TW: There is a Harry Potter reference in this book and while it is very small I want to make sure those who want and need to know this go into this story fully informed.
The End of the World is Bigger than Love is a unique young adult novel that will divide readers as it will not suit everyone’s tastes for several reasons, but it is truly an experience and journey to read. Identical twin sisters, Summer and Winter, live in a post-apocalyptic world that has been devastated by a virus and live alone on a remote island. They survive on the rations stockpiled by their father before he passed away and fill their days rereading their mother’s ample collection of classic literature. When a mysterious stranger appears on the island, both sisters are quite taken by him, but who is he and what is he doing on the island? What follows is the unravelling of the girls’ carefully constructed reality and the secrets of the past begin to make themselves known.
This story is told in dual points of view and I am always a fan when the author uses more than one POV in their storytelling. The switching of narrator was refreshing and it gave an insight into each of the twins and their personalities. Summer’s chapters were long in comparison to Winter’s and this revealed the way each sister operates without the author having to state bluntly within the text.
Unfortunately, both protagonists are extremely unreliable narrators and their stories differ, change, and lack continuity. There are constant mixed messages and it is almost impossible to tell what is real and what is fiction. Being told by teenage girls, the narrative also jumps around quite frequently in a stream of conscious spiel as the girls remember things from their childhood while telling their story on their island.
The themes and subject matter are well known in our current world as we collectively battle the global pandemic and it could be elaborated that if our world continues along a particular path this could be the end result. It has coming of age themes, a tiny hint of romance (that I did not overly rate, which I am sad about) and is mixed through a dystopian, climate catastrophe setting with hints at terrorism and espionage. Despite this complex scenario there is almost no action of adventure in the traditional sense and readers looking for a book that will take them on a ride will be left disappointed. The End of the World is Bigger than Love is lyrical and thought-provoking. It has an ambiguous ending that left me with many questions but that is the style of this one. It feels very much like Life of Pi in that sense, was it real or is it a figment of the imagination?
The End of the World is Bigger than Love was such a unique read and it is quite difficult to put into words what it is all about. It is an original take on a well fleshed out idea in the fiction world that hits differently than your typical young adult dystopian read. While it didn’t call or connect with me as much as I had hoped, it is a stunning novel that is above all else clever and thought-provoking.
The End of the World is Bigger than Love is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of August 10th 2021.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
She said we didn’t know what the world out there had become. We had been alone there so long on that tiny island, in that tiny church.
But in the night, I couldn’t bear it.
My chest beat like wings.
Identical twin sisters Summer and Winter live alone on a remote island, sheltered from a destroyed world. They survive on rations stockpiled by their father and spend their days deep in their mother’s collection of classic literature—until a mysterious stranger upends their carefully constructed reality.
At first, Edward is a welcome distraction. But who is he really, and why has he come? As love blooms and the world stops spinning, the secrets of the girls’ past begin to unravel and escape is the only option.
A sumptuously written novel of love and grief; of sisterly affection and the ultimate sacrifice; of technological progress and climate catastrophe; of an enigmatic bear and a talking whale—The End of the World Is Bigger than Love is unlike anything you’ve read before.
