The End of Men

 

In the words of the great Britney Spears: "Oops, I did it again."

In this case, I read another book about a pandemic during a pandemic.

Not great, Melissa.

To be honest, I don't recommend that at all, as fascinating and timely as this book was to read. I read it a few weeks ago, in a time where the pandemic was wearing me down the most. And as the pandemic in the book became more dire and depressing, I found myself wanting to stop reading it for my own well-being!

All of that said, it's a fascinating read and maybe you should put it on your list for when this whole COVID thing wraps up.

In this book, a highly contagious virus begins to sweep across the globe, leading to the shutting of borders and the deaths of tens of thousands of people. Sound familiar? Well, the twist here is that the only people killed by this pandemic are men. 

All the men.

Almost all of the men, actually. Only 10 percent of men have immunity. So the women of the world are left watching their husbands and sons die as they try to get the virus under control. It's hard to read. Kids die. Husbands die. But, it's interesting how many of the measures taken to bring it under control have been in place during COVID, especially when you consider the author wrote it before our current pandemic hit.

There's a lot to like here about the plot and drama and the way it all comes together. But if you're struggling emotionally with the effects of the real-life pandemic, you may want to keep this fiction on the shelf.