In ‘The End of Everything,’ M. John Harrison crafts a haunting, elliptical novel about an alien invasion that resists definition. The i Ghetti—shape-shifting, possibly non-alien entities—trigger societal collapse without clear motives.
The narrative follows Phillip, a beachcomber who finds a sentient artefact, and his aunt Marnie, an artist navigating a world of permacrisis. The artefact grows, learns, and mimics humans, becoming a chilling allegory for identity and adaptation. Harrison’s prose, restrained yet evocative, mirrors the novel’s fractured reality.
A Booker finalist, the book resists easy interpretation, inviting readers into a puzzle of shifting perspectives and unstable truths. It is both a literary achievement and a warning about the cost of understanding.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing