on the TrainSet 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 asks: what would our world truly look like … would our world truly look like without men?
Only men carry the virus. Only women can 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 turns the unimaginable into the unforgettable.
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In the year 2025, a virus hits Europe that no doctor can explain. It seems to be only affecting men/boys – killing them fast. Women are immune, but carriers of the disease so they can pass it to any men around them. The doctor who first realizes that something is very wrong puts out an SOS, but it falls on deaf ears until it is too late. The virus spreads around the world killing billions of men and boys before a vaccine is found.
The book – told by several characters (doctors, historians, scientists) document what happens when a world is turned upside down. a small % of the men are immune. How do you continue on when your husband and your children die? What can be learned from mistakes made? How do you continue in a world that has completely changed in terms of workfoce, population and family.
This was a pretty good book. I am a big dystopian fan. It is my #2 favorite genre after non-fiction. So I always jump at a chance to try them when I see them. It crosses 6 years of time during the plague from discovery, through loss of so many, to finding a cure, to moving forward. It wraps up nicely- some people get their happy endings. You root for the characters who lost all their children and their husbands – to find faith in love and life again. I would say that the world seemed to deal well with the loss of billions in terms of availability of goods/services, which was unrealistic to a point. They did have rations given to them. But it was pretty “surface” discussed where I think it would be a much bigger deal. And going through a pandemic right now – we all know even on a much smaller scale that this isn’t possible.
I listened to the book, and I recommend taking it in this way. Most of the characters are European, and they did a great job with different voices/readers to separate the characters. Helps keep them straight.
She wrote about a virus before the pandemic hit.
So many ways it describes what happened in reality with COVID. As someone who lost a spouse just before COVID, it was personal. For those who lost loved ones in the COVID pandemic, it will be personal. For those who didn’t, and who don’t get vaccinated, it might be an eye-opener for they let COVID continue….
Reading this book reminded me of the intense novel, World War Z, written by Max Brooks, and not surprisingly, the author’s afterword cites the influence of his work. But as Max Brooks focused his oral history on retelling how humanity fought a plague, Christina concentrated on sharing how women might face one. It’s a different take that focuses more on family and personal relationships and less on the actions and physical struggles.
The story starts with Dr. Amanda Maclean, an emergency physician in Scotland, discovering patient zero of an impeding world-altering plague that kills only men. But the crux of it is that no one initially believes her, and the potential to stop the holocaust is squandered. The author then expertly draws the reader into a layered, intersecting multi-POV storyline that traces how various women learn to live with and tackle a plague that kills their fathers, sons, and husbands as well as male coworkers, employees, and bosses. The surviving women must face grief and pain while dealing with life’s challenges and opportunities without men. Though many are emotionally wounded, most are to some degree reborn as they tackle roles they may never have dreamed of taking and are challenged in ways they haven’t often been before. While the plague strips many women of their titles like wife, girlfriend, and mother, they learn to recenter their lives around their selves and a female-centric future.
Interestingly, the author wrote this book before the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, it started as a thought experiment, but the overall isolation and grief she touches upon in her fictional pandemic is something we can all relate to as we endure this one.
I thought the concept was very good and the way it was told over an extended period through different voices worked well. I would have liked to see some different characters as the protagonists were by and large all successful, professional women who loved their partners and therefore were grief-stricken at their deaths. It left me with lots of questions, not necessarily a bad thing, but some of the similar emotions and incidents from characters could have been left out to give space to deal with other factors. There are many (sadly too many) women who would breathe a sigh of relief at the demise of their abusers and this was not really dealt with apart from a brief chapter or two.
Was there a need to replenish the police in large numbers? Were rape crisis centres and shelters obsolete? Would we have young Queen Charlotte on the throne with Regent Catherine?
I mainly enjoyed this, especially comparing it to the way governments and individuals have handled the Covid pandemic (I hope the author’s success doesn’t suffer from the timing).
