The Men

Imagine waking up with the men in your life suddenly gone. Then imagine realizing that everyone with XY chromosomes is gone. What happens to the world now, when the patriarchy is not just smashed but nonexistent? How will the remaining people reshape society and the planet itself? In this interesting if disjointed novel from Newman (The Heavens), readers gradually learn how women cope and continue on after the disappearance. The central character is Jane, whose husband and young son disappear in the opening pages of the novel. Jane had a tumultuous youth and gained stability as a wife and mother, but circumstances lead her now to reunite with a college girlfriend, Evangelyne, the creator and leader of a new political/social movement quickly gaining influence in the United States. As Jane’s story is revealed along with those of several other women, a series of surreal and disturbing videos depicting the disappeared appear online. Some of those shown in the videos are soon identified, but where they are and why strange animals also appear in the videos is unknown. Ed.’s Note: Although the author is nonbinary, the work is being called out by some LGBTQIA+ critics for its treatment of trans, nonbinary, and gender fluid characters.