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readwitheel's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
The cubicle banality of the end of the world is explored quite skillfully in Ling Ma's Severance. The interweaving of two different timelines flowed nicely with the overall themes and plot of the book. Throughout the novel, it was often a point of dispute wether or not Candace living her routine as an office worker was better or worse than living in the tragedy of post-pandemic world traveling with strangers. Nostalgia, memory, and identity were strong themes that stood out to me in this book, especially when tied with the reminiscing of her parents immigration to Salt Lake City from Fuzhou, China.
The illness in the book, Shen Fever, seems to be triggered by nostalgia and the fevered enter into a state of repetition of their daily routines to never resume consciousness or self-awareness. It is a point-of-no-return sickness, taking almost all of the population. It seems to be implied that Candace herself succumbs to this wave of nostalgia at the end of the book when she is fleeing from the Facility into Chicago, as if nothing ever presented itself with enough emotional power to sway Candace into becoming fevered until now. The trigger for Candace's fever is potentially nostalgia for her ex-boyfriend Johnathan, who lived in Chicago before he moved to NYC.
Ling Ma skillfully blurs the quantifiers of what it means to be sick and healthy, fevered and unfevered,
Candace's personality and life-choices felt distant and almost mechanical to me, even if there were writing descriptions of her laughing, being upset, etc. It was almost as if she were just living the life and having the feelings that she felt like she was supposed to have, rather that trusting that she was living the life she actually wanted to. Even though I felt distant from Candace, I was still able to relate to her, as her struggle of staking out a place in this world through working is one of many facing the harsh brutalities and requirements of surviving within capitalism requires.
Ling Ma skillfully blurs the quantifiers of what it means to be sick and healthy, fevered and unfevered,
Candace's personality and life-choices felt distant and almost mechanical to me, even if there were writing descriptions of her laughing, being upset, etc. It was almost as if she were just living the life and having the feelings that she felt like she was supposed to have, rather that trusting that she was living the life she actually wanted to. Even though I felt distant from Candace, I was still able to relate to her, as her struggle of staking out a place in this world through working is one of many facing the harsh brutalities and requirements of surviving within capitalism requires.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Xenophobia, Gun violence, and Violence
Minor: Racism and Body horror
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy and Death of parent
Minor: Racism and Injury/Injury detail
alisasreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- 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
anti-capitalism and zombies made me want to read this, but i stayed for the way the writer managed to make me feel like i was experiencing it all with candace. very well written and definitely a book i would recommend to people. also pretty odd to read this a year after the pandemic..
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Confinement, Death, Dementia, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Vomit, and Racism
thewordsdevourer's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.25
quite an interesting read...severance's deliciously satirical apocalyptic tale seems - considering the current times - depressingly prophetic in hindsight.
i rly like how society and human behavior bend in all surprising directions here when aspects of society at large consequentially start to collapse. calling dibs on shops in a mall for personal rooms? moving into the office when public transport stops? like, it doesnt get more capitalistic and american than that. the titular theme - in all its various forms - provides an intriguing examination of the ensuing loneliness of modern society as well. anddd it also makes me rly rly rly miss new york in all its barmy, yucky, yet freeing glory.
this is def a thought-provoking and mysterious read that subtly keeps one guessing, though i wish the writing was just a lill bit more polished.
i rly like how society and human behavior bend in all surprising directions here when aspects of society at large consequentially start to collapse. calling dibs on shops in a mall for personal rooms? moving into the office when public transport stops? like, it doesnt get more capitalistic and american than that. the titular theme - in all its various forms - provides an intriguing examination of the ensuing loneliness of modern society as well. anddd it also makes me rly rly rly miss new york in all its barmy, yucky, yet freeing glory.