I wanted to love this book and was certain I would. But I slogged through it. The topic is a good one, and incredibly prescient considering the author wrote it before our global pandemic. However, every chapter is written in the first person by a different character. There are many, many characters and these characters are simply not distinct enough to remember or feel any connection to, so reading just becomes an issue of wondering if this chapter is a returning character or a brand new one. Around halfway through, one character, an anthropologist, starts documenting all these surviving women’s stories… why not frame the entire book as her documentation so the reader had some character as an anchor, some guide through the story?!? As it is, it feels like a bunch of newspaper clippings about a pandemic written in the first person by each journalist. Lots of interesting facts, little connection to character.
Think COVID19 but only men are dying from it. It started out really good for me but overall it was slow. Each chapter is told from a different POV and I typically like this style of writing but there were almost too many. Some characters we only hear from once or twice, which seemed a little pointless, while some repeat characters we get no closure on.
Pretty crazy that the author started writing this in 2018, it is a very unique concept. I also saw that movie rights have been bought so will be interesting to see how it’s adapted.
BIG thank you to the author and goodreads for the giveaway!!!!
A lot of thought has gone into every imagined scenario and the writer provides stimulating options. This book will be widely read, reviewed and debated, and is ripe for an intelligent TV series adaptation.
Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: April 27, 2021
Christina Sweeney-Baird’s novel, “The End of Men” had me completely riveted. To discover it was a DEBUT novel? Colour me impressed.
In 2025, a mysterious plague-like illness is spreading across the globe; it seems to only affect males and very soon, sons, husbands and fathers are dying off. As the world of science scrambles to find a vaccine, the rest of the world waits on bated breath, while trying to put together some semblance of “normal” in a world that is completely different from the one before it.
“The End of Men” is part (reverse) “Handmaid’s Tale”, part “Contagion” and obviously, completely relevant. It is a thought-provoking novel that hits close to home in every way. Sweeney-Baird’s novel has already been optioned for a movie, and there is absolutely no questioning why.
“Men” is not solely a story with feminist themes (although obviously they do arise), it is a story full of loss and grief, desperation, and the human condition (both the positive and negative aspects of it). There is no one who will read this novel, especially in these times, and not have a deep connection and emotional reaction. I found the race for the vaccines (and the self-serving quest to profit from it) to be both eerie and informative.
In most disaster novels or end-of-the-world dramas, especially in movies, the story is centred in the United States, and many other countries either get occasionally mentioned or ignored completely. As a Canadian, I was impressed to see the relevant role that my countrymen (countrywoman actually) played in Sweeney-Baird’s novel (although I apologize, of course, because she was completely unlikable), so props to the author for recognizing the global effect of a pandemic, sans the Hollywood interference.
“Men” is completely page-turning, and the ending provides the bittersweet resolution I expected. Although the subject matter is dismal and grim (so are the times we are living in, am I right?) Sweeney-Baird manages to bring a little bit of levity and hope.
“Perhaps recovery is too great a goal. We can never regain what we have lost and we must accept that, mourn that, grieve what cannot be and find a new way to exist”.
Sweeney-Baird says that she started this novel in 2018, pre-pandemic, and its realism is so startling and shocking, I may consider believing in fortune-telling and psychic abilities. The only thing I’m sure of is I want more from Sweeney-Baird. Hands down, the best debut novel I’ve read in a long time, and one of my all-time faves already from this year!
3.5 Stars rounded up…
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The story was heartbreakingly sad and gripping, but about 3/4 of the way through, it started to lose steam.
My main issue with this book is SO many people are introduced only a few times that it was very difficult to remember who went with which story.
There was a US military spouse that had one short chapter, then was never mentioned again (which was a bummer cause I liked her). Many of the names are so basic, and interchangeable that I kept mixing people up (Amanda, Catherine, Elizabeth, Dawn). I would have to flip back to the last chapter they were mentioned to remember where we left off with them.
However, the bones of the story were excellent. A disease that only affects men, and completely decimates the earths male population? Super readable!
