Severance: A Novel | 
so-soDidn‘t really sit well for me, as in I didn‘t get it. I didn‘t understand what the story was about. I wanted to know more about this fungal thing slowly taking place giver the world. Neat the book was written prior to COVID. instead we follow Cadence through a sort of cult through her work. Was intrigued enough to complete it, just not much more. More adult than previously assumed. Millennial darts constant.
Started Severance last night. My dear college friend recommended it and it‘s been on my TBR list for years! @pdxannie inspired me to finally get into it.
pickLoved it and floored that is was written in 2018.
pickI read this b/c it was the book club pick for The Stacks podcast. I thought I knew what had happened in the story until I listened to the podcast episode about the book and I started questioning it. One thing that I‘m certain about is that it was weird to read a book written pre -COVID about pandemic life. She imagined some of the real life response very accurately. I‘m going to read this again someday.
so-soAn odd book. The main character just fell flat and I found it difficult to care. It‘s an apocalyptic story but it never felt particularly urgent. And the ending was seriously anticlimactic. Compelling enough to keep going, and it had some good moments, but it never really paid off.
I'm a little ways in & I'm already loving the way this feels like a very millennial version of "The Road". Obviously this has much more background and it's not a father and son, but it's post-apocalyptic and the journey to Chicago to find a doomsday-prepper's safe house is piquing my interest.
so-soI was totally sucked in for the entirety of the book up until the last chapter when it became increasingly clear that nothing was going to be resolved and perhaps it was even a whole-book setup for a sequel or trilogy or something. Disappointed.
pickI was mistakenly led to believe that the wonderful Apple TV series of the same name was based on this book. If it is I‘m missing something. Nonetheless I really enjoyed the story. Different and well written. So a happy mistake 😀
Beginning to plan for February and the dice have spoken. As always, I will read at least one of the 3 and am pretty sure the tagged book will first up as it also works for #Booked23 #Pandemic
pickThis book had been on my list forever and it didn‘t disappoint. Even reading it now, in a world with COVID, it didn‘t repel me but rather sucked me in, even while being terrifying. The MC‘s feelings and observations felt intimately familiar in many ways. A crazy good book.
pickOne of the best books I‘ve read in ages. Can‘t recommend enough!
My bookmarks from @Kayla.Adriena They were pressed into service immediately lol. Thanks!
pickFinished this like a week ago but forgot to write a review.
I couldn‘t put this one down. The weirdly-timed subject matter, the witty prose, and the commentary on life under late capitalism was both a joy and depressing to take in all at once. Candace is a deeply engaging protagonist, and the ending was hopeful. I loved it! Looking forward to more from Ma in the future.
Book fair at work today. #Spoiled
This is what I bought with my free credit.
Absolutely loving this so far. I‘ve had it on my shelf for over a year and finally remembered it. The writing is so funny, and how bizarre is the timing of the subject?
pickI‘ve decided to try this book again properly. It‘s about Candace, a Chinese-American, who is one the few to survive a pandemic. Sounds familiar? It‘s eerily how close the author comes to explain how a pandemic 😷 influences our lives & changes our city. I recommend to be in a good headspace for this.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️,5 /5 #severance #lingma
Two years ago today, I finished reading this book about a pandemic; blissfully unaware of how the world was about to change.
pickI was unsure if I wanted to read a book about a pandemic right now… but this was darkly comforting. The story moves back & forth between different parts of Candace‘s which worked well in this case. The parts about wearing masks & how people responded to a pandemic in this book (published in 2018) were eerily accurate. I sort of wish it hadn‘t ended & I could keep reading the rest of her story past where the author left it.
January #roll100 book 2
pickIt must have been spooky for the author of this 2018 book, set in NY during a devastating epidemic, to see the events of 2020 unfold. Candace Chen keeps showing up to work long after her coworkers have vanished; meanwhile, the "fevered" mindlessly repeat trivial tasks, caught in the grip of a deadly fungal infection. It made me think about Zone One by Colson Whitehead, and the ultimately meaningless tasks that eat up so many of our hours.
so-soThis book has recently won an award, but I've already forgotten which one. But the prize was the only reason I read it. After finishing it, I can say that I wouldn't have had to. It's just another dystopian book, and the only interesting thing about it is the Chinese background of the MC. The book sort of felt like TWD without the action and boring zombies. Not a pan, but I'm not convinced either.
@TheAromaofBooks #BookSpinBingo
Awww, thank you so much for the treats package, @Lauram ! Completely unnecessary because I thoroughly enjoyed participating in your #summer2021 giveaway, but totally appreciated all the same!
pickI decided to squeeze in this read before the end of the month!
Review ⬆️
pickPost-plague dystopian novel. Well-written though not necessarily unique. I enjoyed it.
pickI really enjoyed Candace‘s story. It manages to be an immigrant story along with being post-apocalyptic…and an interesting/unusual apocalypse to boot. The fever doesn‘t result in ravenous zombies. Rather, bodies “sleepwalking”, mimicking the actions of life.
pickIt‘s unsettling reading about a pandemic these days. At least this one was due to fungus spores.
