Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Severance by Ling Ma

129 reviews

jessikalange's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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sunn_bleach's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense fast-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

4.25

Don’t believe the blurb on the back - this is NOT a “The Office”-like parody of work culture. This is a frequently sad, often tense, and occasionally whimsical view into the millennial struggle of never being at home. “Severance” takes on many meanings here, and all of them hit hard.
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ohyeah_karyn's review

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dark 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

5.0

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gardens_and_dragons's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective 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? Yes

1.0

I really did not like this book. It’s had an interesting premise, but it was painfully slow for being sub 300 pages. I was also very disappointed in the ending because it felt inconclusive.
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nadia's review against another edition

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dark reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

I'm so glad I've finally read this one and I really liked it. A very interesting experience to read it on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic and spot parallels to what we've just lived through. I appreciated the book's structure and alternating perspectives and felt immersed in both strands. Ling Ma's writing was great and succeeded in generating an ongoing eerie, unsettling atmosphere from the get-go.

If anything, I'd have been happier with a slightly longer book. For one, I wanted a little more exploration — more story — beyond the ending that we're left with, though what we were given did work and fit the vibe of the book. I guess I wanted more because the whole thing was working so well!
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ladylothlorien's review against another edition

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

4.0

I find it nearly impossible to put down my thoughts on this book. There is something eerie about reading a pre-pandemic book about a pandemic and then to have so much of it ring true made it a difficult read. It was slow and depressing for a long time and then an event happened that added a sense of urgency to the narrative which carried through to the end. It meant the pacing was a little weird but honestly this book is a little weird: at times satirical and at others poetically reflective. Overall I would say I enjoyed it but I think it also brought up COVID feelings that I’m not sure I’m ready to deal with. And the themes surrounding the term “severance” will be rattling around in my head for a long time. 
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taratearex's review

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dark funny 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? It's complicated

5.0

 I was very skeptical about whether I would like this book based on some reviews I've seen, but I think going in knowing this isn't a typical "zombie apocalypse" book helps. I think the audiobook really enhanced my experience, but honestly I think it was just the perfect book at the moment for me and I loved it. I thought everything worked so well, I loved the critiques of capitalism, especially in the face of a pandemic- the fact that this was written in 2018 and gets so much right is so disturbing and depressing. I loved the focus on the mundane routines as the world slowly falls apart, I wanted to scream "why are you working right now?!?!" but then I look around at where we're currently at, sigh. I've seen a number of reviews say they didn't like the ending and personally it totally worked for me, honestly everything just totally worked for me. It was all a little too close to home, but somehow comforting in a really fucked up way.

I highly recommend the audiobook read by Nancy Wu, I already looked up books she narrates as I just think she was so amazing and got the character vibe and the satirical mood so perfectly. 
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honeyvoiced's review against another edition

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dark reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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avilareads's review against another edition

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reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

there were things i enjoyed about this novel (mainly its reflections on capitalism, family, and the interesting concept of the fevered) but the present tense portions of the book didn’t do much for me other than make me deeply uncomfortable. 
huge trigger warning for confinement in this novel that i had no idea of beforehand!
overall, a unique book with a captivating narrator. if it wasn’t for her flashbacks and insights on society i would not have finished this one. 
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raphtseng's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

Kind of made me feel scared and sad and shocked at times. It toes the line between dark and satirical, where at times things are so dark you have to choose to laugh. I found both the past and the present well woven, it kept the pace moving. Not too sure what to take away from it. Kind of wild that it was written pre pandemic. And also very meta that candace works at Spectra. Defo made me feel lots of emotions, found it overall unsettling. Loneliness and made me think of Taiwan, some vivid descriptions of missing home, or what home is like, and what having a Chinese parent is like.
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