Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - Severance

Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

lilypad537's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.75

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aklovekorn's review

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reflective tense slow-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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darthbiblia's review against another edition

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dark funny 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

Whoa. This book came out years before COVID, but the descriptions of the early stages were so uncanny. The dry humor and office politics, concerns about foreign labor and gender issues. I loved the story of her immigrant parents assimilating in the United States, then bringing her as a small child. This was a beautiful story, and I was sad that it ended. I look forward to more from this author.

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avasbookmark's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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46jjsg's review against another edition

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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

2.0

Who is this novel for? What was this novel for?? Sometimes there are stories told to just to be told and I get that- I seriously do; however, I feel so tricked into reading this because where's the satire on capitalism and the modern workforce that I was promised?? For context, I'm an Asian American immigrant who is 25F + works in corporate + in the Midwest. You would think I would be able to relate to the mc but the more I read the more I found the mc of this novel to be frustrating and by the end of the novel I was tearing my hair out like that's it?? I don't know if it's because I'm gen z but I just wanted to grab the mc by the shoulders and a scream at her to get herself together it's so embarrassing!!! I don't understand the author, am I supposed to root for Candace? Is she meant to be unlikable? I've read novels with unlikable characters (see: Wuthering Heights) but at least they have actions that revolve around a theme and you learn something as a reader or it opens up a discussion. Candace is so passive and just so emotionally detached literally pre and post shen fever that I just feel like if she doesn't care about her own life (multiple self destructive behaviors) so why should I care for her?? Candace longs for connection and the sense of belonging, but her attempts (if they can even be called that) at building meaningful relationships are so lack luster?? Like I said. Maybe it's because of my age, but I just don't get this. I like contemporaries. I like dystopians. I like nonlinear storytelling. But this novel just wasn't it. 2 stars because despite all of this, the premise is really interesting at a surface level and I'm impressed this was published pre-covid. The bar is low. Maybe I would've rated this higher if I wasn't a asian american woman myself but who knows.

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arayo's review against another edition

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dark reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? It's complicated

5.0

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questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective 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? No

4.0

I really enjoyed this. It's literary sci-fi with plenty of commentary on immigration and late stage capitalism. I really loved the writing style and the descriptions of places. While I never completely love an open ending, I thought it worked quite well here. I wish I'd felt a little more attached to Candace but I was still gripped throughout. I haven't read many books like it but the most obvious comparison is Station Eleven, which I'm now considering re-reading.

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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This book really freaked me out from beginning to end. It was published in August 2018, over a full year before the first case of COVID. Yet, it has so many eerie parallels to COVID. Parts of it were hard to read for this reason. It was a more extreme form of how the pandemic affected society - to the point I expected zombies to start coming to life at any moment. Between the prescience and the severity of the impact, I was so spooked! Lots of other themes underpinning the book too. Great book to teach in school.

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