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A review by otterno11
Severance by Ling Ma
5.0
Severance is an intricately plotted, darkly humorous, and deeply thought provoking rumination of “millennial” ennui, the immigrant experience, labor, and a deteriorating environment, all told through the lens of an ersatz zombie apocalypse. In other words, it's kind of a perfect novel for our current times.
Ling Ma writes in a witty, engaging manner, weaving together her diverse themes in a way that feels altogether natural. Her protagonist, Candace Chen, survives the virulent Shen Fever, a fungal infection that affects people by trapping them in looks of nostalgia and routine, after having become trapped in a routine herself, performing rote office work as Manhattan crumbles around her. After joining a ratag group of survivors led by the sinister IT nerd Bob, she embarks on a cross country journey in search of Bob’s promised Compound, a place where life may continue as before. In between these gripping scenes of Candace, in the present, negotiating Bob’s authoritarian “Stalks” and rituals, she reminisces about her life in the years leading up to the collapse. This has some of the most interesting scenes in the novel and I was extremely impressed by how adeptly Ma was able to weave these elements together, exploring multiple threads yet leaving much for the reader to unravel for themselves as well.
In particular, I found it interesting how the novel sets its action in late 2011, when I feel we knew things were starting to go bad in our late-capitalist stage society, but other shoe had yet to drop. I feel like I’ll be thinking of, and returning to, Severance for quite some time to come.
Ling Ma writes in a witty, engaging manner, weaving together her diverse themes in a way that feels altogether natural. Her protagonist, Candace Chen, survives the virulent Shen Fever, a fungal infection that affects people by trapping them in looks of nostalgia and routine, after having become trapped in a routine herself, performing rote office work as Manhattan crumbles around her. After joining a ratag group of survivors led by the sinister IT nerd Bob, she embarks on a cross country journey in search of Bob’s promised Compound, a place where life may continue as before. In between these gripping scenes of Candace, in the present, negotiating Bob’s authoritarian “Stalks” and rituals, she reminisces about her life in the years leading up to the collapse. This has some of the most interesting scenes in the novel and I was extremely impressed by how adeptly Ma was able to weave these elements together, exploring multiple threads yet leaving much for the reader to unravel for themselves as well.
In particular, I found it interesting how the novel sets its action in late 2011, when I feel we knew things were starting to go bad in our late-capitalist stage society, but other shoe had yet to drop. I feel like I’ll be thinking of, and returning to, Severance for quite some time to come.