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A review by baghaii
Severance by Ling Ma
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