Review by Booklist Review
Newman's (The Heavens, 2019) latest, a dystopian tale, opens with a shocking event. Everyone in the world with a Y chromosome, men and trans women, disappear all at once. Jane Pearson is on a camping trip in California with her husband and son when both vanish. After looking for them everywhere, she drives to the nearest city and learns the scope of what's happened. As women begin to step into powerful positions once inhabited by men and enjoy the freedoms of living in a world without the dangers some men present, Jane reconnects with a college friend, Evangelyne Moreau, who, like Jane, has a scandalous past, and who is now gaining political power in this new world order. Newman follows several other women who are having a tough time in the wake of the men's disappearance and who soon get caught up in watching a mysterious video feed that shows the lost men struggling in a hellish landscape. Readers might feel a bit let down by the denouement, but this layered, introspective tale will give them plenty to think about and discuss.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Newman (The Heavens) delivers a smashing feminist utopia (or dystopia) about a young woman whose husband and son go missing along with all the other people in the world who were born with a Y chromosome. While camping, Jane Pearson begins imagining what her life would be like without the burden of a family. Then, in a strange dreamlike flicker, they vanish from their tent. Jane's first reaction, like the other women portrayed, is one of abject grief. There's Ji-Won Park, an artist who mourns the loss of her platonic best friend; Blanca Suarez, 14, whose aunt moves her into a house share situation with Alma McCormick, a 40-year-old woman who takes over the Los Angeles mansion where her brother worked as a caretaker; and Ruth Goldstein, a New Yorker who takes a $10,000 flight to be with her daughter on the West Coast. After Jane emerges from the woods, she discovers women adjusting to the new normal with a festive air, Ruth witnesses a harrowing attack on a trans man, and ComPA, a fringe movement Jane founded in her college years with fellow student and lover Evangelyne Moreau, attempts to fill the power vacuum. Evangelyne, a Black woman who, at 14, was convicted of murder after shooting two police officers during a raid on her peaceful cult in Vermont, once shared a special bond with Jane, and now they reconnect. Their backstory enriches the reader's understanding of Jane's ambivalence about having a family, and Newman provides powerful insights on the limits of sacrifice. As all the characters converge, the author introduces startling explanations for the mass disappearance. This is a stunner. (June)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The author of The Heavens (2019) imagines a world inhabited solely by women. At 7:14 p.m. Pacific time on Aug. 26, every human being with a Y chromosome disappeared. Jane Pearson wakes the next morning to discover that her husband and young son are gone. Later, she will learn that all the men, all the boys, all the transgender women…they're all gone. This is not a new concept. Philip Wylie's The Disappearance (1951) opens with these lines: "The female of the species vanished on the afternoon of the second Tuesday of February at four minutes and fifty-two seconds past four o'clock, Eastern Standard Time." In Brian K. Vaughan's Y: The Last Man series of graphic novels--the first installment published in 2002--a virus kills every man on Earth except for one. A deadly illness that strikes only men also plays a role in Christina Sweeney-Baird's debut novel, The End of Men, published just last year. What makes Newman's take on this SF trope different is that this novel doesn't seem to want to be science fiction. After setting the dystopian narrative in motion, the author pulls back to offer a detailed account of Jane's life up to this point. After joining a dance troupe as a teen, she falls under the control of a man who abuses her by compelling her to abuse other, younger kids. She escapes jail by testifying against her abuser. This is a horrifying story compellingly told, but it feels like it belongs in a different book. We also get the full history of Evangelyne Moreau, Jane's one-time friend. A philosopher-turned-politician, an ex-convict, and a former cult member, Evangelyne is a fascinating character, but Newman spends more time sharing Evangelyne's history than exploring the strange universe she has created. By the last page, the connection between the realistic and speculative parts of the novel is clear, but the speculative elements feel woefully underdeveloped--which is too bad, because they're inventive and chilling. Also worth noting: There will be readers who object to the gender essentialism upon which this novel relies and the way Newman handles the fate of people who aren't cisgender when the "men" disappear. Occasionally brilliant but ultimately unsatisfying. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
