Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Severance by Ling Ma

47 reviews

dr_kat's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

I read this tender, troubling, complex, engaging novel and it wedged into the folds of my brain and wouldn’t shake out. Then the world shut down and a plague worked it’s way into our lives. All I could think about was this book. Weirdly, it helped to see how the protagonist handled her situation; her trials and troubles. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Confinement, Gun violence, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

aweekinthelife's review

dark mysterious 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

4.25

so weird to read this 2018 book post-2020 and see all the parallels for how the imagined Shen-fever played out and to see how a global pandemic actually played out. granted, they didn't have to worry about person-to person transmission, but the N95 masks and avoiding people definitely felt familiar. 

the story itself switches between Candace's life leading up to Shen-fever and her post-Shen-fever life which starts with her joining this group traveling west to a facility. the group dynamics are definitely weird, and Bob gives real bad vibes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Pregnancy and Murder

chloeve's review against another edition

adventurous reflective tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Death of parent

bookrokosmos's review against another edition

dark 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Confinement

Moderate: Death of parent, Suicide, Sexual content, Gun violence, Murder, and Pregnancy

kaiyakaiyo's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

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

2.0

i was gonna be generous and do 3 stars because the cultural parts of this book were compelling, but frankly this book was a snooze fest with a whimper of an ending 

warm bodies starring nicolas fucking hoult managed to make me feel more about an apocalypse and the ~literary~ elements of this book are so overwrought it borders on self-sucking. the most poignant moments in this story are overshadowed by clunky cult shenanigans, a terrible flashback and flash-flashback structure, and an incredibly silly detour into strange & unnecessary sex. not to sound like the internet purity police but the phrase “Schwarzenegger dick” should be banned on every continent. jail for 1000 years

when are synopses going to stop using “satirical” and “deadpan” when they just mean that the author is too dry to write an actual apocalyptic novel so they wrote some handwavy overly meta shadow of one & called it literary fiction. boooooooo tomatoes tomatoes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Blood, Sexism, Misogyny, Murder, Gore, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Religious bigotry

mirrorbug's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.75

Somehow I got it into my head that this was a tragicomedy when that is not what it was. Humor was not in the forefront, but it had its moments. I'd like to read it again without that preconception. Still really enjoyed it. Candace is a character I grew to respect more than anything and the worldbuilding was fantastic. It's crazy this book was released preCOVID, you definitely see some similarities there. I think the parts of seeing the apocalypse start to unfold felt so realistic and were definitely my favorite chapters in the book. Definitely worth the read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Murder, Sexual content, Suicide, and Violence

Minor: Racism, Chronic illness, Grief, and Body horror

joensign's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Suicide, Confinement, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gore, and Death

Moderate: Body horror and Pregnancy

youngluteplayer's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

3.25

I really wanted to like this one? The concept is good, and I loved the passages set in ‘old’ Manhattan/ before the plague. I just couldn’t take the future seriously — our greatest villain is a cult leader named Bob. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, and Gun violence

kelsokake's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

left me feeling pensive and almost like i would gain more after a reread

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Confinement

sarracenia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Severance was so different to what I expected. Less a dystopian apocalypse tale and more an account of the multicultural capitalist system we live under, it took a while for me to get over this. Once I had adjusted my expectations I started to really enjoy the author's spot-on observations of modern life. That so much of the book is framed around the death of her mother came as a shock and was triggering at first, partly because I found it so relatable, the way one's dead mother and memories of her continue to permeate life. I found the ending disappointing as I wanted more of a conclusion, either Candace arriving somewhere safe or even her becoming fevered, but this did not happen. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Death, Murder, and Pregnancy