Kaethe Schwehn

After reading Bird Box late last year, my appetite for weird little books has been growing. And the premise for this book is truly bizarre: when 95% of the earth’s population disappears with no explanation, Mira and a group of survivors build a community, scavenging piles of objects for anything they can use or re-purpose. Then, the women in their compound become pregnant, giving birth to inanimate objects, again with zero explanation. Wait, what? Yeah, you heard me.

This is an absurd little book that examines motherhood, faith, regret and explores how story-telling can be destructive or redeeming. There are a couple of pockets where the plot lags when Mira is weighing her options about what to do next but overall the book is an entertaining, page-turner that left me thinking about what-if scenarios long after I put it down.… (más)

Thank you to Bloomsbury and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this new title by Kaethe Schwehn. The author has a unique premise in place for her world-building, which very much intrigued me... One day, 95% of the world's population simply vanishes. Random objects disappear off store shelves and from houses, also with no explanation offered. Clouds obscure the sky and there is no longer sun. No one can explain why. The survivors band together and live in scrabbled together shelters, scavenging in trash heaps for survival.

And then the story gets even more intriguing. After a time, some of the women become pregnant, but instead of giving birth to babies, they give birth to inanimate objects like vases and chopsticks. It's definitely a unique premise!… (más)

So let's set aside, for a minute, the fact that this novel is one of the most innovative and unexpected dystopian novels I've read in a genre completely saturated with offerings.

The Rending and the Nest is this tender and beautiful exploration of story - of the ways in which our stories shape us; the ways we choose to tell our own stories; and how we then start to believe in the stories we choose to tell. The author gives weight and depth to her words, and this is a novel I will definitely want to read over again.

Also, this is a BANANAS dytopian novel that will blow your mind.… (más)