The End of Romance by Lily Meyer

Silvie Broder decides, based on her life experiences, to write her dissertation in philosophy on the theory that any public or public inspired performance of relationships or sexuality--any romance—at once kept women from flourishing and corroded true love. Men were fine as sex partners or friends, but not both together.

She then spends the novel quoting and studying philosophers, while telling us her theories and living the opposite. It seemed to me that what the author was trying to say had more to do with the distribution of power in relationships, but her character can’t seem to handle any of it.

I didn’t ever like Silvie, but she has some fun boyfriends!

 

There are some unique ideas and interesting writing in the book, but it seemed to me not quite there. Not only didn’t Silvie (or her reader) quite buy her own philosophy, she made the mistake of all philosophy professors, in my experience, and make the whole higher level of thinking idea boring. The end of the End of Romance couldn’t come fast enough.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Viking/ Penguin Random House, for the opportunity to read this advanced copy. It will be released February 3, 2026.