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A review by atlevine
Severance by Ling Ma
5.0
5.00/5.00
One of the best books I've read this year! Maybe one of my favorite books of all time.
Candace Chen is a workaholic, Chinese-American millennial living in New York City. She has no real friends (only acquaintances from work), and both her parents have recently passed away. So it's no surprise that when a deadly pathogen makes its way to NYC, it barely interrupts her schedule. This book is about Candace's life before Shen Fever, during the decline, and after the disease has decimated the world's population. It's a devastating story about loneliness, the repetitive nature of consumerism, how enshrined we are in a routine, and what it means to move on and let go. I loved it.
Candace's story is told over a few different timelines. The novel starts at the end. The first line: "After the End came the Beginning." From there we jump around from Candace breaking up with her boyfriend, to her getting a publishing job, to meeting her boyfriend for the first time, to her first week on the job, to her parent's backstory all while flashing forward to her life after Shen Fever has killed almost everyone in NYC. I thought the structure of the book was perfection and of course, was so well written.
I loved the parts about the City slowly falling into disarray. To see where people's priorities resided when Shen Fever began to take its hold. Candace seemed unperturbed by the whole ordeal, working in her Manhatten office up until the very last day. The commentary on today's culture of routine/mindless work was loud and clear. The commentary on getting stuck in the past, losing ourselves in what used to be was also apparent. I know people refer to this work as satirical - one of the special aspects of this novel was how devastatingly close to the truth a lot of was.
One of the best books I've read this year! Maybe one of my favorite books of all time.
Candace Chen is a workaholic, Chinese-American millennial living in New York City. She has no real friends (only acquaintances from work), and both her parents have recently passed away. So it's no surprise that when a deadly pathogen makes its way to NYC, it barely interrupts her schedule. This book is about Candace's life before Shen Fever, during the decline, and after the disease has decimated the world's population. It's a devastating story about loneliness, the repetitive nature of consumerism, how enshrined we are in a routine, and what it means to move on and let go. I loved it.
Candace's story is told over a few different timelines. The novel starts at the end. The first line: "After the End came the Beginning." From there we jump around from Candace breaking up with her boyfriend, to her getting a publishing job, to meeting her boyfriend for the first time, to her first week on the job, to her parent's backstory all while flashing forward to her life after Shen Fever has killed almost everyone in NYC. I thought the structure of the book was perfection and of course, was so well written.
I loved the parts about the City slowly falling into disarray. To see where people's priorities resided when Shen Fever began to take its hold. Candace seemed unperturbed by the whole ordeal, working in her Manhatten office up until the very last day. The commentary on today's culture of routine/mindless work was loud and clear. The commentary on getting stuck in the past, losing ourselves in what used to be was also apparent. I know people refer to this work as satirical - one of the special aspects of this novel was how devastatingly close to the truth a lot of was.