I thought it was interesting how the dynamic changed for the 1% of the surviving male population who were immune. Suddenly they found themselves in a WOMANS world. Men become such a rare sight that when they go out they find themselves constantly harassed and propositioned by women looking for male companionship. Women are in charge of major companies and world leaders are almost all female. It was interesting to read how the men handle having the shoe on the other foot (spoiler alert…not well, lol).
Overall, I would absolutely recommend this book. As I said, the story does start to drag a bit, and could easily have been shaved down by 50-100 pages, but I’m glad I read it. It’s crazy how the author started this book in 2018 only to finish it at the beginning of a worldwide pandemic. What a strange thing to experience!
As soon as I read the blurb for this book, I knew I had to read it! The blurb immediately made me think of VOX, and Q both by Christina Dalcher and I totally admit to loving those dystopian, futuristic sometimes almost prophetic books. I find the cover quite stark and striking which fits the books content very well. I think it will certainly stick out on a book store shelf. The byline of “Only Men Carry The Virus. Only Women Can Save Us All.” on the book has given me mixed feelings as if being 100% nit-picky here (but I find I am more nit-picky with books I really enjoy). The part of the byline that says Only Men Carry The Virus . . Mmm …after reading the book my understanding is that women can “carry the virus” whilst showing no symptoms and therefore spread the virus. However, it is only men that die from the virus. However, when you search the definition of “virus carrier” it explains the terminologies meaning, A carrier is an individual who carries and is capable of passing on a genetic mutation associated with a disease and may or may not display disease
symptoms. Carriers are associated with diseases inherited as recessive traits. I guess what I am trying to say/explain is that once you have really read the book you understand that the byline is technically correct. Basically, all you need to know is only men get the virus and die! Women Can “carry” the virus and pass it to men but cannot die from it themselves.
This book is going to be so difficult to review as I don’t want to give away spoiler-esque aspects of the individual characters. I think sometimes the more you enjoy a book the harder it is to review it! This is one of those books! As soon as I started reading, I felt hooked and hated having to put it down. I couldn’t wait to find out how the different characters lives changed, who had happy endings or had to rebuild their lives as best they could.
The virus begins in the year 2025 in Scotland with Dr Amanda Maclean an experienced Doctor realising something is really very, very wrong. Dr Amanda does a little research to learn what all her male patients have in common. Then she really does try to warn those higher up in power as soon as she can, unfortunately for her and the rest of the world they ignore her, even labelling her as a “hysterical woman”, words that come back to haunt those who used them!
The virus is both simple, yet complicated. It kills only men, but women can be carriers. For the first couple of days of having the virus, the male does not seem ill, meaning they continue as normal, kissing their family & friends which in turn passes the virus to them. Every time the man coughs, sneezes, simply wipes his nose he is leaving the virus on surfaces for others to touch and pick up spreading the virus far and wide. The actual symptoms begin on the third day, and death occurs usually by the fifth day. Though women do not die from this virus, quickly named “the plague” in the book they are carriers.
The thing that seriously disrupts the world and how it works is that the virus kills men…..I guess the first people will think about is How will the population go on? Then you have to think, what about all the jobs done pre-dominantly by males? Those in power in the governments in this book do refer back to the War quite a few times to find and come up with solutions to the gaps left in the workforce. Of course, the answer (like during the war) is that women will do these jobs! But the problem there, is the women either may not want to do some of those jobs or may need to study to be able to do the jobs.
Many men just decide to isolate themselves, meaning they stay home with the children and the women rapidly become the providers, the ones that have to go out into the world to surce food and anything else they may need for their families. Some families simply pack up and move to isolated holiday homes to try and wait out the virus. Hopeful a cure, a vaccine, or something will be found to stop the virus.
