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libby13's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent and Pregnancy
mattrunsonbrew's review against another edition
adventurous
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? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
baghaii's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
fast-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
5.0
Candace Chen is a directionless Millennial living in New York City after graduating from college. She stumbles into a job working for a company that produces printed books. She ends up working in the Bible division until the apocalypse.
The apocalypse is a pandemic, and now Candace is wandering through a world that is mostly empty, with a small group trying to keep themselves alive. The alliances in this world are fragile.
In a third, smaller story line, Candace is thinking about her immigrant parents and all they had to give up to give her the opportunity to be a directionless Millennial who lived in New York City. This story line was a little sad, but it didn't feel like she was laying it on too thick for a predominantly white audience. There was a little bit of sadness at losing your primary language and losing touch with relatives in other countries when the generation that keeps you connected is lost.
This book was published in 2018, and I was really fascinated by what it got right and wrong about pandemics. The pandemic in the story originated in China. There were N-95 masks. There was politicization around the spread of information related to the pandemic. The pandemic in the story was started by a fungus. People turned into zombies.
Those last two differences made the pandemic different enough from reality that I could still read it, but it made me reflect on what if things had gone in a slightly different direction.
The apocalypse is a pandemic, and now Candace is wandering through a world that is mostly empty, with a small group trying to keep themselves alive. The alliances in this world are fragile.
In a third, smaller story line, Candace is thinking about her immigrant parents and all they had to give up to give her the opportunity to be a directionless Millennial who lived in New York City. This story line was a little sad, but it didn't feel like she was laying it on too thick for a predominantly white audience. There was a little bit of sadness at losing your primary language and losing touch with relatives in other countries when the generation that keeps you connected is lost.
This book was published in 2018, and I was really fascinated by what it got right and wrong about pandemics. The pandemic in the story originated in China. There were N-95 masks. There was politicization around the spread of information related to the pandemic. The pandemic in the story was started by a fungus. People turned into zombies.
Those last two differences made the pandemic different enough from reality that I could still read it, but it made me reflect on what if things had gone in a slightly different direction.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
shoohoob's review against another edition
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: Death of parent and Pregnancy
Minor: Racism and Injury/Injury detail
mraddd's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Pregnancy
elliehoney's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent
themeds's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Drug use, and Death of parent
Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, and Pregnancy
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, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Dementia, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Vomit
amandaformby's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Drug use, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
Pandemichelliepad's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
sad
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
I actually read this book because I thought this was connected to the TV show Severance but it's not the same thing lol. However, this story also deals with the workplace and the immigrant story of alienation and being other. I like that the main character Candace keeps to herself most of the time because introspection and reflection is something that is rarely explored in stories set during a zombie apocalypse, especially one set in a metropolitan city such as New York.
There's a connection between Candace and the Latin blue collar workers, Manny from reception and Eddie from the cab, that she chose at first to be closer to the rich WASP Art Girls than Manny who asks about her day and is worried about her health; and then at the end when the world left her to find friendship in Eddie only whenNY ended up being a shithole and she had to get out pronto .
The title was mentioned during Candace's memory of her father and it talks about seperating themselves from their pasts (severing from the homeland and roots like cutting an umbilical cord, that messy painful love that all overseas workers have a word for), but it could also work as severance pay, especially when what kickstarted Candace on her journey toget out of New York was seeing the severance pay in her bank account, a few months after the outbreak.
How much appeal does the American dream have to this day? To have the luxury but to live in emptiness? To go home and be with family but due to the nature of going after that dream be prevented from being able to do so? To surrender yourself to the work and routines of a city and a job until death, and even then? Is a person wrong for working? Is a city wrong for demanding of its citizens? What does it mean to be rootless and homeless yet having a home before you even go there?
There's a connection between Candace and the Latin blue collar workers, Manny from reception and Eddie from the cab, that she chose at first to be closer to the rich WASP Art Girls than Manny who asks about her day and is worried about her health; and then at the end when the world left her to find friendship in Eddie only when
The title was mentioned during Candace's memory of her father and it talks about seperating themselves from their pasts (severing from the homeland and roots like cutting an umbilical cord, that messy painful love that all overseas workers have a word for), but it could also work as severance pay, especially when what kickstarted Candace on her journey to
How much appeal does the American dream have to this day? To have the luxury but to live in emptiness? To go home and be with family but due to the nature of going after that dream be prevented from being able to do so? To surrender yourself to the work and routines of a city and a job until death, and even then? Is a person wrong for working? Is a city wrong for demanding of its citizens? What does it mean to be rootless and homeless yet having a home before you even go there?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Moderate: Blood and Pregnancy
Minor: Suicide