Severance
By Ling Ma
- Release Date: 2018-08-14
- Genre: Literary Fiction
Description
Maybe it’s the end of the world, but not for Candace Chen, a millennial, first-generation American and office drone meandering her way into adulthood in Ling Ma’s offbeat, wryly funny, apocalyptic satire, Severance.
"A stunning, audacious book with a fresh take on both office politics and what the apocalypse might bring." —Michael Schaub, NPR.org
“A satirical spin on the end times-- kind of like The Office meets The Leftovers.” --Estelle Tang, Elle
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY: NPR * The New Yorker ("Books We Loved") * Elle * Marie Claire * Amazon Editors * The Paris Review (Staff Favorites) * Refinery29 * Bustle * Buzzfeed * BookPage * Bookish * Mental Floss * Chicago Review of Books * HuffPost * Electric Literature * A.V. Club * Jezebel * Vulture * Literary Hub * Flavorwire
Winner of the NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award * Winner of the Kirkus Prize for Fiction * Winner of the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award * Finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel * A New York Times Notable Book of 2018 * An Indie Next Selection
Candace Chen, a millennial drone self-sequestered in a Manhattan office tower, is devoted to routine. With the recent passing of her Chinese immigrant parents, she’s had her fill of uncertainty. She’s content just to carry on: She goes to work, troubleshoots the teen-targeted Gemstone Bible, watches movies in a Greenpoint basement with her boyfriend.
So Candace barely notices when a plague of biblical proportions sweeps New York. Then Shen Fever spreads. Families flee. Companies cease operations. The subways screech to a halt. Her bosses enlist her as part of a dwindling skeleton crew with a big end-date payoff. Soon entirely alone, still unfevered, she photographs the eerie, abandoned city as the anonymous blogger NY Ghost.
Candace won’t be able to make it on her own forever, though. Enter a group of survivors, led by the power-hungry IT tech Bob. They’re traveling to a place called the Facility, where, Bob promises, they will have everything they need to start society anew. But Candace is carrying a secret she knows Bob will exploit. Should she escape from her rescuers?
A send-up and takedown of the rituals, routines, and missed opportunities of contemporary life, Ling Ma’s Severance is a moving family story, a quirky coming-of-adulthood tale, and a hilarious, deadpan satire. Most important, it’s a heartfelt tribute to the connections that drive us to do more than survive.
Reviews
Not worth buying
2By NatChick66I would not recommend itEnding
3By nsb0611Book just stops...no real ending.Not for me
1By NCjenDisappointedI want more !
4By KLM4030An insightful and kind of creepy read during a pandemic. It is such a great story and love the main character but it just ends! I read previous reviews so knew it was going to end abruptly, but it really just full stop ends. I would love to know what happens next.Timely
4By BfrioliVery prescient. Well written. Pulls you in...What the?!
3By Shakira without the ShaJust when I thought the story was getting good I realized it was the last page of the book! It really felt unfinished and I’m disappointed I spent money on this.Very thought provoking and well written
5By Jamaica yaadieWell worth the read. It makes you really think about life and our purpose.Severance by Ling Ma
5By BirdsaloverI loved it! Sad that it is the end!Why do people like this book?
2By BOSinPHLVerbing weirds language, as Hobbes said to Calvin. And its thoughtless overuse is only one of the sins that kept pulling me out of this story. The narrative is built around lists of products and people and places which are meant to build a pop-culture wall around the main character but just end up making her seem empty and uninteresting. She tells us how she feels, but from a remove - as if describing a meal ordered by someone one table over. Zero real tension, a diffident main character, lazy language use, a propensiry to mistake telling for showing and a preoccupation with using lists to replace narrative rob this story of real value. Two stars for the idea and some quick turns of phrase.Farther
3By kleytanicThis book just leaves you hanging. The story could go so much farther.