I enjoyed the fact we got a glimpse of the “normal”, “before” life of one of the characters too. The biggest worry that Catherine had was, should she dress up for Halloween to take her little boy Theodore trick or treating! Catherine’s parents died years before and she had no siblings. Her life is her family, her husband Anthony and their gorgeous sone Theodore. Catherine has suffered more loss in her life than some, sadly having problems conceiving too. Her husband wants them to book in for IVF now but there is something just holding Catherine back, she wants to wait a little longer and see if nature will work instead. As soon as the news starts reporting on “The Plague” it is the only thing anyone seems to be talking about. Beatrice, is a mother who is picking her child up from nursery at the same time as Catherine. Beatrice has a country home in Norfolk, she and her family are going to get out of the City of London before things get any worse. They have money they can afford to take the time off work. Beatrice continues saying she has a husband, three sons, two brothers and her only remaining parent, her father to think about too. Unfortunately for Catherine, she and her husband cannot afford to flee London. They have to do the best they can where they already live and work.
Another character Dr Amanda Maclean is trying to do her best both at work and at home. Amanda has to deal with the possibilities of the plague both in her work and home life. Amanda is married to Will and they have two sons. You can feel Amanda’s frustration that despite contacting those higher up in Public Health regarding the plague she is being ignored and is literally going into work everyday not knowing how many Dr’s will be there to work with her and how many of her colleagues will have been claimed by the virus overnight.
When Amanda decides to put her family first, she leaves work and its problems behind and goes home. Amanda takes every possible precaution she can think of! She burns the clothes she had on at work and sleeps in her garage in an effort to prevent herself somehow carrying the awful disease to her family. After a week or so of these precautions Amanda feels it should be safe for her to be around her husband and sons. However, her husband doesn’t seem to understand the magnitude and reality of the plague. Will sneaks into work whilst Amanda is asleep! Will is also a consultant and has gone to the paediatric oncology department, as the mother of a patient has called him, begging for treatment for her child. Amanda is furious, doesn’t he realise the risks he is taking with their son’s lives? Amanda makes Will stay in the garage away from her and her sons, and they wait to see if and when it may be safe to allow him into the house again. Naturally Will apologises, almost as if he made a small mistake, he attempts to explain why he felt he had to go into work for his young patient. Amanda does not accept his apology, there was no mistake. Will had to know what he was doing. In fact, Amanda admits to herself if anything happens to her boys she will never forgive Will. Will is confined to the garage, no contact with the boys or even Amanda, as he could pass the plague to her and then she could unknowingly pass it to their sons.
Amanda remains a pivotal person in the plague and news around it as she ends up writing to newspapers and even finds out the details of “patient zero” and how the virus was brought into the country.
The book has characters based all around the world, Canada, Moscow, Singapore, and China as well as the UK. It was quite fascinating reading of the different ways the different UK regions and countries in the world coped with the plague. One country strongly encourages pregnant women to go to hospital to have planned births and then removes male children from their mothers and keeps them isolated from everyone else. The mothers are allowed to see and interact with their own child but must wear a hazmat suit. A region in the UK gathers a group of teenage boys and send them to a remote hostel to be cared for their in the hope they will not catch the virus. Different countries and people really do take extra ordinary precautions and go to great lengths to try to prevent the spread of the plague and their races men from dying out.
Despite the book being quite serious it does have some moments of humour. For example, when Amanda orders Will to scream at the boys like they are about to touch a burning hob if they attempt to go near him!
My immediate thoughts upon finishing the book were I enjoyed the book a lot…..but….it’s difficult to describe exactly what I mean….certain parts felt too busy, flitting to different people. Perhaps the amount of characters we followed throughout the plague could have been cut back a little. At times it became hard to remember who was who, along with whereabouts we were in the timeline of the plague. On the whole I do have to say I loved it though!
To sum up, it was both weird but addictive to be reading this book during the current situation with corona virus. Prior to coronavirus you may have read this book and thought it really far- fetched, but there’s a gasp, shock, horror moment whilst reading this book that you pause and think this really could happen. I found the book both powerful and thought provoking. It’s content stays with you long after you have finished reading the last page.