Book Club Discussion Questions for Endling by Maria Reva

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Chernozem: The National Soil of Ukraine and our BookBrowse Review of Endling.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

These are original discussion questions written by BookBrowse.

1. The book opens with depictions of romance tours and the women who work on them. What kind of expectations did that establish for you and what kind of novel did you think Endling would be?
2. What is the significance of Yeva's obsession with snails? Did you connect this detail to any of the book's major themes?
3. Why do you think Yeva pushes the conservationist away after he declares his feelings for her?
4. In what ways are Nastia and Sol alike and different? Did you relate to either of these characters and their choices?
5. How does Nastia see her mother's legacy? What significance do these perceptions have on her character and the way she behaves?
6. What did you think when the book shifted to first-person from the point of view of the author in Part II?
7. Maria Reva includes correspondence between herself and an online magazine editor pertaining to how she should write about the war in Ukraine. They clash when he won't let her focus on the Ukrainian use of dark humor as a coping technique. How did reading this exchange enhance your understanding of her perspective?
8. Endling began as a novel about romance tourism, conservation, and protest. How do you imagine the book might have been different if it had been completed before the invasion or began after it? What elements would have been the same?
9. When Nastia approaches Yeva about using her van for the kidnappings, Yeva has been actively planning her suicide. Yet she still gets involved in this plan and invests herself in helping Nastia. Why do you think that is?
10. Sen and Nastia grew up with a mother who is famous for leading a feminist collective in topless protests throughout Ukraine; but, we learn, she has been missing for eight months. What part does she play in the novel despite not appearing in the story? How do Nastia and Sen see her differently?
11. Among the kidnapped bachelors, Pasha is the only fully formed character. He struggles with his Ukrainian identity, which his parents forced him to abandon early on. We learn he goes running to the Schindler's List soundtrack and doesn't know how to talk to women. He helps the brides but then endangers everyone when dealing with the soldiers. Did you find him to be a sympathetic character?
12. Overall, what do you think the bachelors added to the story?
13. Why do you think Yeva goes back for the snail on the acacia tree? What was the symbolic significance of this act?
14. What do you think you might have done if you had been in the author's situation, in the midst of writing this novel when Ukraine was invaded? Why do you think she made the decisions she did?
15. How does the book's title, Endling relate to its story? How does it relate to the novel's themes?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Doubleday. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.