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A review by leahhateshardbacks
Severance by Ling Ma
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is the book equivalent of the Can't Help Myself robot... we just keep going and going and going and going. On the surface it's fairly on the nose: a global epidemic called Shen Fever breaks out, causing the fevered to mindlessly continue repeating their daily habits in a zombie-like state; and our main character Candace continues to go into the office and work after most people have left the city in pursuit of safer environments. Despite this heavy-handed parallel this was sort of like an apocalypse book but... quieter, making it all the more insidious and sombre. The biggest statements it has to make are on capitalism, the working world, and identity.
•••
It's honestly quite unbelievable that this was written in 2018 before COVID. The lead up and process of how the world dealt with a pandemic is closely mirrored in here, from the initial disbelief at how strong it was, to the fashionisation (and subsequent redundancy) of surgical masks, to public outcry in reaction to protests. I wonder if I had read this before COVID whether I would feel differently, if I would felt bored with the double-sided monotony and tragedy of it all. Is it fucked up to say that this was sort of comfortingly familiar?
•••
It's honestly quite unbelievable that this was written in 2018 before COVID. The lead up and process of how the world dealt with a pandemic is closely mirrored in here, from the initial disbelief at how strong it was, to the fashionisation (and subsequent redundancy) of surgical masks, to public outcry in reaction to protests. I wonder if I had read this before COVID whether I would feel differently, if I would felt bored with the double-sided monotony and tragedy of it all. Is it fucked up to say that this was sort of comfortingly familiar?