Endling

I enjoyed this a lot. For one thing, it's the first time that I've read a novel set in Ukraine. The metafictional aspect of the book was mentioned in several reviews/descriptions that I read; so I was aware of that and thought it might be distracting, but I actually found it to be powerful and charming - it dovetailed so well with the story (I mostly listened to the audiobook, so I got to hear the author read those brief sections). About halfway into it, I started to worry that it might veer too much into absurdity (mostly with some of the bachelor shenanigans), but then it didn't really do that. I also appreciated the humor. A number of the scenes with Pasha had me laughing out loud. And the palpable sense of wonder that it conveyed about the snails was great.