Reviews tagging 'Death'

Severance by Ling Ma

144 reviews

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was eerily prescient for what was to come during the COVID-19 pandemic, given that it came out in 2018. This book elicited an interesting emotional response in me, overall leaving me feeling reflective and adrift.

While firmly in the dystopian fiction genre, what I found unique was that this read more like a character study than anything. We follow the main character Candace Chen’s reflections on her life, moving back and forth through each point in her life that were mini-apocalypses in themselves, as her worlds as she knew them collapse. 

As a Chinese immigrant who moved to the U.S. when she was 6, themes of belonging/unbelonging resonate strongly throughout this novel, and are elements that give richness to the decisions she made and the points she gets to in her life.

I think what really added to my love of this book was the narrator Nancy Wu’s approach to characterizing Candace. Her style was a sort of a resigned deadpan, which I felt added a depth to the character that I don’t know I would’ve gotten from the tree book. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Dementia, Medical content, Suicide, Violence, Body horror, Death, Confinement, Grief, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Car accident

itsalina's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Chronic illness, Toxic friendship, and Murder

Minor: Suicide and Vomit

allisonbrooke's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Grief, Pregnancy, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Body horror, Death of parent, Car accident, Confinement, and Death

tatjanasbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Terminal illness, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Pregnancy, Suicide, Murder, and Confinement

Minor: Death of parent

meagm's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

Definitely could have cut out some of the length, but I think the monotony of office culture/dating against the collapse-of-society chapters was on purpose. Candace is a really jaded, traumatized character - the audio book narrator really nails her attitude during even the wild parts of the story - I think that might have been lost on me (until it was spelled out) if I had gone the print route.

The times Candace encounters “fevered” people were horrifying & caught me off guard, I really enjoyed the pandemic story lines & if you’re a fan of post-apocalyptic books you’ll be into it!

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror and Death

vagorsol's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicide, and Pregnancy

onyxkat's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Pregnancy, Suicide, Death, Grief, and Violence

siebensommer's review against another edition

challenging reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

They should know my difference, they should sense my unfathomable fucking depths. All of these distinctions, of course, belied the fact that I very much wanted to work in Art. I wanted to be an Art Girl.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death

Minor: Death of parent

jazhandz's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Dementia, Pregnancy, Suicide, and Sexual content

kyeruhh's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This is the kind of book that makes me wish I was still in school and could analyze in English class. The fact that this was published in 2018 is wild to me with how spot on some of the characters mindsets to a pandemic are.

I tend to not enjoy when books have open endings, and this was no exception BUT I do feel that it fits with Candace’s sort of aimless personality.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Medical content, and Suicide