But it served as a catalyst to talk about the individuals relationship to society through an emotionally detached MC. Do we go to our jobs because it‘s expected of us? Do we have romantic partners because we need them? Do we preform well in society as friends, daughters, mothers?
A big part of this was also about a Chinese immigration experience.
Hoping for a slightly destructive storm to have a day to myself. I‘ve been in this mood for the past decade.
Living in New England it would occasionally happen. One day a storm got so bad a telephone pole fell over in the parking where I worked. Streetlights at a major intersection started snapping as the roads started flooding. We lost power, but the pizza place across the street was still running. I closed up shop and took my crew out for pizza
pickThe relatable tale of a young adult coming to terms with America‘s way-of-life (its capitalist system of the few exploiting the young and productive) just when a pandemic comes along to turn the world‘s population into zombies performing the rote day-to-day tasks that consumed their conscious lives. A meditation on city living, of decision making, of looking for a better way of life, always.
The city was so big. It lulled you into thinking that there were so many options, but most of the options had to do with buying things: dinner entrees, cocktails, the cover charge to a nightclub.
[…]
Even if a woman doesn‘t have anything, the movies seemed to say, at least there is the city. The city was posited as the ultimate consolation.
pickI stumbled across this looking for a BOTM add-on. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it since I have never really seen it discussed. Candace is the last survivor in New York City after a pandemic hits that nearly wipes out mankind. She is taken in by a small group of survivors who are journeying to 'the Facility' just outside of Chicago. The story is told through pre-pandemic memories & her current experience. I'd recommend it as an add-on.⭐⭐⭐⭐
Where/when is the strangest place you've read a book?
Finishing up my tattoo & this book tonight.
I picked Severance up a couple of months ago as a #BOTM add-on. It has been a quick read so far & I've enjoyed it. Surprised it hasn't received more attention given the last 18 months of world events. 🌎
pickYesterday I finished reading Severance by Ling Ma.
A photographer alone in NYC continues her day job as humanity goes extinct from a fungal fever.
This was a cool and fresh take on the post-apocalypse genre, centered more around what daily life during the end of the world might be like, as opposed to the more action-y tropes of the genre.
I found it to be a beautiful and vulnerable story about nostalgia, and letting go.
#ShortReview #LingMa
pickI loved this book but it‘s probably not a good idea for anyone who was severely affected by Covid to read it right now.
“Shen Fever slowly obliterates global civilization. Severance [is a satire that] explores themes of nostalgia, modern office culture, monotony, and intimate relationships. The novel, Ma's debut, won the 2018 Kirkus Prize for Fiction and was included on many prominent Best Books of 2018 lists.”
pickI‘m glad I didn‘t read this at the beginning of the pandemic... but awfully glad I read it. It‘s not technically about zombies, but it‘s about zombies, but like all content about zombies, it‘s about humans and the awful things we do to one another. And it‘s about connection and disconnection, memory, soulless and unethical work under capitalism, New York City, feeling lost, and ghosts. And it‘s just a really good novel.
pickOh. My. Gosh. I have SO many things to say about this book! It blew my mind. Reading it in a COVID world, it was incredible that it was published in 2018. It‘s like totally prophetic! Also I work in Christian publishing, and so the main character‘s job in Bible publishing was kinda eerie. On top of that, the storytelling, characters, and imaginativeness of this book were just so good! Wow.
pickThis book was sad, sad, sad from beginning to end but god it was good! The similarities with its depictions of a pandemic were spooky, especially because it was written in 2018. There are so many scenes that will stick with me, especially to do with Candace wondering around a deserted New York City taking photos for her blog page. It‘s just helped cement my desire to visit NY one day.
Apocalyptic fiction is my jam!
so-so🎧 So confusing as the timeline is constantly shifting from childhood memories to pre-pandemic to early days of the pandemic to current day.
Candice‘s parents died pre-pandemic, she‘s living off her inheritance in NYC in a dead end job, she‘s basically entitled clueless & aimless, her BF tells her that he‘s leaving NYC for WA due to the cost of living, she finds out she‘s pregnant.
⭐️⭐️⭐️👇🏻
It‘s hard to believe this was written pre-COVID. Some passages felt creepy and eerie..
pickThis was a difficult, poignant read during the pandemic, but I thought it was pretty flawless around that or maybe because of that. It was weird reading a book from 2018 about bickering over N95 masks and watching workplaces empty out around you slowly. I loved comparing Candace‘s unmoored, unfulfilling millennial life before the pandemic end then drifting between cities during it
pickI really enjoyed this. Aside from the obvious connection to the pandemic, I enjoyed the overall theme.
The tone and flow of the story was so easy and engaging.
Got my first full read off of my February #bookspinbingo board!
