Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Severance

this book is gonna stick with me for a long time. i've never related to a character more than candace, and i feel like i really understand her. the only critical things i have to say about the ending are that it felt rushed and i wish ling ma would have developed candace's character just a bit more. there were definitely a few loose ends with this book and the ending is pretty open - ma makes allusions to passages from the beginning of the novel in the final pages, which helps brain everything full circle. still, i was left wanting more.

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cheye13's review

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dark emotional 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

4.0

This was a very interesting premise that I really wanted to love.

And I did love Candance and her voice, and how real and rounded she felt as a character. I appreciated the nuances and commentaries on her job and her life "before" and the plot of "after" and how the two intercepted.

I think the dual timeline hurt the narrative a little, but I also think it's the only way the story could be told. I was extremely bored by the "before" timeline, which I assume was kind of the point, but it read so much like general millennial ennui fiction that I just hate. I didn't hate it here, and maybe that was because it was intermittent or just because of how complex Candance's character felt. Meanwhile, the "after" timeline felt incongruous to the book's intent, and also like the only plot we're given.

I think I personally would have preferred a book that was just the "after" timeline with some flashbacks, but I did really appreciate where the timelines aligned at the end of the book and the point that was made.

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bluejayreads's review

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challenging dark slow-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I barely skimmed the back cover before picking this up. I’m trying to read more broadly. I don’t think I’ve ever read a satire, it’s by a Chinese author featuring a Chinese protagonist, and looked to be satirizing the meaninglessness of modern work culture (relatable) and post-apocalyptic fiction (I’ve read a lot, could be interesting).

This was published in 2018, but I had to check. I think it was supposed to be satire of the modern millennial life in NYC or the post-apocalyptic genre or both. In 2018, maybe it was. But in February 2022, nearly two years into a deadly global pandemic that varies only slightly from the “epidemic” of the book, Severance isn’t satire – it’s prophetic.

This book is told out of order, altering back and forth between Before and After. Before and After what isn’t obvious in the book, but it’s clear to me. I can’t pinpoint a particular event or moment, but my life has definitely divided into Before Covid and After Covid. “It seemed to happen gradually, then suddenly,” as Candace says. Candace keeps going into work as everything slowly crumbles, keeps trying to do her job even though there’s less and less job to do, until suddenly it’s After and things are completely different.

I am not going to talk about the After timeline. I am not prepared to touch those emotions right now.

I didn’t think I had much if any of that “collective pandemic trauma” people talk about. Then I read Severance, and it turns out I do. When Candace’s job started requiring N95 masks, I felt a sinking familiarity. When a character first said the phrase “these uncertain times,” it felt like a punch in the gut. This book pulls on the trauma of living through a pandemic and the horror of surviving an apocalypse and combines them into something vividly repulsive and hideously possible. It evokes the visceral terror of being in a place usually full of people and discovering you are alone; the agonizing helpless realization that even if you survive this, there is no future; the despair of knowing that even if the world is ending, the only thing you can do is get up and go to work.

I read this as an audiobook at work, my mind lost in the horror and despair of this barely-fictional world while my hands, nearly independent of the rest of me, did my job. Scan the box. Open the box. Take out the bag. Label the bag. Put the bag in a new box. Label the new box. I repeat the same process over and over again, just like the epidemic victims in the book. I think that’s what Severance is supposed to be satirizing.

If there is an apocalypse, it won’t be like any of my post-apocalyptic novels. If it’s like any work of fiction, it will be like this. And if that’s the case, I don’t think I want to survive. I took several books off my to-read list. I have no more desire to read any post-apocalypses. I am too afraid of surviving the end of the world.

I’ve never legitimately described a book as life-changing before, but Severance is. I feel like I’ve just realized the world is about to end and can’t understand everyone continuing on and worrying about unimportant stuff. I feel like I have to sit down and figure out what actually matters because most of the shit I’m doing now just doesn’t.

Severance feels terrifyingly, painfully, imminently possible. If no one ever recovered from covid, we might be living in the world of Severance right now.

This book is not satire. It’s psychological, existential horror.

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kelleykamanda's review against another edition

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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.

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nyssbomb's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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mondovertigo's review against another edition

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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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