Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

Severance by Ling Ma

16 reviews

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review

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. 

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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

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Suicide and Vomit

shoohoob's review

medium-paced

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

4.5

I really wish I hadn’t read this during the COVID-19 pandemic 🥲 

Really interesting book! It was slow to get into but I very much enjoyed it. I don’t know how to feel about the ending, but I loved the two different stories. As the child of immigrants, I related to many of Candace’s feelings and experiences. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy and Death of parent

Minor: Racism and Injury/Injury detail

mraddd's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Abandonment, Medical trauma, Violence, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Pregnancy

rachbake's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Pregnancy, Suicide, Confinement, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

mondovertigo's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Pregnancy, Suicide, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Minor: Alcohol and Xenophobia