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. ( )

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!

What a strange book. I think it's about how our relationships to things reflects our relationships to each other, and vice versa. ( )

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. ( )

I've read this book a week ago and I am still thinking about it. What a read! Throughout, I kept wondering: do I like this? Is this too weird? Is this brilliant? Or not?

I still haven't found an answer to most of these questions. What I can say is, I did enjoy the read and I read it in one sitting. The pacing is great (if you enjoy character driven stories), the world engrossing, and the characters are well developed.

I really connected with the main character, and Mira is the main reason this book kept my attention. I enjoyed reading about her experiences and her life in this weird new world.

But...the story is just so bizarre and absurd. Women give birth to inanimate objects, like vases, dolls and decorative birds. Kaethe Schwehn writes a lot of poetry, and I feel like this book is more a metaphor than a coherent story. The writing itself is also very poetic, which I liked but might put a few people off.

The plot takes a while to get going. The antagonist does not show up until almost halfway through the story, which might ruin the pacing for readers who don't enjoy the main character as much, and ultimately I do think it was a tad too weird for me.

There is no explanation given to the reader about the state of the world. Why has everyone disappeared? Where did they go? But that is okay, at no point did I feel like we're missing out by not getting an explanation or that an explanation would make the book better.

If you liked Station Eleven, enjoy slow burns, and find the premise of The Rending and the Nest interesting, give it a shot. ( )