This one had promise, but turned out meh. The premise: the entire population in 1995 has gone sterile and now it’s about 25 years later and the world is reckoning with the nearing end of humanity. Sounds sci-fi. Could have been. Wasn’t. The book was written in 1992, yet has a much more dated vibe. While the author is painting a picture of 2021, it feels far from contemporary – far away from even ‘90s contemporary. It feels like the 1940s. Possibly that was done because society was not advancing, but going in reverse (or was it the age of the author – in her 70s when she wrote the novel). Regardless, the old classic literature vibe was distracting. Even the vocabulary was oddly pretentious (suzerainty, for example). The protagonist was male, however the character feels like it was written by a woman (it was). There were glimpses and references of how society was adjusting to the new norm, but not emphasis on this in my opinion. Instead the author focused on a small cast of characters that were not all that interesting. Portions of the plot produced an “unbelievably convenient and unrealistic” reaction, as if the author lacked imagination or was bored with the current scenario and wished to skip ahead. As I write this review, it’s becoming more apparent to me that I am more disappointed in the book than I originally thought. The movie from the early 2000s based on the book is supposed to be better, but I’m not in a hurry to see it.