The End We Start From is a story of a changing world. It is a story of cities underwater. It is a story of new motherhood among strangers. It is a story of loss and of hope.
This is a beautifully written novel - almost poetic in tone and language. The way that baby Z’s infancy - and our narrator’s mothering-of-a-first-child experience - is portrayed is maybe one of the most lovely depictions I’ve ever read. The world in this book is frightening, floods and changing sea levels create hoards of refugees and shortages are rampant. However, what we don’t get, because of the sparseness of the narrative, is any overarching context. I expect that’s because of the natural tunnel vision of new parenthood but as a reader, I felt like I was almost floating above the story sometimes, a part of it but not really because I just didn’t have enough information to flesh out what was happening. It made it frustrating sometimes. But I give this three full stars because I really don’t know if I’ve ever felt so in awe by the way someone captured the physicality and emotions of being a new mom.
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