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A review by misstwosense
Severance by Ling Ma
3.0
Ling Ma is a Witch
This was far too unsettling to be reading in 2020. Apparently, Ling Ma can see the future. Hopefully not the whole future though.
Anyway, I didn't love this book. Yeah, I'm gonna say it. I hated how she refused to designate who was speaking at any given time. I'm sure it's something many complain about, so I'm just gonna add: while I think I got her intention in parts, and would go as far to say it worked occasionally, I mostly found it extremely hard to follow. I don't think the outcome was worth the extra difficulty to the reader.
It's a subtle book overall, and it both feels like a lot happens and very little at times. She never fully commits to the dreamlike quality much of the story has. I found certain aspects to clash wildly with the overall tone and feel- like the graphic sex scenes, for instance. Or one particularly juvenile description of a dead person's face (as if an editor had told her she needed to make it scarier, so she threw in something ridiculous and self aware to comply). It also became clear while reading that the author REALLY wanted the title to be understood, as well as her main theme. She is NOT subtle in that regard. In fact, it comes off more like a stoned teenager philosophizing than any actual deep insights into the human condition. It's not that I dislike her stance on the things she's discussing, it's just that it turns a fairly compelling premise into one, long, preachy MESSAGE.
I mean, irl the protagonist wouldn't survive. She'd have blown her brains out long before the story got apocalyptic because she's clearly suffering from deep clinical depression. I'm not trying to be facetious, I'm trying to point out that you can tell a good story or write a thesis paper, but rarely does trying to accomplish both in one piece of writing do anything but undermine each element. And sadly, the part I found most compelling here was the story, clearly not in line with the author's desires. So it left me wanting more of the world she created, but not in a good way.
This was far too unsettling to be reading in 2020. Apparently, Ling Ma can see the future. Hopefully not the whole future though.
Anyway, I didn't love this book. Yeah, I'm gonna say it. I hated how she refused to designate who was speaking at any given time. I'm sure it's something many complain about, so I'm just gonna add: while I think I got her intention in parts, and would go as far to say it worked occasionally, I mostly found it extremely hard to follow. I don't think the outcome was worth the extra difficulty to the reader.
It's a subtle book overall, and it both feels like a lot happens and very little at times. She never fully commits to the dreamlike quality much of the story has. I found certain aspects to clash wildly with the overall tone and feel- like the graphic sex scenes, for instance. Or one particularly juvenile description of a dead person's face (as if an editor had told her she needed to make it scarier, so she threw in something ridiculous and self aware to comply). It also became clear while reading that the author REALLY wanted the title to be understood, as well as her main theme. She is NOT subtle in that regard. In fact, it comes off more like a stoned teenager philosophizing than any actual deep insights into the human condition. It's not that I dislike her stance on the things she's discussing, it's just that it turns a fairly compelling premise into one, long, preachy MESSAGE.
I mean, irl the protagonist wouldn't survive. She'd have blown her brains out long before the story got apocalyptic because she's clearly suffering from deep clinical depression. I'm not trying to be facetious, I'm trying to point out that you can tell a good story or write a thesis paper, but rarely does trying to accomplish both in one piece of writing do anything but undermine each element. And sadly, the part I found most compelling here was the story, clearly not in line with the author's desires. So it left me wanting more of the world she created, but not in a good way.