this is def a thought-provoking and mysterious read that subtly keeps one guessing, though i wish the writing was just a lill bit more polished.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Violence
Moderate: Terminal illness, Sexual content, Death, and Racism
Minor: Pregnancy, Death of parent, and Suicide
kelleykamanda's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
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? It's complicated
4.5
When I first picked up this book, I was under the impression that it would be funny. As a book about the pandemic, something funny… while living in a pandemic… seemed enticing. This book is not funny. With that said though, it was incredibly engaging and immensely thoughtful. The author’s ability to find themes of race and family with additional themes of identity and cult mentality, all through two different storylines was impressive. An incredibly well written book. I’d recommend it to anyone in the right headspace.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Racism, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Drug use, Sexual content, Racism, and Xenophobia
Minor: Alcohol and Suicide
Though this book was written before the pandemic, it is about a global pandemic. At times it is very eerily similar. Due to this, many people might find this triggering.plantbetti's review
dark
funny
hopeful
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy
Minor: Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Racism, Gun violence, and Misogyny
takarakei's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I originally read this book in 2019. Back then I rated it 5 stars, which I feel was very rare for me as I was reading a lot less, but I wonder if seeds of this book planted itself into my subconscious.
Re-reading now in 2023 after going through a global pandemic, and quitting my shitty office job - I have a new perspective on life in general. It's rather eerie to read a book written before 2020 that got so many things right. I applaud Ling Ma who likely did a lot of research to make things so realistic. This book definitely reads more literary than sci-fi, although it is a dystopian setting (although I'd say about half the book is pre-pandemic reflecting that happens throughout the story). It is really a critique of our capitalist consumeristic society intertwined with the first generation immigrant millennial experience. I've read a few reviews where people say they don't like the main character Candice, but I would challenge people to question what it is they don't like about her. Because I would propose that perhaps the things they don't like about her (her stubbornness to continue going into work despite the absurd conditions) are perhaps things that they don't like about themselves. I truly don't think I would have gotten that perspective out of this book on my first read, so I am glad I re-read it.
**I recommend doing this one on audio or a combination of the audio + ebook/physical - because all the dialogue is written in that obnoxious way where there are no quotation marks. However, the narrator does a great job inflecting when people are talking, so that made it much easier to read.
Re-reading now in 2023 after going through a global pandemic, and quitting my shitty office job - I have a new perspective on life in general. It's rather eerie to read a book written before 2020 that got so many things right. I applaud Ling Ma who likely did a lot of research to make things so realistic. This book definitely reads more literary than sci-fi, although it is a dystopian setting (although I'd say about half the book is pre-pandemic reflecting that happens throughout the story). It is really a critique of our capitalist consumeristic society intertwined with the first generation immigrant millennial experience. I've read a few reviews where people say they don't like the main character Candice, but I would challenge people to question what it is they don't like about her. Because I would propose that perhaps the things they don't like about her (her stubbornness to continue going into work despite the absurd conditions) are perhaps things that they don't like about themselves. I truly don't think I would have gotten that perspective out of this book on my first read, so I am glad I re-read it.
**I recommend doing this one on audio or a combination of the audio + ebook/physical - because all the dialogue is written in that obnoxious way where there are no quotation marks. However, the narrator does a great job inflecting when people are talking, so that made it much easier to read.
To live in a city is to take part in and to propagate its impossible systems. To wake up. To go to work in the morning. It is also to take pleasure in those systems because, otherwise, who could repeat the same routines, year in, year out?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Confinement
Moderate: Body horror, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Gun violence, Dementia, and Pregnancy
Minor: Drug use, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia
this is a pandemic novel, so most of the content warnings come from living in that apocalyptic world.maziodynes's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Absolutely stunning. This is the next great American novel for milennials living through a global pandemic. It puts things into sharp perspective for those of us continuing to push through corporate jobs while the world feels like it's crumbling. The story is superbly executed, poignant, and simultaneously reverent and mocking of American culture. I'm going to be thinking about this book for a long, long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Confinement, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, Grief, Gaslighting, and Drug use
booksandmo's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Sexual content
Moderate: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Gaslighting, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Vomit
awashinfeeling's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content and Pregnancy
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Racism, and Violence
Minor: Religious bigotry and Suicide